I'm really stressing right now. My husband and I got married and moved to GA in Aug 2005, we were there for less than a year, moved into a family member's shop apartment in IN for a year, on family's property in an old trailer for nearly 2 years, to KY for a job with home as part of package deal, and now the job and house are gone and we are having to move for the 5th time in under 5 years.
We have never been completely unpacked anywhere we've lived (including house #4) and now with having to move yet again to a much smaller place. I don't know where to start. I know we need to start purging stuff. I've read Flylady dozens of times and still haven't gotten organized enough to get it all done. How do I get everything packed and organized in a couple of weeks? Oh, and did I mention that I have 2 toddlers and a husband that works odd hours at a different job?
Any suggestions would be wonderful. Thanks
By Jessica
Well, I'd say now you must get organized! Just focus on 1 place at a time. Get out 1 unpacked box. Put the items in that one box into one of three boxes: keep, donate, garbage. Don't take over a couple of seconds with each thing. Go to the next box. Continue on until it's all sorted.
When you repack to move be sure to label your boxes. I just write a number on each one and keep a master list with a summary of what's inside: Box 1- linen closet stuff; Box 2 - extra kitchen stuff hardly ever used; Box 3 - my winter clothes, on and on.
One thing I would especially do is to set a time limit for myself. I absolutely hate packing to move (or filing!) so I set aside 15 minutes each to do that and make myself do it, but then I can quit when time is up. You may have to lengthen that since you have a deadline.
Another thing you must (or at least should) do is discard anything you haven't used in a year. You most likely don't need it if it's been that long.
My husband and I are poster kids for Pack Rats of America so I know what I'm talking about! He still has the long underwear the Marines issued him in 1949 when he was in Korea! He doesn't follow my plan obviously! (03/15/2010)
By Judi
First figure the upper limit on how much you can take realistically. Will you have a moving van or a U-Haul or? Second, remember and tell yourself over and over that "it's just stuff". Of course, it's your stuff and you don't want to be buying it over and over, but as the previous poster said, if you haven't used it in a year you may not need it. Depending on where you're going, it may be better to buy at a children's resale shop than to take all the clothes you've been saving for them to grow into.
On the other hand, kitchen stuff is more expensive than I had remembered when I moved (across country @ 1.50 a pound for moving). I truly feel for you and wish you all the best. You really have probably pruned stuff down in all your moves. I hope that this is the last one for a while. Don't fall into the trap of renting a storage unit for the overflow. Life will get in the way and you'll be paying for far longer than you had planned. (03/17/2010)
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