Streamlining possessions
We haven't posted about
it much because the process isn't very photogenic, but we've been
spending an hour or two every day packing and preparing for our move.
Eleven years' accumulation of stuff was pretty daunting, but we're
starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
In some ways, I had it
easier than Mark. I started sorting before the floodplain dried up
enough to drive on, so I was able to make some pretty draconian
decisions. I'd pick up an item, imagine carrying it half a mile through
the swamp...and decide that there was very little that I actually
wanted to take with me after all.
Once the Kubota was back
on the job, I lowered my standards a bit. Had I used the item in the
last year? If not, that meant it needed a new home.
All of that said, I have
a feeling that when I finally unbox some of these sacred possessions a
month or so from now, I'll find I didn't miss them in the interim. In
which case, I'll expunge a bit more. I always forget how light I feel
when I have fewer possessions weighing me down!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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When I moved from my home in Germantown, I put almost all my positions in storage as I was going to live with an elderly woman. After she died, I lived with a friend for a little over a year. When I moved to where I am now, I found that I had to make many trips to Goodwill to get rid of what I did not need or want. Congratulations on doing the sorting before the actual move.
Love you both!