Other than getting to our destination, for us moving came with some unexpected benefits. The process was long and painful and the benefits were pure gold.
Our Moving Adventure Came with Unexpected Benefits
We chose to accept it. We even wanted it. So, the adventure was on.
We had a Mission. We had Deadlines. And we stared the Fear of Failure right in the eye.
When you set out to sell your home and move your life and your stuff across the country…
The project itself takes over and owns you for the duration!
At least it owned me. I will freely admit to the world that I completely underestimated not only the effort but the impact on my sanity.
No fewer than seven or eight times, I said to Lanette or to a friend, “I think we’re over the hump now.”
No surprise here — I was WRONG all seven or eight times.
Looking back, I can tell you that selling your home, purging and downsizing your excess stuff, then trekking on to your new home is not for the faint of heart. Even if you choose the journey freely.
Without warning, I felt a complete shift of mindset. I was suddenly in logistics mode for everything. Checklists. Schedules. Repairs. Refreshes. Updates. Ugh. It doesn’t end.
Life, as we knew it before, was now on hold. We were laser-locked on the goal.
We were on a mission and failure was not an option.
Nonetheless, it’s worth every bit of the adventure, its challenges, and the destination.
When moving time comes for many of us, someone else is picking up the tab. Maybe your company or Uncle Sam. Logistics boils down to giving the command on moving day, “Load ‘em up and ship ‘em out.”
For us, the situation was different. Far different. So, we set a few objectives…
- We we’re not going to pay $1.50 or more per pound to move things we don’t use, don’t like, and don’t need anymore (Think ugly old, 300-pound dresser with the sticky drawer).
- We’re also not going to contribute to the landfill any more than absolutely necessary.
- Anything else that could be recycled was going to be sent to the recycle center.
Sure, all three increased the scope of the effort. And I’ll tell you even looking back, it was worth the extra effort to lighten our load by giving things away and recycling as much as we could.
Here’s an unexpected outcome as a new reality from the pandemic became apparent…
Being holed-up at home gave people the opportunity to finally go through their crap, um, treasures and purge to the dark corners of their stashes.
And a cool thing is that people were giving away more than they were trying to sell. So much that selling your goods became near impossible. Besides, selling your stuff can be way too much work.
I learned a whole lot more about giving. And you know what? It felt good. Every time a truck pulled away with boxes and furniture… it was a rush that put big smiles on our faces.
So, why are we humans so stinkin’ attached to our possessions anyway?
Here’s what we all like to say when defending our massive stuff-stashes.
“I’m not getting rid of it. It’s still good!”
Heck, I hate to admit how many still good techy things I held on to because I was going to get around to selling them on eBay. Well, that didn’t happen and all I had left was a carload of obsolete tech trash.
I’ll say now, I’m glad I realized early in the project… that giving was the way to go. That alone saved us a lot of time, effort, pain, and frustration.
How good it is!
Here’s the thing you’ll discover while going through the purging part of the process. A friend of ours puts it very simply…
“Until you go through it, you don’t realize how good it is to get rid of stuff.” — Anderson
And I’m happy to report, I think we’re over the hump now! No, Really. We are. I’m sure this time.
Be untucked.
p.s. Know someone who might like this post? Maybe forward it or share it on your favorite social media platform. Thanks…
Copyright © 2021 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved
I laughed through this post because we moved from CT to AZ by ourselves due to the cost. Everything you said is true! We had a large uhaul with a car carrier ( there was no one allowed to drive hubby’s car!) and made the mistake of leaving during rush hour through NYC on a Friday evening (no experience with that kind of load!). Already behind the eight ball! We laughed when uhaul gave us a 9 day contract to go 2500 miles. We hit high wind, rain, lightening, frozen fog, snow, tornadoes, floods snd pretty much hated each other along the way. Due to weather we kept having to go south. Somewhere in west Texas we were at wits end and took two days off to cool down. We wanted someone else to finish the haul and the expense was astronomical! We carried on and got excited when we could hit 50 mph! On the 11th day we arrived and hated that rig! Uhaul gave us the extra two days when we recounted the weather delays! From now on, someone else does the moving and I downsize all the time! I am glad you are settling and hope NM is just what you needed in life! Welcome back to posting- you were missed! If you ever come this way, my home is open to you!
OMG! What a journey!! I can only imagine… our cross-country drive was nothing compared to yours. But our load was lighter. Our adventure began again when we realized we didn’t exactly get the A-Team of packers. It’s all good and we’re loving New Mexico. Thank you so much for reading and for your kind words… it’s good to be back! We’ll see you sometime in AZ!