Below is an IM between me and my good friend, Chrissy. Let me preface the transcript by saying I signed a lease for a new place in Austin today. In true Kristin-fashion, I have been in my current apartment exactly ONE year, and that means time to rearrange the furniture or time to move. I would have been content to stay were I was, but a perfect little Kristin-house (HOUSE!) practically fell into my lap last week, and I couldn’t help but take it. Pictures here, more to come later.

K: I think I’m going thru some anxiety about leaving my apartment. It’s such a great place.
K: BUT its just walls and carpet. And this is a house. Small, but a house. And I love moving. :)
C: I hate moving. And when I do, D is going to make me throw a lot of stuff away
K: Moving is great for that. I don’t hang on to a lot - I take loads to Goodwill. Last time I took in TWO garbage bags of just shoes. TWO!
C: See? He’ll make me do that. I’m not emotionally prepared for something like that. Although I’ve been doing really good since I’ve been with him. I have a bag of goodwill and will show it to him… “See? I’m getting rid of stuff!”
K: That’s GOOD! But one bag isn’t enough. :) It doesn’t have to be shoes. It can be anything. If you haven’t used it in more than 2 years - its fair game
C: Keep away from D. You’ll side with him and I’ll lose all of my worldly possessions.
K: When I was home last month, we accidentally got locked out of the house for about an hour. We started going thru boxes in the garage - things my sister and I packed when we were like 12 and 16. My mom found FIVE hair dryers. She’d think she lost one in some move and buy another one and so on, and so on. FIVE. And she still wont throw them away. “What if the one I have now breaks? I’ll just use one of these”
K: BUT - she found tons of pointy toed 80s shoes that are totally back in style. Yellow, green, purple.
C: LOL… see???? I feel vindicated. And in another 20 years, she can use them AGAIN
K: Maybe not the hairdryers - but if she takes care of the shoes, absolutely. :) My point is - some things KEEP, other things… you gotta let go.
C: Well, even I admit that the hairdryers is excessive
K: What’s D’s email - he and I will talk. Get things all sorted out for you.
C: Oooh…you better not!! That’s just mean. I can never leave the two of you alone in my house… you’d just throw all of my stuff out
C: I think that’s worse than me being afraid of you sleeping together!!
K: LOL!!
K: Come on! Old computer speakers…. and gadgets… imagine what you could live without!
C: EXACTLY… I would die without them
K: You wouldn’t die w/out them. After the initial shock, you wouldn’t even remember you HAD them. :) Who needs all those broken mice and speaker wires?
C: I DO… ME
C: Minimalist bitches

As I said, I don’t hold on to much, but this got me thinking about the things I DO keep thru all my many moves. Here are my pack-rat weaknesses:

  • Magazine clippings. When I’m reading a magazine and see something I like (craft project, cute shirt, must-have new body product), I tear it out. I have piles of these all over my apartment. When I move, they end up at the bottom of some “office” box and I rarely ever see them again.
  • Bad pictures. Before digital cameras, maybe five or six pictures out of every roll of film I developed was actually worth keeping. Yet I insist on keeping the entire batch. I have a full sized box of JUST prints and negatives that I’ll never do anything with, yet I just can’t throw them away.

    • Pack-rat weaknesses I totally get from my mom:

  • Office supplies and toiletries. Seriously. I have at least two FULL boxes of EACH (pens, envelopes, notepads, staplers, paperclips, hole-punchers and then shampoo, makeup, hairspray, lotion, sunscreen, perfume, hair thingies – you get the idea). When I start packing my office and bathroom, there needs to be an intervention.