Obviously life is busy now... more than it's been... and not surprisingly, YAWYK is taking on a new meaning in my life.
After the past year of marital struggles and divorce, great jobs and jobs lost, and finally losing my home in this epic battle... this 28-year-old single mother of 2 is doing this unthinkable...
I'm moving in with my parents.
I am both torn and elated at this prospect. On one hand, I am saving a ton of money, my boys get to grow up close to their grandparents (whom they absolutely adore!) and I get to start off with a clean slate in a few years. Other the other, I am having to move my 2100sqft home into 2 bedrooms (one without a closet) and a shared bathroom. Most of what I own is going to be pared down even further than it already has been, another garage sale will take place in the next 30 days, and I will move on with life.
Its so hard to assess what you truly need versus what you just would like when you are suddenly in a place where you just can't take it all. This isn't like those trivial questions where someone asks you what you would grab if your home were burning down and you could only take what you could carry. This is the part where you have 30 days to weed through everything left in your adult home and take what you and your children need in order to live for a year or more in roughly 300 sq ft.
I know I can get a storage unit, which I might still do... but I already have shelves in my garage that house things like Christmas ornaments, decorations, and... crap... what else is out there?? And that will likely head to storage... but do I really want to put my La-Z-Boy sectional into storage to find a mouse family (or 5) have taken residence?? I know I could store my piano that I love so much, but do I really think that the 120 degree heat isn't going to damage that gorgeous finish?
So... hopefully for the next 30 days, I'll be able to document what I decide to keep... what I decide to let go of... and let you know some creative ways that me and the boys manage to keep our world organized and functional without losing everything we have!
If you have any great suggestions, let me know!
Thanks for hanging around! :)
Oh my gosh! We are in the EXACT same boat! I am living with my mom too. Down from my own house to 2 bedrooms & a shared bath between me & the two kiddos. Crazy, yet it is working out nicely. Best of luck to you!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that you've been having so many troubles, Tabitha but things can only get better from here, right? 3 1/2 years ago I moved from California to England and had to get rid of mostly everything. Read about it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://briabella.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/a-story-about-stuff/
My advice is to be brutal. Any items that won't be essential for setting up house when you get your own place again should go. If you can live without it for a year, you don't need it. Good luck and hang in there. :)
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI know that I am probably too late to really help you with your problem of what to keep and what to sell or give away, but here's what I've found helps me! (and I've got over 65 years of memories, and have acquired a lot of very interesting things over those years. A lot of the printed matter . . . newspaper clippings, and things I've looked up and printed off the internet, etc, are things I can look up again, if I ever really need them. Tried and true family recipes I've put on my computer, and made a flash drive of the folder. You can even scan those hand written ones from your grandmother, or mom, or pictures or cards the kids brought home from school.
The rest of the hard-to-part-with stuff I've taken photographs of, so that if I get ride of them, or, if they burn up in a fire, my memory cards or flash drives, or photos stored on my computer, are now all back-ups. (and the memory cards and flash drives are safely tucked away in a fire-proof box along with all the other essentials: Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Passports, etc. Obviously I still won't want to part with a lot of items that I'm going to have to anyway, some day, but having a picture of them helps me remember them, and still enjoy that memory and all the lovely thoughts that go along with it, who it was from, or, if a family heirloom, just warmly remembering that person!!! It's also great for items that you do hang on to, and that are of some value, because your photos of those items can be used for insurance purposes, if that ever becomes necessary!!!
Hope all went well and that you are now starting to find many new things to want to "hang-on-to"!!!
Anxious to hear how you made out!!!
Carol Florida U.S.A.