More Pre-Moving Progress

I was talking to a friend about this process of getting ready for the move, and she was surprised when I said I'm working hard because I've always been so bad at moving (so bad; seriously, SO BAD). And I can see her point, that that is out of character for me in a way, but history doesn't lie, and I have never been ready when the movers come. And that's with having hit the crisis mode of "who cares, just throw it out, I don't care anymore."

I don't know, maybe in this way, I am flashing back to my procrastination problems in junior high, when Miss Goody-Two-Shoes got in trouble for not doing school projects. With moving, I always underestimate how long things will take (especially the kitchen*), and the panic mode just doesn't get enough done. Hopefully, this time, with this much lead time, and no set date (set by anyone other than me, that is), it won't get as bad. Only time will tell.
*I haven't started to tackle the kitchen yet, but what I've done needs doing, too. It will come.

One thing I've finally gotten around to is laying out all my shoes together, to assess what can go. I'm pretty sure this is actually everything, too, with the known exception of my snow boots, rain boots, and sneakers, which were all on the boot tray by the door. I didn't feel the need to move those, since I know I will get rid of the snow boots after winter is done, will keep the sneakers, and will probably keep the rain boots, so those decisions are done.

Seeing everything laid out was actually less overwhelming than I had expected! I was able to sort out half of them to go without much pain; there are a couple of "maybes" that I kept for now. And the keepers are all tidied away.

Those bins aren't all full, either, but I'm keeping them for now, and will decide later if they move. The shoes are halved, tidy, and out of the way, which suits me for today.

Other areas I have tackled recently: VHS tapes* and DVDs, as well as audiobooks, and my shelf of hockey books. The amount of dust on those was appalling. I hope to find someone who wants the majority, but even if I just drop them off at the Used Book Superstore, I'm feeling good about the few chosen ones that remain.
*Only had a few left, but most of them are going now.

I'm still working out the details of what to move, especially in terms of furniture: as I mentioned, I've made floor plans and moved around cutouts of the different pieces, to make sure of what will fit in my new bedroom, and the room that will be my office/guest room. You can see how high-tech I am (who uses graph paper anymore, right?).

Bedroom:

And office:

I know the photos aren't great, but I'm just trying to give you the idea. (No one but me is worried about the details.) I've done this before when I moved, and was quite proud once when the movers commented on how everything was fitting where I wanted them to put it. Yes! Thank you for noticing! I worked to achieve that!

This time, it's the same but different. Will this fit there, what about that, where can I put the other? I have two dressers, plain but sturdy, which I brought home when my aunt was getting rid of them, some few years ago (I expect I wrote about it then, but I can't find it now), and I wasn't sure about moving them. I don't love them, they are purely functional to me, but they have been "in the family" since my mother was young, so I decided to check with her, justincase. And no, she doesn't feel sentimental about them, and she has two dressers already, so we won't need them to start with at least. The pendulum thus swung firmly to "would be cheaper to replace than to move," and Sunday night I looked at them and thought, "You know, I bet I could clear one of them out now, and make some room."

So I did (some things moved around, some things in the donate pile, some in the try on pile), and I listed it on the local giveaway page on Facebook, and someone (actually, the same people who took the table last week) spoke up for it. Good! Out it goes! (The other one I will need to hang onto until it's time to move; my underwear has to go somewhere, after all.)

Because of this, I decided to do a bit of tweaking in the bedroom. I don't know yet how all the details will work out, in terms of listing and selling the place, and I'm not quite ready to touch base with the realtor again yet, but I thought I could move things around and see how it looked with a seating area incorporated into the bedroom. (It's a really big bedroom, actually.)

You can see the before pictures, as well as the then-after, when I wrote about working in the bedroom way back in April; I can say that I didn't lose a ton of ground from the decluttering work I did then. Have there been times when things got piled on the chair? Yes, but not always. It's a battle I fight, the "what do I do with this layer that I've worn, but isn't dirty, so I could wear it again." Usually things end up piling up on the couch or the chair.

Seating area (with hamper; it has to go somewhere, while I live here, and behind the door is as good as anything).

I'm not planning to move the rocking chair, btw, so if anyone local wants it, speak up. I think it's charming, but my legs are too long for it to be a comfortable seat.

Then, against the opposite wall, there are all the clothing collectors except the one under the humidifier (pictured above; that can move once we're past humidifier season). Just to the right is the closet, so now I can see all my clothing together (well, other than the dressier clothes in the linen closet, but it's most of it).

Oh, do you want to see the clothes in the linen closet, too? Slightly but not fully purged:

So all this is good progress, though there's still plenty to do. But progress is progress. For instance, I wrote back in April:

The blue Rubbermaid tote holds sweaters that I'm not sure about; they may go, but today was not their day.

Well, that day wasn't, but this day was. I put one sweater, one I made myself but that pilled terribly, in the box I have that is labeled "memory clothes"; I may or may not keep it, and all of those, when I move, but I wasn't ready to get rid of them now. The other sweaters, with a sigh, they went. I haven't opened the bin since April, confirming what I already knew: I don't wear these*. Hopefully, someone else will.
*Which doesn't surprise me; I knew I was keeping them for sentimental, not practical, reasons.

As for the memory clothes, today was not their day, but that day may come, at least for some of the items in the box. One step at a time. It's slow, but it gets you there.

P.S. I did an online search for holiday cards with a moving theme, and did you know that only multi-person families move? Or perhaps they're the only ones to let people know they moved? It's (almost ) all "We've Moved!" and "Our New Home!" This is going to take some digging, apparently.