In March 2005 we moved the remainder of our belongings into a storage unit. This was after we whittled it down to the bare minimum, getting rid of the majority of our furniture, Jim's tools, books (donated 650 to the library!), and other miscellaneous stuff. The remaining items that I could not POSSIBLY part with fit into a 10 x 10 storage unit.
Which we've paid on for 89 months.
I don't want to tell you how much money that totals up to.
Billions and billions.
Okay I'm exaggerating.
But not by much.
Anyhoo, the day had finally come to empty the storage unit. When we first came back to Illinois, we moved about half the storage things into our garage. Of course I unpacked the dire necessities such as dishes, towels, pots/pans, etc. But many things I just didn't want to deal with and left in the garage.
Big mistake.
Every month since we've been back we say, "We've GOT to get the rest of the stuff out of storage so we don't have to pay another month."
Of course, we say this when there's about two days left of the month and it's almost impossible to schedule the moving van from the storage place.
There was always an excuse.
But this month we bit the bullet, scheduled the van, and moved all the stuff.
In one day.
It is 40 miles one way to the storage place. We got there, got the instructions for the truck, pulled it closer to our unit, then went inside.
I should have taken a picture of our unit.
It looked more than half full, although Jim assured me it was not.
Huh.
Luckily, Jim is a BIG GUY, with strong muscles and is like a work horse. An old work horse, that sweats like a mother, but strong nonetheless.
I, on the other hand, am worth shit.
I can say it's from fibromyalgia, which is partly to blame, but pretty much I am a weakling.
I admit it.
Even though I used to be a good arm wrestler.
I arm-wrestled every boy in the 6th grade and BEAT THEM, except for Jack Indurante.
Who else could put that on their resume?
But I digress.
Even though we donated so many books to the library, I bet we have 20 boxes of books! Seriously? Now what?
We loaded, and loaded, and loaded, and eventually filled the truck and emptied our space.
Mission accomplished!
Jim looked like he ran through somebody's sprinkler he was so wet! There was sweat even dripping from the brim of his hat!
Now I admit, I wasn't as fresh as a daisy, either!
We arrived back home soon enough. Then I decided to get out of the truck.
My body did not want to move. Every muscle was screaming "NO!"
I plugged my ears and said, "La,La,La", ignoring the pain, and slowly stepped down.
We have a one car garage that already had boxes. It was about 3/4's full.
Hmmm....now what.
I told Jim that I wanted all the Christmas boxes in one area. I kept pushing box after box after box of Christmas stuff to the end of the truck while Jim brought them into the garage. Just when I thought I was done, I'd find another one and sheepishly bring it out. "Here's another Christmas box!"
Jim was an angel and didn't say a word.
Any box that said "knick-knack" or "household items", etc, were brought right into the house. I also went through the boxes that were previously in the garage that were marked the same, and instructed Jim to bring those in, too. Here is where I regretted not doing this before.
Because this is what my house looks like now.
and this
and this
Looks like I've got my work cut out for me!
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10 comments:
My theory is that the boxes breed and produce more boxes while they are in storage. We had a storage unit for a couple of years when we first moved to this area and lived in the motor home while house hunting. I still have a few boxes stuffed in closets that I haven't unpacked yet. We bought this house in 2004!
Good luck!
I'm not as young as I was ... I'd die if I had to tackle that now, I really would. Good luck with it, Pat. Keep surfacing for air...lol.
just think of the billions you are already saving....smiles....ugh i bet it was not easy getting out of bed this morning, just saying....glad you got it done though...
When mum got sick she asked me to move in and take care of her, so I sold my house and moved in...it's been four yrs now and I still have not unpacked the boxes...you've inspired me, think I will go through them today :)
I feel your pain. We inherited 60+ years of "stuff" when Bill's brother passed. It ended up in boxes in our basement & garage. I have three sets of china. I don't use china! Knick Knacks galore! Stuff & stuff! Well, I am finally able to sort and am getting rid of stuff. Hey...want some china?
I feel your pain. There is a possibility we may be moving from our 3 bedroom 2 bath mobile home to a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment in senior houseing. My mind is spinning with the work ahead if we do it!
Yard sale time!!!! If you haven't used or missed it, the item can go in a yard sale.
Teasing...that's a lot of work ahead of you.
Lord Pat, you are going through what we did when we moved briefly to FL and back. We moved the same boxes in and out of garages til I thought I'd drop. Of course like you I was not lifting most of the boxes but watching others. Still I had to deal with what was in the boxes.
I've become a person who throws out all that I do not use right now. I hoard nothing but okay maybe a few old dishes. Yep that's my downfall. you won't miss a thing you get rid of.
Good luck and God bless you and Jim for going through this. Perhaps this will be the last move!
I can relate, Pat. I was in & out of storage units in 3 states over 7 years. Heck, now that you got it all out, it doesn't really look that bad! Have fun going thru your stuff :)
Yikes! We have stuff stored in our daughter's barn that I don't even remember what it is anymore. At least she doesn't charge us.
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