Reporting to you live from moving central.

Our house is totally torn apart as we separate the items we’re keeping from the ones we’re giving away.

Letting go hasn’t been that difficult. It’s clear to me what I want to keep. We are also storing some items in a back room so I don’t have to decide about old photo albums and yearbooks. They will be out of sight, but not gone forever.

My biggest problem has been dealing with the garbage and recycling. There’s so much! And our local transfer station is only open a few days a week. So all the trash bags filled from Sunday through Wednesday just pile up. We have tiny pathways carved out of the mounds like hoarders. I’m counting the minutes until 3pm when the dump opens and we can start getting rid of it – this batch at least.

Meanwhile we’re meeting with rental agents, auction houses, and people who buy old stuff. We’ve had a few snafus– the moving company balked when they saw our long dirt driveway (in mud season) but we’ve arranged to fill our partial container in a parking lot down the street. And a clogged drain turned into a major deal that brought out the plumber, the drain guy, the septic service, and the excavator. Amazingly they all responded within a span of two hours and solved the problem. Not cheaply, but quickly.

Saturday is the first “estate” sale– we’re told we should call it that rather than garage or yard sale because it brings a different group of people. The weather forecast is iffy so keep your fingers crossed for sun.

Thanks, Barbara, for suggesting a refugee organization or other group that might have use for what’s leftover.

Here’s what I’ve learned in this process:

1) I wish I had a pickup truck.

2) Service professionals really need to return phone calls even if they don’t want the business.

3) I should move more often than every 25 years if I want to have fewer belongings.

I’m sure I’ve had additional insights but it’s 3pm and the dump is open. Gotta run.

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