Moving? Consider losing 20,000 pounds
“Young lady, you have 20,000 pounds here.”
Those are the words I’ve been hearing over and over again after each moving company does a walk through of our home and prepares a cost estimate.
“20,000 pounds.” Twenty. Thousand. Pounds.
Through this whole moving experience, I’ve really been putting my yoga/pilates breathing to the test. Breathe In. Breathe Out. Inhale. Exhale.
We own 20,000 pounds of stuff. It’s such a mix of emotions to hear those words. I’m sitting here at my kitchen table, the house is quiet for a mere 13 more minutes, boxes surround my wooden chair and I’m processing this move, thinking about our future and day-dreaming what it will be like to live in the little town we are moving to. To my left, I see a section of baskets in my family room. There’s nine of them. Do I really need nine baskets? I filled each and every one of those nine baskets with stuff, too. And then I thought, I have nine more baskets in the basement, nine more on the second floor, nine more in our storage room and at least 99 more in the attic!
I must have a thing for baskets, like my hubby has a thing for water bottles and portable coffee mugs.
And behind me? The kids plastic plates, bowls and cups … in a box that is almost 2-feet deep.
Why?
I have to say, there’s just a part of me that is ready to live a simpler life without so much stuff. Seriously, why do we need 50 water bottles? And why do we need 27 plastic plates and 59 plastic cups? And how did we even acquire 20,000 pounds of stuff?
In our basement/toyroom, I packed at least 10 big boxes of toys. Yes, TOYS. Our two big boys (ages 3 and 5) haven’t asked for any of those toys once. They haven’t unpacked the boxes to get to their toys. They haven’t said they “miss” a specific toy. They haven’t complained about being bored, nor have they said they wished their toys weren’t packed. Not once.
Honestly, I’m tempted to get rid of those boxes. Really, I am. You know, continuing with the whole “simple living” thing.
Our latest moving news, since we sold our home faster than we found a home to purchase, is that we have decided to rent a townhouse. We’re breathing and feeling good about our decision to go with the townhouse rental rather than the big, single-family home rental. The best part of all? I’m excited. I never thought I would be excited to live in a much smaller space than I’m used to, but I am. And I can’t help but think about how much more time I might have because of how easy it will be to keep up with taking care of a smaller space.
Time – something you can’t buy.
Web columnist and local blogger Angelique Lorence is a mother of three boys, a Robert Morris University alumna and resident of Washington County. Visit her personal blog Where the Piggy Toes Go for this column and more on family, food, fashion and everything in between. Follow The Piggy Toes on Facebook and on Twitter: @thepiggytoes.