Monday, May 2, 2011

Getting a Jump Start on Packing

I've moved far away for school a time or two in my life, and one thing that always gets me is the sheer amount of packing that it takes to fit my life (or at least my room) into few enough boxes that I'm able to fit them all in my Explorer for a cross-country road trip.

So, I'm trying to get a head start. 

I am a very neat person when it comes to common areas in my house. My bathroom is spotless, my kitchen disgusts me if I have dishes in the sink for more than 18 hours, and I try to keep my living room pretty tidy -- a chore when you have three dogs spending most of their time indoors because it's getting so hot. And I tend to swiffer/sweep/vacuum/dust fairly regularly. I'm asthmatic, and don't like dust.

But my room is a different story.

To clarify: I keep my room "clean." I don't eat food in my room, the only drink I take in there is water, which I remove every morning, and I don't leave junk on my floor or shelves. I don't ever have any bugs or anything gross in my room, and I do swiffer and mop and clean my mirrors regularly. But my room is definitely not "neat." 

It looks like a library exploded in my room, I have so many books. They're perched at precarious angles on a multitude of surfaces. I also have no dressers, theoretically because I keep all of my clothes in my closet. In actuality, you can't see my chaise because it's buried in a mound of fashion choice discards from the last three weeks. My dirty laundry hamper is always full.

So in the past week I've pulled everything out of my closet and off of my bookshelves, organized it all, given away three giant garbage bags full of clothes and several grocery bags worth of books, and started to put everything back. And then I realized, wow, I'm just going to have to do this all again in a few months when I leave for Dallas.

It's always such a chore to pack everything up neat and tidy and in an efficient manner, and I always underestimate the time it will take me, so I tend to stay up for at least 48 hours before a move just getting it done. I don't want to do that this time around, so I'm starting now. I have boxed up most of my winter clothing -- jackets, sweaters, sweats, scarves, etc. -- and stacked them in our guest bedroom for now. I'll be going through and picking over more of my clothing and accessories in the next few days, trying to whittle down as much as possible.

Take my advice: don't get started too late on packing and organizing for a big move. It's always more work than you think it will be.

PS - For those who may be wondering, I both watch movies I've already seen a million times (High Society and Harry Potter 1) and listen to music while I pack. My packing jam of choice is "Heart Attack" by Raphael Saadiq. So so good. That whole album (Stone Rollin) just has this great old school vibe. Lovelovelove.

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