Okay, so the big move comes. I moved to a new apartment, only 4 miles from my current one. Having purged a lot of things in the past year, I figure I was close to my original goal of being able to move everything I own in 2 pickup trucks.
Wow. I was so wrong. Last year my move took 12 hours and required 7 pickup loads, and that was only moving a mile. This year it required a week (!), and took 3 pickup loads and 7 loads in my Honda Accord. I spent a total of 55 hours physically moving stuff.
I do have less stuff than last year, but why did it take so much longer?
Media. Books, LP's, CD's, DVD's. Photo albums and slides. The stuff on my 4 shelf units alone took 3 trips to transport. Compared to everything else I own, they are heavy, bulky and dense. Worse yet, most of their function is backup: they sit on the shelf until I need them, to replace a crashed iPod or computer. The rest of the time, I'm stuck with a strange multicolored mosaic of spine art on my shelves.
This year, I forewent the use of cardboard boxes. I hate cardboard. It's not really designed to be much more than a temporary container. The smooth outside surface makes it hard to grip, and it has pitiful holding strength. I put all the books I own into 4 lawn and leaf bags, which was sufficient for the short journey. When I got them to the new place, I chucked the bags into the hall closet. I'm going to conduct and experiment to see how long I can live without physical books on my shelf. (I'm loving my Kindle!)
My music collection has been backed up and duplicated so many times it's hysterical, but I'm still loathe to throw out literally thousands of dollars of vinyl and CD plastic I've been collecting since I was 12. Sometimes I think, if I could just whittle the collection down to the stuff that irreplaceable (like signed copies of albums, promos, test pressings, limited editions, etc) my physical collection would be more manageable. Even that thought doesn't make me want to part with my ultimate backup. I may be losing this battle, after all.
I'm going to see where else I can reduce, and make a new goal for my next move. Stay tuned! --JB
