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| Instagram photo from when I first moved in for school. |
When I first moved in for graduate school several years ago, I came into the city with nothing but two suitcases, a backpack, and a tote bag. I didn't have any particular minimalist or decluttering tendencies. It's just that all my moves up until then had been across the country or across the world by plane, which meant that everything I wanted to keep each time had to fit in as many bags as I could check in.
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| Most of my things minus a Ikea Hemnes dresser and nightstand and another large and small suitcase that I will take home with me and bring back when I return to NYC. |
This is the first time I'm moving to anywhere within driving distance, and being able to keep most of my stuff is a new experience. The movers came a few days ago to take the pictured boxes and the furniture that I will keep, and it was not too stressful. My Ikea dresser did not endure the move as well as could be hoped, which could make this process an expensive lesson on how Ikea furniture is not the most portable of things (it wasn't the mover's fault either, I hired a company to assemble it when I first bought it and they messed something up). With a quick repair job, the dresser should survive our next move in October, but it could well be a bit touch and go.
Clothes, shoes, and bags take up maybe half of the space in the pictured large tubs and suitcases, and my remaining clothes and beauty products will barely fill another large suitcase and carry-on sized bag. I'm inclined to believe that this means that I've internalized the decluttering lessons from Marie Kondo's book pretty well and that I've cut my things down to what I need or am happy to own. While I was packing, I gifted a few blouses to my sister and threw out a few very worn out pieces of activewear, but I otherwise had very little additional decluttering to do on the wardrobe front.
Many friends and family think that I'm sometimes a bit overzealous with throwing things out or giving them away, and they are right, in a way. It can start looking wasteful, especially back in college or earlier years when I often had much in the way of barely-worn clothes that I only really half-liked when I bought them. Hopefully, as I learn to shop more carefully and consciously, that problem of wastefulness will subside.
Clothes, shoes, and bags take up maybe half of the space in the pictured large tubs and suitcases, and my remaining clothes and beauty products will barely fill another large suitcase and carry-on sized bag. I'm inclined to believe that this means that I've internalized the decluttering lessons from Marie Kondo's book pretty well and that I've cut my things down to what I need or am happy to own. While I was packing, I gifted a few blouses to my sister and threw out a few very worn out pieces of activewear, but I otherwise had very little additional decluttering to do on the wardrobe front.
Many friends and family think that I'm sometimes a bit overzealous with throwing things out or giving them away, and they are right, in a way. It can start looking wasteful, especially back in college or earlier years when I often had much in the way of barely-worn clothes that I only really half-liked when I bought them. Hopefully, as I learn to shop more carefully and consciously, that problem of wastefulness will subside.
I'm envious of your minimalist packing and moving. Dear god, I put more than that in my car just on weekend trips! Moving is a bit of an endeavour on my end.
ReplyDeleteOne of my main motivations for packing on what I think is the lighter side of average for trip) is admittedly that I'm terrible at dragging heavy suitcases around or lifting them. I got so embarrassed of constantly needing people to help me at train stations or airports that I learned to pack lighter!
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the moving, some of it is definitely born of necessity. I think once I move out into the suburbs or have more car access (not that soon) I might naturally let my collection of stuff increase a bit. Most of my furniture was really cheap Walmart stuff that I knew I would get rid of so I was mentally prepared to let it go (mostly by giving away).