Hello all,
I'm getting ready to move cross-country, possibly for a few months, possibly permanently, and I'm only bringing what I can fit in my small pickup with the cover closed and locked. I'll be staying with family there, so I don't need to bring much in the way of housewares (although I am bringing my big down comforter). My mother has offered to keep some of my things here and maybe ship them to me at some future date, but I don't want to leave too much stuff for her to deal with. My truck bed is 6' long X 4.5' wide X 17" deep, and it's not weatherproof. I'm trying to fit most things into plastic file boxes and bins, with the exception of a few larger boxes, a suitcase, camping gear, and small duffel bags full of clothes and yarn that I can squish into the corners.
I'm not sentimental about most things, but I'm more concerned about the things that will be expensive or difficult to replace in the future. I'm not getting a paycheck anytime soon, so I don't want to donate anything that I'll have to purchase again right away. I also don't want to do a disorganized packing job and then spend forever unloading the truck and unpacking. There's not a ton of storage space at the house where I'll be staying, although I'll have my own bedroom and closet, and I can maybe put a thing or two in the workshop/shed. My tools pretty much live in the truck.
Any tips on reducing the volume and deciding what to leave with Mom temporarily or get rid of entirely? Here's my progress so far:
- Clothes: Tried almost everything on and put whatever I didn't love into the donate pile. Old faded t-shirts went into a box for someone who is working on a rag rug. Threw away worn-out socks and underwear. I have a few outdoor activities that require specific clothing, so I have to evaluate those carefully.
- Papers: Scanned (and backed up online) almost everything in my two-drawer file cabinet and I'm working on shredding almost all of it. The only things I'm keeping are official documents with seals or signatures (diplomas, birth certificate, transcripts) and a few projects that I'm currently working on.
- Music: I don't own a CD player (car or otherwise), so I've packed up my CDs for the local used book store.
- Books: Started selling books that I will probably never read again. Still have a way to go.
Things that I'm still struggling with:
- Old checkbooks (carbon copies and check registers). Is there anything I need to keep from these, or just shred them all? I don't itemize my taxes.
- Notebooks from a few classes. I've already regretted tossing or losing my undergrad botany notes with checklists and descriptions of local flora, which would have been handy in grad school and for a current project. It's hard to predict what I'll want to look up in the future, but it's tedious to scan everything. If you are a teacher who hands out journal articles to read, printouts of your powerpoints, or outlines with key concepts and definitions, this is a plea to provide a digital version for your students, who will probably move everything they own several times in the next few years.
- My printer/scanner. I scan every document I receive, and it took a long time to get my scanner software configured the way I like it, so I don't want to have to borrow my sister's scanner all the time. But it is big; I could probably fit 70 lbs of books into the box it packs into. Should I bite the bullet and buy a portable scanner? Is there one that works well with multiple computers and uses open standards? Neat Receipts emphatically doesn't, so that's not an option.
- Books. I still have several boxes of books that I'm having a hard time parting with. My parents hinted that they might give me a Kindle or similar for Christmas if I asked for one, but I'm undecided because of the DRM issues. I'd love to purchase my favorite books and really *own* them to read on whatever ebook reader I end up using in 10 years, not just lease them for as long as I own an Amazon-approved device. Any thoughts from the DRM-free ebook crowd? Definitely keeping my field guides, a few textbooks and technical manuals, and a number of books that I plan to read again. I'll probably give away most of the older classics since I can get the full text online DRM-free.
- Jewelry. I have a lot of fun earrings, as well as some bangle bracelets and a few necklaces that I haven't worn in forever because they're individually wrapped in squares of tissue paper and packed inside multiple little decorative boxes, wrapped in bubble wrap, and packed away in a box in the corner. Is there a really good jewelry organizer solution that is compact, travels well, and is easy to see everything at a glance? I'm imagining something like a trapper-keeper with lots of clear pouches for different sized pieces. Does this exist? It seems like most jewelry organizers are either tiny travel-size clutch bags that hold 5 pairs of earrings or giant back-of-the-closet-door affairs that don't roll up well for travel. I've kept the jewelry boxes partly because they're pretty, but mostly because people gave them to me. I suspect people gave them to me because they thought I collected boxes. They've been more clutter than enjoyment in the last few years, so maybe it's time to part with most of them.
- Photos. I've got at least a box full of old snapshots from the pre-digital days. I don't have time to scan everything before I move at the end of this week, nor a film scanner. Should I toss the prints and send the negatives to a professional scanning service (seems expensive), save the negatives until I buy a film scanner someday, scan the prints and keep the negatives for backup, or what?
- Kitchen stuff. I gave away most of my dishes before my last move, but I still have some nicer pots and pans, quality bakeware, utensils, and some really cute glasses and bowls that Mom sent me at my last apartment (stop sending me stuff, Mom!). Unfortunately, these things are heavy to ship, take up a lot of space in boxes, and don't nest well with other like items.
