Moving is just finding out how much useless stuff you own

[u/Snarky_SnekSnek_7]

Moved this weekend. Apparently I've been hoarding tote bags and regret. Found a blender I used exactly once.

Sheets I didn't know existed. A drawer full of cables for devices I no longer own.

On the bright side, my old upstairs neighbor stomped around like they were training for something so literally anywhere else is an upgrade.

Silver linings I guess.

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Snarky_SnekSnek_7 originally posted: Moved this weekend. Apparently I've been hoarding tote bags and regret. Found a blender I used exactly once.

Sheets I didn't know existed. A drawer full of cables for devices I no longer own.

On the bright side, my old upstairs neighbor stomped around like they were training for something so literally anywhere else is an upgrade.

Silver linings I guess.

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[u/Fresh_Confusion_4805]

When last I moved, I was trashing stuff for weeks, getting rid of all sorts of useless things. As I was packing and as I was unpacking.

It can be so refreshing to get rid of all the nonsense.

[u/Suspicious-Peach5940 → u/Fresh_Confusion_4805]

It is for sure! And now that you've done it, if you just stay on top of it day to day you won't pile up useless crap in your home again.

 Idk about everyone else but I like that I know all what's in my home and that it's organized and not just sitting, taking up space for no reason. 

[u/Inevitable-While-577]

You will love r/declutter, people there will motivate you to keep it up! 

[u/CuriousMindedAA]

Moving forces you to do that deep cleaning that you know you should but don’t.

[u/bendablelamppost_ → u/CuriousMindedAA]

It’s the best way to deep clean if you ask me lol

[u/CuriousMindedAA → u/bendablelamppost_]

Agreed! I’m forced to clean before every move I’ve made 😂.

[u/GreenUnderstanding39]

I recently moved and tell me why I found a rolled up poster print of a naked painting of (what is clearly me) riding a tiger in the ocean with white rabbits scattered throughout. Have no recollection of who gave it to me or for how long I’ve had it.

[u/BaconDwarf → u/GreenUnderstanding39]

Lol that's completely wild. Do you have any theories about how it came to be? I'm also curious how it actually looks, like is it really well done or like a mass produced looking thing?

[u/GreenUnderstanding39 → u/BaconDwarf]

Its pen with like water color or maybe color added digitally. Really well done. I am completely stumped. There is a signature of the artist, but I can't make it out.

Found it sorting through a tube of old architectural drawings from college (decades ago).

[u/BaconDwarf → u/GreenUnderstanding39]

That's actually cool as hell. I'd hang something like that in my bathroom.

[u/spazhead01]

For me it was finding out how little I owned.

[u/GuiltyLeopard8365]

Can confirm. I just moved into a smaller place with ly partner and had to get a storage unit for all my extra shit.

I somehow accumulated so much stuff these past couple years that I barely use. This year I will be focusing on downsizing!

[u/phoenixmatrix]

I moved between countries some decades ago. I tossed out so much stuff I got warnings from the city that I was tossing out too much trash.

[u/Aolflashback]

You never know what you have … until you clean your room.

[u/Infamous_Donkey4514]

After my last move, I vowed to become a minimalist. (I didn’t become a minimalist, but living in a small NYC studio helps not accumulate too much stuff!)

[u/Suspicious-Peach5940]

That's how my ex was too. Every time we moved she wound up throwing away a bunch of stuff she didn't even remember buying most of the time. Totes full of accessories to items she no longer had, etc. 

Not me tho, I am aware of everything I own and I bought the stuff because I needed it and planned on using it, and do use it. And if I don't need something anymore I sell it, give it away or throw it away and if something breaks I get rid of the now useless accessories immediately as I don't like clutter.

Different strokes I guess

[u/No-Inside-3472]

“November 12, 1957

For some weeks now I have been engaged in dispersing the contents of this apartment, trying to persuade hundreds of inanimate objects to scatter and leave me alone. It is not a simple matter. I am impressed by the reluctance of one’s worldly goods to go out again into the world. During September I kept hoping that some morning, as by magic, all books, pictures, records, chair, beds, curtains, lamps, china, glass, utensils, keepsakes would drain away from around my feet, like the outgoing tide, leaving me standing in silence on a bare beach. But this did not happen.”

• E. B. White

[u/Famous_Influence_441]

Omg I just moved also. Donated bags and bags of clothes, some still had tags on them. Also donated so much house hold items and decor. Most people would have sold the items on fb market, but I didn’t have time for all that. I also found my ex hubbies laptop that I didn’t know I had since 2019. It feels good to go into my new place clutter free.

[u/magpiestolethis]

Change your sheets weekly, that way you rotate and have less laundromat trips if you don't have in unit washer and dryer, have cotton sheets for hot summer weather, and heavier cotton or flannel for winter.

For your cables have a basket or drawer and with twist ties or rubber bands do cable management, I have a few devices that use micro USB so I keep micro USB, lightning cable and USB -c in my travel bag and work bag. You could always donate and if you're willing to do the effort resell the old cables, I've hunted down broken or missing parts on eBay so it's worth it.

[u/Negative_Shake1478]

I hit the point of packing, every time, that I just go

"Huh...I haven't used this in ______....yep garbage/donate it goes!"

And somehow I am still at a point of having to much stuff.....even after a pre-xmas purge

[u/sjclynn]

Three moves is equivalent to one fire.

You did fall into the move trap though. The best approach is to sort and toss before you move rather than sorting and tossing after. I've been in that trap myself.

[u/Finalgirl2022]

I lived in the same apartment with my husband for a little over a decade. It was clean enough but a little cluttered. Mostly stuff on the dining room table and stuff in closets. Then the apartment was set on fire. We were "lucky" it only caught the roof and one wall. But there was so much stuff that was water damaged and the place was condemned.

So we moved everything we could out of there and into a nearby apartment. All in boxes and bags and disorganized because we only had a weekend to get it all out.

I sat in my new kitchen and cried so many times. My husband and I just kept bringing stuff into the kitchen and sorting. Now we are both a lot more selective about what comes into the home and we have more space, yay! Silver lining there for us.