My temp move and more minimal now

[Tradd]

As most of you probably remember reading, I learned in mid-October that the apartment-style building where I rent a privately-owned condo was SINKING. Condo association dragged their feet and outside work didn't begin until mid-November. I moved out Dec. 11. Only my LR and BR were affected by the inside work. My furniture was shoved into the kitchen, along with 4-5 tubs of kitchen/household stuff.

I stayed a condo owned by a friend of my landlords (she'd recently gotten married and moved into a house her DH had inherited). The condo was still furnished with all her "bachelorette" stuff, and the only K things I brought were my electric kettle and a thermal mug. The rest of my stuff (clothes, books, other personal stuff) went with me. 17 tubs in all (18 gallon size), along with 4 plastic crates of last minute K and bathroom items, and 3 trash bags of bedding. 1 tub was virtually all clothes hangers!

I ended up emptying out 2 tubs of stuff (the tubs were stuffed with 2 bags' worth of bedding). Got rid of about half the clothes hangers. 1 crate was empty, too.

I moved back home on Friday. I just finished putting my place back together early this evening. I pitched some more stuff (papers). Have some CDs to send to someone. Some class print outs (from someone who went through a previous class cycle) to return - Trader Joe's paper shopping bag full. When I'm done with the last bits of exam and the national exam for my theological program, I'm going to ditch all the print outs (I have them in digital form). I pulled out another 10-11 books to donate (church library) when dealing with my books today. I might cull a few more books when totally done with exams.

My LR feels so empty without all the tubs sitting around as they had for two months!

I just have to hang a few pictures and that's it. Landlord will be coming by later in the week to finish a few things, and will remove the cans of paint from my small storage closet in the hall. I can then move my stack of empty tubs and extra bar stool into the closet. I also have some tubs to return to a coworker.

My landlords were very happy with how easy I was to work with and the fact that I didn't go wacko on them, as I might easily have done. The family members of landlord who moved my stuff were astonished but also very grateful I'm a minimalist. They moved all my stuff in one minivan load. I didn't have to schlepp anything besides my laptop bag.

I did, however, freak out a bit when I got home for the first time on Friday after work. They had moved my stuff in while I was at work. Landlord's mom (wife half of landlords) was didn't do all the cleaning she was supposed to! The inside of all my K cabinets and drawers was covered with a thin, powdery, white film from the concrete slab being drilled through and foam pumped down into it. Same with bathroom vanity and medicine cabinet. And all the clothes rods and multiple shelves in my big BR closet. The bathroom and K lino floors were also covered with this powdery white dust. I let the wife half of landlord know how unhappy I was and how dirty things were. She apologized profusely. I'm still sore from all the cleaning I had to do. I cleaned from top to bottom.

I'm at a sweet spot with my level of minimalism right now, but I really need to keep on top of things, especially with papers (amazing since all my bills are paperless, but I still have a lot of papers from other things). I'm going to try to buy Kindle format books from now on (I read on my iPod Touch).

I think I have to write a "Real Life Minimalist" piece for Miss Minimalist's blog about this experience...

I'm SO glad it's all over. I'm especially thankful for my dishwasher, good water pressure, and DSL internet! I had to tether my Android smart phone via usb cable to my laptop in order to get internet (if I wanted to type out something longer than was easy to do on my phone). It was an amazingly fast connection.

It's very cold here today and I can snuggle in my own bed amongst my own things, and not be wandering amid someone else's stuff.

Home sweet home.:D

[Zoe Girl]

That is great that you are back home! I hope you got a big rent break or other benefit from your cooperative nature. I would also be upset about the messy film on things, it seems that you deserve another break on some rent for the amount of cleaning you had to do. It is not often we have all that extra time to do.

I know the feeling of being grateful for a minimalist lifestyle. Many years ago when my kids were young we bought a house and moved less than a mile. Work friends of my ex came and helped us and i heard they were very worried about helping since others they had helped were not packed, owned a huge amount of stuff, etc. Well even with 3 kids we were pretty minimal and ready to go on moving day. It earns you a lot of goodwill!

Enjoy being home

[Tradd]

My landlords gave me $100 off January's rent, plus gave
me $20 to cover having to use coin-op laundry room at the place I stayed at. Works for me.

[Zoebird]

very cool re: rent.

i have to say, i'm feeling anxious because i feel like we ahve to much stuff. some of it is stuff that we need to let go of... baby stuff mostly. and at the office -- ack. we gotta clear one room out entirely.

but, like you, i am so thankful. we moved very quickly when we moved from there to here. but my goodness, we do need to stay on top of it. :)

[Mrs-M]

Oh, Tradd, I'm thrilled for you! Quietly, in my own little corner, way over here, my neck of the woods, I've been thinking of you, daily. Such a disappointment Re: the mess you had to move back into. Not much effort there...

But I know in speaking for myself, doing a thorough, top-to-bottom clean, always makes one feel better, just seeing and knowing all is done, so although it was a lot of work for you, I know you're probably happier with the end result. I find no one cleans to the standards I do anyway.

The break in your rent is a nice gesture. Somehow, even when the dollars and cents still don't add up to all the hard work and effort one invested, one can reflect on a little peace of mind, knowing there's a little more paper in your pocket for a change, rather than someone else's. :)

[flowerseverywhere]

So glad to read this positive post on a situation that could have been ugly if you had made it so. It sounds like you made the best of the situation and I love the fact that you are exhibiting a minimalist lifestyle by getting rid of all the excess stuff.

Back to shredding... I keep culling and shredding and giving away but there always seems to be more.

[Tradd]

I've gotten rid of more stuff. 30-40 class related books were mailed to a classmate several classes behind me. I'll be reimbursed for the postage. I threw out all my class related papers. I have it all in digital form. I just have my 5-6 notebooks left.

I won a nicer, smaller digital camera at a work party last week. My two year it's camera is going to a friend who needs one after hers was stolen and she doesn't really have the money to replace it, since a new baby is on the way.

I need to go through my CDs. And I suspect I can get rid of many of them.

If I do end up moving to Atlanta in a few years, I want to go with only what I can take in my car, with shipping a, few boxes. I have so few books now, it's amazing. Feels wonderful! They should all fit in my small bookcase now.