Packing

My theory on packing is that nothing should move that we don't use or want. However, this requires either cleaning out and organizing before you start packing OR doing it as you go. Both of them take time....... and thought. Sigh.

My original plan was to get through the entire apartment before we starting packing. It didn't really happen. I mean, its not like we have trash lying around - its just the day to day clutter that sits on my desk, chair, etc. Matt cleaned off his desk and found bills (that had been paid long ago) that were dated in the 2009, 2008 and yes - 2007. See, this is what happens when your life is so busy that you don't do either of the above and you just pack EVERYTHING without thinking. We are BOTH guilty of doing this!!!!

I haven't promised Matt and myself that it will be SO much easier to unpack at the condo when we don't open boxes and say, "well, we don't need this! Why did we pay movers to truck this up here?"

And so, with the start of boxes last night I realized just how many bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body scrub, etc that we keep under our sink. Now, part of this is because we shop at BJ's for the things we can to save $$. This does mean however, that you may end up with 4 or something that you only needed 1 of. Not a huge deal except - where do you PUT all that stuff??

List of my new practices in the Condo:
1 - no more buying shampoo until everything we have is all gone. I don't care if I have to mix bottles for a while. I don't need 4 types of shampoo.... or conditioner... or face scrub.... or body lotion!
2 - when the mail comes - sort through and recycle all the 'junk' mail before opening the rest. Also, make sure you only keep what you need, ie keep the credit card statement but recycle the envelopes and adds that come with the statement. We pay everything online now through our Bank, so no need to keep the envelopes. (This is a trick I learned from my hubby!)
3 - we really need to convert our VHS to DVD's. Its just a simple fact of space saving. What currently houses the VHS tapes (4 shelves) could easily fit on 1 to 2 shelves if they were DVD's.
4 - stop any magazine subscription we don't read. We keep them thinking we will read them one day, or we'll reference them for something. No. Not once have we done either of those things. So pull out the pages with projects and donate the rest to a local school that can use the pages for scrap booking.
5 - any too big/ too small/ worn out clothes you have? Get rid of them. Don't keep them thinking one day you'll be that size again, because even if you do? fashion will have changed. So just move on. Take them to a consignment shop, a Goodwill or Salvation Army and take the tax credit while cleaning out the closet.

OK! I'm off to finish my lists and make sure everything gets done before we move! :-)
Happy cleaning out and organizing!!