HOW TO MOVE

When we were called to this community over 20 years ago, it was not a sure thing that we would stay long-- with a clergy move it never is. So it was handy that an old weather-tight sleeping attic was here, that we didn't need for the kids. Up to the attic went all the boxes worth re-using. Some were used for household purposes, and some given away to others who were moving, as we relaxed into our placement here. Most of the empties were gone when we had the fire in 2000 that gutted that attic (along with our stored possessions).

Later that attic became the FolkieDorm, our summer master BR, a housemate's space, and (after my surgery) a workout room. The center is still exercise equipment, but the wall spaces are now back to their earliest-with-us usage: our own personal box store.

Today I print the signage I will pin to the walls, having used my fone to list the sections so I can paste text into signs. I have sections for:

Appliance boxes (broken down flat)
Large egg boxes (lightweight bulky kitchen stuff)
Small egg boxes (china to then stack into larger boxes)

Skinny picture boxes of various sizes

Square-bottom and cube-shaped boxes

Large lampshade boxes

Misc rectangle boxes of various heights (one size too heavy for books)

Flat USPS-mailer type boxes to protect fragile art pieces then placed into larger boxes

Open-top banana-type boxes with:
Packing newsprint
Packing bubbles
(These open boxes make great "drawers" for underbed storage)

Most of these boxes are assembled open (without tape), so I can see what they are.

As more of their types come along, they'll be stored completely flat, in between them. I can keep a running inventory on the signage as we get closer to the final BIG move in a few years. Because the open boxes are not taped, it will be simple to break them down flat if space gets tight.

The last type of box will be book boxes, for which we have a great free local source. They are erctangles small enough to hold just enough books/files for ME to tote myself, and I won't need to get those till the real moving date is scheduled. They'll probably be sent to the rooms with books, not up to our Box Store.

A litter box and frequent trips up there by dogs and cats have been keeping it all free of rodentia. It has a window or fresh air anytime.

With these boxes at our disposal, the next big decluttification will be the unheated spaces in the addition, that have served as attic-type storage-- and where a certain male packrat has completely blocked in my archive files, which now need a big purge as described in earlier threads. As I get to the archive purge, I'll be laughing my ass off at all the filing time I never spent on their contents!!!

I'm betting that the declut of those two rooms (picture a large, packed storage locker) will be a winter 2015-16 project. The space freed up will store all the stuff I'll prepack for the planned spring trips to Ohio, as well as potential yardsale/donate stuff for later. The summer and fall trips will set up my Ohio office, and there's a tall file cabinet blocked in, in the cold rooms, which I will want there soon.

~Susan