Cleaning, Packing, Getting Ready To Move, and General Ramblings

I'm not the world's neatest person.  No, strike that.  I'm a slob.  Seriously.  What's more, I've spent the past three years living in a tiny, furnished studio with no surface space, counter space, or place to sit down and eat a meal.  What's more, I moved into my tiny studio from a 3,500 square foot house, so I have a lot of stuff.  I have too much stuff for my tiny studio, and way too much stuff for the apartment I'll be moving into in about, oh, nine weeks.


I've been cleaning for several weeks now, and I'm getting rid of things.  I'm getting rid of a lot.  It's hard to know what to keep and what to get rid of, sometimes.  I once heard someone suggest that if you haven't touched it in a year, it's time to toss it.  The thing is, I have a lot of stuff that I haven't touched in a year because I've been too busy looking for it.

My goal is to bring with me:

• Two-to-three weeks worth of "everyday" clothing. 
• Two-to-three events worth of "nice" clothing.  (I'll need to buy an interview suit.  The one I own hasn't fit me for about thirty pounds.)
• Shoes.  Though I'm not sure which shoes.
• Dishes, pans, cooking utensils, etc. (Though I'll still have to weed through some of them; I used to have a gourmet kitchen and time to cook.  A lot.  Not so much anymore.)
• Lamps (I have two.  The rest came with my tiny little studio.)
• My sewing machine, which will probably live in my closet for the next three years.
• Yarn and knitting stuff, though I need to go through and get rid of a lot of my stash.  My mother has offered to help me with this when she comes out in July/August.  I'll need the help.
• Computer and accessories, though, again, there's some serious weeding that needs doing.  I have six external hard drives, none of which are approaching capacity.  This has to change.
• Books.  Enough said.
• Bedding.  Though it's possible that the eight pillows I currently sleep with may get whittled down to four.

The thing is, I have a hard time getting rid of things.  A really hard time.  It's not that I'm a pack rat, not exactly.  It's more that I have a fear of waking up one day and needing something that I trashed/gifted/donated.  It's happened before.

On the other hand, not having things has made my life so much better whereas one of my biggest sources of stress is the feeling that I'm drowning in stuff.

A few years ago, someone broke into my (former) apartment and stole, among other things, my television.  I was broke, so I took the insurance money and paid bills.  It made more sense than replacing it.  I haven't had a television set in four years, and I love it.  I watch plenty of shows, but I watch them all on the computer.  This means that TV watching is, for me, an active choice.  I no longer waste time channel surfing. There are times when it's frustrating.  It means going to friends' houses to watch things like awards shows, if and when I want to watch them.  It means that I have no idea what's going on in pop culture.  (I don't consider this to be a bad thing.)

As I go through my things and decide what to do with them, I need to remember how good for me not having a television has been.  I need to remember that, even when it's frustrating, I've learned to adapt.  I need to remember that the fewer things I bring with me, the less likely I am to be stressed out by the amount of stuff that I need to put away.  In short, I need to remember the joy of living simply.

(Though I kind of home my new roommate has a TV to bring for the living room.  If she doesn't, I might think about buying one.  Maybe.)