Our #movenocrap Efforts & a House Update

This just in: we're definitely moving.  And we definitely have a place to live!  (A Townhouse near the lake.  Yay.)  The first part, we're not particularly excited about (we love our rental house), but I'm definitely grateful we have a place to call home in six weeks or so.

And the thing is, depending on Adam's school situation (which we'll know more about by the end of the year, hopefully!), we could be moving again in June.  Yes, that's in eight months. 

Obviously, it's not ideal, but we have a lot of life up in the air, and a lot of life out of our control.  So I'm working on the part that I can control, and that's our stuff. 

It's been quite a process to get to this point of dealing with all of our STUFF in the house.

(Feel free to stop reading here, if you'd like.  This is more for my personal reference, just so I can have this all in one place.  But if perhaps this has been on your heart or mind as well, then read on!)

• I think it started last year as we got back from Guatemala the first time--upon returning, I was appalled at how much stuff we had. 
• I read Jen Hatmaker's book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny against Excess, last summer.  (What a name, right??)  She and her family studied seven different areas that the average American has in excess and gives them up, individually, for a period of four weeks.  The funny thing is, she didn't ever expect people to want to do the experiment themselves.  There are now churches doing it, and small groups, and individuals.  I haven't done it, but the book still really made an impact on me, and I think on it often.  I also really love her blog (linked above), and I enjoyed hearing her speak in person. 

• Knowing (in the back of my mind) we potentially faced a move in the future because of school, plus experiencing Guatemala and reading 7, I have been weeding out my stuff since last summer (mostly clothes).  The sad thing is, I had so far to go. 
• This year, we went to Guatemala a second time, and again, I came back appalled at how much stuff we still had, and how little our Guatemalans had, yet they had such joy!
• A call from our rental company in early August confirmed that a move was possible.  We love, love, love our house.  We love how close it is the park, and we take great pride in our little place, and have made such great memories here.  So we were really sad for about a week, and now the feeling still comes and goes.  Also...I absolutely hate not knowing where we're going to live.  It's a flaw that I have, and I'd like to say that it's getting better with time.  So while we were playing of playing a waiting game (Can WE buy the house?  Should we?  Will she really sell it?), I still felt the need to do something.  So, I made a list.  This list has 34 places to go through and clean out, sort and purge things around our house.  

• After two weekends of purging, the Good Will pile is embarrassingly large, the trash and recycling bins have been filled up, and we were only about 60% of the way through the list.  It feels so good.  Really.  
• After an additional two weekends,  more cleaning out, more trash, and starting to pack, I feel like we will move a significantly lighter load than before, when we moved two years ago.

If you talk to us in real life, we will tell you about our first moving experience as a married couple.  It wasn't exactly pretty.  That being said, we have a deep desire to move well this time around.   I brought a lot of stuff (read: literal crap in the form of full boxes, plus a lot of furniture) to our marriage, and I intend to not move more than necessary.  Lots of it is furniture, but I also added 50 boxes to that.  Yes...50. That seems rather preposterous for one person.

Adam has less than I do (which isn't hard to do), so we're working on smaller projects together.  I'm trying to be really sensitive about just giving away his things, so I have a (rather large!) pile of stuff to ask him about.  We shall see.  :-)

On my/our journey to #MoveNoCrap and have less stuff, I've been inspired by these blogs, in addition to the book I mentioned, above:

• The Small Notebook Blog has great, practical advice.  And she lives in Texas.  (Bonus!)
• The Minimalist Mom we're not going to the extreme of minimalism, but I think she has some great tips and thoughts.  I enjoy her point of view.
• The Nester's 30 days With No Accessories again--extreme (this girl likes her accessories), but a great point of view. 
• Nester's 31 day series that she does each October is always inspiring.  I love to go back and look through her ideas. 

This past weekend, Mom came over and helped me pack up the guest room.  (Such great help!)  We purged and sorted out things I definitely want to use when we're in our Townhouse, and things I can live without for eight months or so.  I feel really good about the progress we've made, and we've also agreed to get movers this time around.  I think that will help immensely.  (That, and the fact that we're not moving from four different locations, like last time.)

Good Will Drop Off #1

Good Will Drop Off #2

 

Packing Up: Green Tape means it stays in the garage, Red labels means it comes in with us.  

So that's the latest on our move.  We're still going to be near the Lake, and can walk down a trail to get there.  It's not far from where AMP lived before we got married, and we have lots of happy memories in the area.  Mom has dubbed our next place, "Camp AMP," and I think it's fitting.  Although, it will be less camping and more glamping (glamor + camping = Shay's kind of temporary living)! 

We're out of town three out of the six weekends until we move...hence why the packing has already started.

We're really grateful for a place to live, happy memories in this house and all the help we have packing and moving.  So here's to trusting the Lord knows exactly what will come next!