Out with the old, in with the new

I have begun packing. I have done this several times since leaving for college. I moved four times in the first semester. Overall, I'd guesstimate I've moved 20 times. That's a significant number of times to have accumulated this much crap. Each move I have whittled down possessions, but I suppose I have collected more and more.

This time I decided to REALLY simplify. Partially because this move is out of state. Partially because we don't know how much storage we'll have. But mostly because Gabe and I are starting our married life, and we're ready for OUR things. Not a mish-mash collection of individual things we really don't even need. Do I really need 2 boxes of fabric when I don't know how to sew? Do I really need the dried up acrylic paint? Do I really need that memento from someone whose face I cannot recall? Do I need 800 magazines for when I get the urge to collage? No! So my new rule is to throw out/sell anything that will just stay in a box in storage after the move.

I thought I'd have trouble with my self-imposed simplification but it's so liberating. I have lugged around journals full of rants and bad poetry for years. They're currently on the way to be recycled so someone else can write journals full of adolescent wonderings. And my books - this is always the tough one. I'm proud to report I'm selling at least 50% of my collection. I'm selling/donating well more than half of my clothes - if I haven't worn it in four years I'm probably not going to repurpose it into a killer handbag like the clutter-devil sitting on my shoulder always insists. I have narrowed down my art supply 'room' to one small box I can fit under an arm.

The only bad part about moving is violent allergies as soon as I open a closet or move a box. I'm in for a night of body-shaking sneezes, sandpaper eyes, wheezing throat, and my nose constantly dripping snot and blood. It's really yucky. I'm allergic to dust, cat hair and mold and apparently they're in every corner (the fact that it's rained 70% of the past month doesn't help). If anyone has a magic or pharmaceutical potion that would help please help a sister out!