Over the years, I have become quite accustomed to moving. Over the last 7 years, I have only stayed in one place for longer than 6 months and that was for a total of 18 months. Needless to say, I love to move. Through that love and my growth as a minimalist, I have been able to develop a lifestyle that maintains very little “stuff” in the likely fact that I will move in the near future.
This past week, I packed up all my belongings, along with my girlfriend’s, and somewhat set forth for Phoenix, Arizona. I stopped in Sacramento to see family, flew to Colorado to enjoy a little bit of the snow, and will soon be headed to Southern California before ending up in Phoenix. With this big move, I was able to focus on minimalising which is always something I am extremely happy to do.
Here are the steps I took in preparing my move…
- Listed items (i.e. desk, clothing, bookshelf, etc.) on Craigslist. Not only was I able to sell many items I was going to trash anyways, I was able to come out about even on these second hand items I bought in August. For the most part, used the items FOR FREE during my stay in Chico, CA.
- Donated a bag of clothes. I don’t own many clothes so eliminating clothes is usually very limited. I was able to rid of some quality clothing that I wasn’t going to use anymore and that I am sure someone else may be able to use some more.
- Tossed stuff. It doesn’t matter how minimalistic my life is, I always find some trash somewhere in my home. I dumped about 2 full trash bags of junk.
- Forced what I was keeping into boxes. I put together the boxes I was allowing myself to bring to PHX and then put what was possible into these boxes. If something didn’t fit, I forced myself to eliminate something.
- Let go. As many of you read in Just Let Go, I am dumbfounded with the attachment to stuff some people have. I don’t so I eliminated each item possible with only about 1% of my stuff having any personal attachment.
These are the steps I take to moving. What are yours?
David Damron
The Minimalist Path
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