Empty. Finally.
I’m not sure whether I’m proud or embarrassed to admit that we retrieved our final items, out of storage, over the weekend. You know, since we closed and moved into the new house a full two months ago.
Keith has been working non-stop, since the move, and I’ve been managing the kid, the dog that (mostly) knows how to behave, and a small pony-like pup. It has honestly, felt like chaos and confusion for the duration.
Which is why this felt like a big win.
This was also the first of three storage units we rented, in what would become our crazy game of moving jenga. This one was a medium sized storage unit, and we thought it was going to be more than enough space. Because we had our fingers crossed that we’d be moving directly from the cul-de-sac (old) house to the black (new) house. We started putting stuff into this unit before the cul-de-sac house was actually listed. Christmas tree and decorations. Stuff that was mostly ‘stored’ in the house, anyway.
When the cul-de-sac house when under contract, the same day it was listed and closing was set for less than four weeks later, we knew we were going to scramble. But then the timeline (to finish) for the black house also started moving further and further away. Delays aplenty, thanks to a global pandemic and breaks in the supply chain. We went to the storage facility and attempted to rent a much larger unit. But there were no longer any available. There also weren’t any medium sized units available. Small and tiny were our options. So we had to get creative.
We kept the medium size unit and opted for two smaller sized units, in addition. The smallest unit became Keith’s workshop – strictly for tools, equipment, and supplies, so that he could keep working.
We donated so much stuff before we moved, but when it came down to the (closing) wire, we were cramming whatever was left, into those storage units. As soon as we closed on the black house, we un-jenga-ed those units and emptied the smaller two.
Check and check.
But the medium size unit was a bit more complicated. Because it held all that stuff that we tossed in but weren’t sure we’d need. Or really want.
This weekend, we finished it off. We sold old sports equipment to a local reseller, and dropped the rest of the furniture at a donation center. And we rolled that door down for the last time.
Throughout this move, we’ve been assessing how much ‘stuff’ we have, and how much simpler we want to live. And despite the fact that we had empty rooms in the cul-de-sac house, and after donating SO.VERY.MUCH along the way, we still feel like we have excess stuff.
But today we have less. And as cliche as I know it is, less really does feel like more.
At the very least, it feels like more breathing space.