Unpacking Woes

[yolen]

When 2 packrat bookworms marry, it makes for interesting adventures in unpacking. So much of our stuff is still in boxes. I just opened up a box and recoiled at how many damn pairs of shoes I have. Well, it's not a crazy number of shoes, but the problem is where to put them all! And where the eff will I put all of my decorative tchotckes, and all of my books...fings is the dominant book owner around here and most of the shelving units are already taken and shit, there's still more books waiting for me at my parent's house! Also, I'm utterly daunted by looking into the boxes marked "Miscellaneous" from the last frantic night of packing up fings' apt before he moved to the condo. It will be a marvel to behold what those boxes contain, and a mystery where it will all go. And the guest bedroom is exploding with "stuff". And we need a sofa (and a ride to IKEA to get one!), and a new dining room set. Ack. Like I said, interesting adventures :P.

Comments

[hilarymax.livejournal.com]

We moved into our co op 3 years ago and still have boxes that are packed. Mostly CD's as we really don't use them any more. But yes the unpacking is way worse then the packing. As far as books you need to purge. Ron is the book whore too (all computer books) and finally went through and got rid of a lot. I also went though mine. We finally have all books either gone or in the book shelves.

Anyway good luck with all that!

[yolen.livejournal.com]

GAH, I really, really hope that we get everything done within a couple of months. We know for sure that certain things (like cds, for instance) will be going into boxes and into the storage closet in the basement. There are also 3 large cubby holes over the all of the closets that will be useful for storage.

The sad thing about the books is...my husband already did a book purge sometime last year, and got rid of about 2 milk crates worth of stuff. Everything I have here are either books that I know I am keeping or books that I've no read. The unread books will get purged as I read them, some will be for keeps, I'm sure many will be given away. I absolutely have to purge books from the boxes at my parent's house, but I still need to have them moved here. That's not happening until I get more of the stuff that's actually here unpacked. Oy vey!!

Thanks for the encouragement :).

[rebellibrarian.livejournal.com]

Boy oh boy do I hear that! The good news is that you have no deadline to get your lives merged.

Go slow - some things will merge naturally (additional books you have by the same author that fings's collection may be missing), some thing will be obvious items to get rid of (duplicate books - keep the nicer/signed/gifted copy) and then some things you may want to keep in storage until the time is right for them. I knew someone who rotated her decorative pieces every few months so everything was out & enjoyed at some point during the year. I liked that idea but I am wayyy too lazy to even schlepp out Xmas decorations half the time.

Hubby & I had this problem - his horror/death decorating theme didn't appear to merge well with my fairy/nature/serenity theme but some individual pieces did work well together. And we had the problem of moving into my Mom's home so we were fitting our things in with hers... by the time we moved out, it was really "our" home & "our" stuff.

Plus - you will also have an opprtunity to get rid of the things you don't really want to keep! eBay or yard sale, gifts to people who've said they like things you won't be keeping or donations to libraries or shelters... your choice!

[yolen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it is true that we have no real deadline to get all of our stuff merged other than the "ASAP"! that goes running through my head. fings has very little by way of actual decorative stuff, so he has to live with mine ^_^ at least in the bedroom.

We sure did toss out a lot his stuff before the move, but that last weekend of packing involved a lot of "Toss everything in boxes and tape it, we'll figure it out later!!" so we know he still has things to purge, as do I. There's already a nice pile of clothing waiting to get sent to Goodwill :).

[greenquotebook.livejournal.com]

My rule when moving is this: if it's been packed for more than a month and I haven't missed it, toss it unless it has true sentimental value.

[yolen.livejournal.com]

I suspect he and I have a lot of crap that has sentimental value :P. Thanks for the tip :).

[agentanderson.livejournal.com]

As far as books go, I recently took about four or five shelves' worth that I figured I was never going to read again and stuffed them in banker's boxes. If I ever do need them again, I think it will be worth the trouble to dig out.

I should probably also see about raising my bed a few inches so I can fit a banker's box underneath, come to think of it.

[aulaitcru.livejournal.com]

Does your condo have central A/C?

E still has unpacked boxes marked Miscellaneous/Ephemera sitting in the basement from when we moved into our house - EIGHT YEARS AGO.

Soldier on, soldier on.

[fings.livejournal.com]

No central A/C (the building is over a century old). We have one AC in the living room, but it's not up to the challenge of cooling the entire apartment.

I think a curtain in the kitchen hallway might help, if yolen agrees.

[yolen.livejournal.com]

I think a curtain in the kitchen hallway might help, if yolen agrees.

We could look into it :).

[yolen.livejournal.com]

EIGHT YEARS, oh, my faint heart!

Well, I already know I have issues of Linux Journal and Wired up the wazoo to contend with. To the basement!