Luggage

[SiamSam]

I am in the midst of a major shift and move in my life. I will soon be moving from a 2,500 square foot domicile to a 1,000. As a result I am combing through years of accumulated stuff in an attempt to rid myself of the baggage. 

 

I have SO much stuff stored away in musky old boxes. Books from high school and university. Tonnes of useless shit that as a younger man I figured would be worth saving, hmmm, for a reason I believed to be worth it at the time, but certainly not now.

 

I have literally spent the past 6 weekends in my double garage going through box after box of smelly books, ledgers, photos, VHS tapes, dishes, glasses, mementos of my childhood, tools, nails, screws, tacks, clothes that I will never fit into again, the list goes on and on and on of worthless junk. AND while going through it I need to sit down, ponder, glaze, reminisce, and emote because some things really pull at the old heart strings. Yet in the end it really does not matter. None of this stuff really matters and I just long for the day I am rid of its' chains. 

 

Curious to know your thoughts especially if you're carrying past luggage also. 

[Kahuna]

I did the same thing Sam about 5 or 6 years back...

 

It's just stuff and I likely had the same kind of stuff you have now...Old books...Old clothes...Old furniture...Old everything in old boxes...I got rid of the stuff...All the stuff except the little bit of stuff that was important to me...I sold some stuff...I gave stuff to thrift shops in exchange for a receipt for tax use...I gave stuff to the library...I gave stuff to neighbors...Some of the stuff I gave away may have had some value...I didn't care...I saved the stuff that was important to me...Only you can decide what stuff is important and what stuff to part with...Do you really need that old pot or pan....You haven't picked that book up in 23 years...I had clothes older than you Sam....Regrets.   Of course.  Some of the stuff I wish I had saved...But the regret passes cause you know that today it would likely still be sitting in a box in the garage or attic...Trust me, 5 years later you'll have more stuff...It is the memories that are locked forever in your head that you'll keep...And those memories you can't sell, or give away, of use to get a tax credit...

 

Enjoy your move Sam. and good luck with your stuff........

[Hefe]

I'm sure one day you will fit into those clothes again Sam, and bell-bottoms will be back in style as well!

 

I've done the reverse, being a gypsy till my forties I only kept photos, art & meaningful momentos & everything else was disposable then.  I consciously avoided "possessions" in a half-assed buddhist notion. But the last 12 years I have settled comfortably into a 860 sq. ft urban domicile & find myself falling into the bog of constantly considering a new sofa or lamp or kitchen....  while simultaneously considering to move overseas.

 

I always wonder what I would cart across the water in my luggage & what would get dumped. Thinking about it now I would keep the photos, art & momentos but hardest thing I would have to dump are all those vinyl LP records that I have been collecting from the age of 13. I haven't played them since the 80s ended but we put in a lot of miles together.    A lot of parties & late nights, some with good friends that have passed on.

 

It's a real discipline for our things not to own us.

[Guest sustra]

i've moved many times due to my job....i make like this....i pack everything in the old house, no matter what, just everything....i make my choice of what to keep and what to throw away only once i am in the new house.

[pacman]

Sam, you'll fit more into your new place than you think possible. Sustra's advice is sound, take all your boxes to the new place  & decide there, it will save you tossing out things you may regret later.

 

And I also agree about freeing yourself of all the  crap we lug around but having been through the exercise, I was very glad I didn't rush to toss out everything because I worried it wouldn't fit. I still have some of the crap but it's good crap I don't want to part with yet.

[Guest JustSumGai]

these trips to Asia each winter have taught me a lot in this regard.  I'm always surprised at how well I do with JUST what I can get into a suitcase or two and a small backpack. Fact is I go on tossin stuff out jags every couple years and bottom line is I can't even REMEMBER half the stuff I own. In the old lvining in a school bus days the word was if you didn't use it in 6 weeks, toss it. ANOTHER thing I found out was that saving old stuff for sentimental reasons kept me anchored to times past which kept me from fully realizing the NOW.  I have been taking old stuff that was still good to Asia with me and giving it away. There's a Khmer lady that's loving that 10" cast iron skillet and I saw her putting it to good use frying fish the last time I was there.

[pdogg]

Only 6 weekends?

 

We all have different sytsems this is what I did.

 

From work I was able to take hope lots of empty boxes of computer paper.  Nice new boxes with lids that are easy to stack.

 

With each pile of junk I would try to very quickly categorize it into Keep, Maybe Keep, or Jettison.  I would try not to get bogged down into reading stuff, masturbating to old porn so easier said than done.

 

Then once all the easy stuff to get rid of is gone, you do the second iteration.

 

While doing this I often found it motivating to have the TV tuned to a station that had one of those shows where a team of design pros unclutter some very messy house.

 

I know clutter and stuff weighs us down.  And it's not easy to throw stuff out.  But I think it's best to get rid of the stuff before you move.

 

Try to make a fresh start with your new place.  I know; not easy!   

[thaibound]

the great george carlin had a routine wherein he said something to the effect that when the giant pile of a stored-away life is your own, it's "my stuff" but when it's somebody else's, it's  "their shit".

thus the conundrum.

i think JustSumGai's giving it away  plan is right on.

Especially those priceless vinyls. Hefe, i gave my mine to a like-minded friend, so that should the occasion arise, i had good excuse to stop by in years to come for a drink, a chat and a listen.

besides, we all know that the lighter you travel, the further you can go.

Good luck, Sam

and enjoy the journey

[deepthroat]

I was told that Buddhists believe that you don't own your possessions, your possessions own you.... and once you are freed of their encumbrance you will experience joy and freedom that you never thought possible. 

 

If I haven't used in 2 years, I don't need it. Best not to even look in the boxes; you didn't know you needed them before, so you are best just liberating yourself of them without all the heartache. Don't even open them. Give them to charity. 

I had my computer stolen just before my first trip to LOS, and I lost all my photographs from the previous 10-15 years. Since then I've drastically slowed down on taking photos, as I've found that the "lost memories" really didn't matter, and just trying to catalog and sort them all is a major pain in the ass. 

 

The less I have the more freedom I enjoy (to a certain level of course).