Moving sucks!
We have all had to do it at one point in our lives and moving a residence is a chore and a half no one ever looks forward to.
Once you know you’re moving, the dread sets in about what all has to get done in order to make it possible and as seamless as possible.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that moving is an opportunity to get rid of stuff you’ve had forever.
We all have those boxes. You know the ones I mean and if you’re like me you’ve got more than one.
Those are the boxes where you put stuff saying, “I might need this one day.”
Mine generally contain cables for TVs or sound systems, phone chargers and assorted plugs, patch cables in case you need to run something else through the sound system. You get the idea.
There are also the boxes that contain all your old electronics. Laptops, tablets and phones you haven’t used for six years.
It pains me to admit that I’ve moved my boxes of those items far too many times over the years. Every time I moved my thought has been, “but, I might need something in there one day and if I do, I don’t have to buy it!”
Well, my wife and I are just finishing up a move, and this time it called for significant downsizing as we were going from a house with a basement to store all our old crap to a condo that has limited storage at best.
So, I finally bit the bullet and said enough is enough. I pulled those boxes out of the corner, blew off the years of dust accumulation and started going through it all.
My mantra was “If I haven’t used it in the last year, then it is either put in the garbage or, for what I can recycle, taken to the e-recycling drop-off centre.”
I admit it was refreshing to get rid of a lot of stuff we had been moving around for years, never using but keeping just because we might need it one day.
The fact of having an electronic recycling centre drop-off was a huge influence in getting rid of things so at least they didn’t end up in the landfill sitting there forever.
We still aren’t totally done moving, and yes, there are another couple of trips to drop off a few old tube televisions.
Moving has a way of really making you look at everything you have. You have to actually handle it, pick it up, cart it across the city (or to another city).
Call it moving, or spring cleaning, or whatever you like. I feel better having gotten rid of stuff I wasn’t using, and in all likelihood would never, ever use again.
My box of stuff “I might use again someday,” has been limited to one box from several boxes and contains things I “really” might use.
Give it a try, purge that stuff you have in that box down in the corner of the basement or storage room. I’m willing to bet you feel better, too.
Warren Affleck is a news anchor and reporter at 102.1 CJCY.
