A Shard of Our Three-Year Plan

When I told my mother we were going to move north, I picked her brain for tips and advice on moving such a distance with kids and dogs; since she's done it a few times. Among her advice was this gem, "Plan for this to take years." This is realistic advice because Betty is the one home most often, so logically, she would get the brunt of it. So I have been pondering what I can do. I like lists, but I know I'm a procrastinator. So this morning I decided to make a common sense list of things we can do bit-by-bit that will help reduce what we pack, as well as make it easier to live. (Think living simply) Because we are all packrats, we need to approach this in baby steps, otherwise we'll get rid of nothing and be right back where we started. So after putting our heads together, Betty and came up with the following list:

• reduce books and magazines we no longer read or use all of (why keep a whole magazine for one recipe? Copy out the recipe and pass the mag on to a doctor's office)
• reduce outgrown and no longer worn clothes
• clean out kitchen cupboards (think of that one cupboard that you stash little-used grocery items)
• make the pantry we've always wanted (this will also help us stock up on food better and regain control of those kitchen cupboards)
• clean off desks and reduce the amount of paper we keep (with an eye to my research notes and the fact that my freelance writing figures into our three year plan)
• learn the skills that will help us reduce our grocery bills, and thereby help us prepare for the coming food price hike, as well as the coming food shortage

Now, this might not seem like much to some, but to us, this is huge. I figure we can reduce our "stuff load" by quite a bit.

I admire those who can embrace simple living, all the while admitting it won't work for this family. But we can do these simple things. Less stuff to move equals easier cleaning, and possibly reduced allergies. Less stuff to move means a smaller truck to transport it in, and less of a carbon footprint.

Many perks, few drawbacks.