Aral Balkan

Why is it when you think you've boxed the last thing, there's always just one more? I can't believe the number of things I'm either donating or that I've trashed and *still* I have more stuff!

Stuff sucks!

No really. I'm on a mission to reduce the number of things I own as much as possible. I've realized that nothing weighs me down like stuff. I feel responsible for the plethora of items that make up the said "stuff" and I don't want to throw them away because (a) I think they're valuable and my inner greedy voice kicks in ("Oh, yes, my preccciousss!") or (b) it has some special memories attached. At the end of the day, though, I've found that all stuff does is tie me down. So, during this move, I made a conscious effort to get rid of as many things as I could. I don't think I did badly, either, judging by the garden-full of stuff that the trash removal people took away this morning or the the pile of bags of clothes, books, computer equipment, etc. that will be making their way to Oxfam this morning. But, hey, there's always room for improvement!

Once I get a chance to take the data off of my various computers, I'm going to reduce that number down to one. Why do I need more than one computer, really? (I had about fourteen at one point and now I've reduced that down to a much more manageable four). Since my Mac can run pretty much any operating system, I don't have the "it's for testing" rationalization to fall back on either.

Comments

• I hear you! Since this exact time last year, I've lived in 4 separate houses - I didn't even get a chance to unpack properly before I had to move again!

  by Robin Harrison on 2006-11-24 13:11:01

• Don't do that man! Don't throw old computer stuff! I did the mistake years ago and now I'm regretting! I gave away my old Amiga 1000 for free to somebody and I dropped a ton of old computer mags because I wanted to move and I wanted to feel 'more free and light'. If it's something like an old PC thats ok, such things grow again but there are some items where you later will regret that you threw them!

  by sascha/hdrs on 2006-11-24 13:15:40

• A while ago I made my moving with only the help of a taxi. With me I had a couple of bags, a vacuum cleaner and a laundry container. That's how you do it. :)

  by Erik on 2006-11-24 13:37:51

• I have just came to US from Europe at this September. I sold all my "stuff", I had to. But now I am trying to get "new stuff" here and it costs a lot than expected. I am also one of the person who is waiting big blue disks with tons of GBs to carry data from old computer. I just came with my 7 HDD and was a problem at airports. I don't like moving.

  by Oğuz Demirkapı on 2006-11-24 17:13:19

• Hah! I went through this possession purging six months ago. The wife finds it much more difficult to let go of her precious, but I think I ended up with 50% of what I had before moving. It's nice, and opens a clearing for new tings to be acquired. I like being agile anyways. Congrats!!

  by LEE on 2006-11-24 18:57:39

• hey, just get rid of them! memories are in your head not on some old dusty 'stuff' :) moving is good. it's -- a whole new world, a new fantastic point of view..... enjoy :)

  by aylin on 2006-11-24 21:20:56

• Thanks for the reminder ;-) I moved 12 months ago, and now over the next 2 weeks I'll be packing and moving all over again. I'm really not looking forward to packing and unpacking again, there's just so much "stuff" to worry about. Cheers and good luck!

  by Andrew Spaulding on 2006-11-24 21:50:12

• Take a picture (or many pictures, or video) of your old stuff. Then you can throw it out and still be able to show it to your grandkids. Of course, I agree with sascha above, don't throw out any "classics".

  by Adz on 2006-11-24 23:55:11

• Uh...puhleeze keep at least two computers. This way when you have trouble booting one, you have another to use to go online and get troubleshooting solutions. Mac or Windows...you WILL have that problem. Cheers, Brent in Atlanta

  by Brent Bonet on 2006-11-25 13:41:36

• Ooh, I agree w/ Brent. You always need a back up computer. You're screwed if you lose your primary and don't have anything else that you are able to work on and use to diagnose, troubleshoot, etc. for the first one. But as far as stuff goes, I've been destuffing for about 9 months now, and it's addictive.

  by Tim Tischler on 2006-11-25 22:57:23

• Talking of stuff... I aquired your lego sculpture yesterday on my walk home from a particularly dull shift at work. Thanks for brightening up mine and my housemates day! We'l be sure to spread the lego love in a couple of days! Cheers, Laura and the rest of the Over St ladies

  by Laura on 2006-11-26 13:59:31

• Hey Laura -- that's great! I'll make a separate blog post about it ASAP and post a picture of its initial state. If you send me a picture of it when you're ready I'll post it up here! :)

  by aral on 2006-11-27 19:16:34

• Adz: Funny you should mention it -- that's what I ended up doing with some of my stuff (Aylin: Like my JCS t-shirts which were quite some state.) Taking photos of stuff like that makes perfect sense. Brent & Tim: You guys are right, I guess I'll have to keep at least one of them. Oh well, ok, so two isn't that bad, right? Right? :)

  by aral on 2006-11-27 19:32:25

• I've had over 30 addresses so far and seem to move very 2 years (even though I lived in one house for 6 years). Loading up that U-Haul is a major pain when you have lots of boxes of books and equipment, too - let alone furniture. The old SONY TV has held together through several moves and tumbles. At last employer, I picked up 6 IBM PCs from P-Is to P-IIs to a Tower Server. I was going through other equipment tonight to see what to throw away since I have 4 other PCs including this one (typing on). The old 386sx-16 still works! The orig IBM-PC will be another matter. But I dread the weight as unemployment runs out and I look forward to maybe another move. Good luck in your new state. Advice: Label your boxes!!!

  by Curt on 2006-12-16 05:32:29

• Thanks, Curt -- I don't know if I could bring myself to throw out an original IBM PC :)

  by aral on 2006-12-16 20:35:41

• [...] I released my first Leggo piece right before my move. I didn’t even have the chance to print up a nice note so I hand wrote it. Luckily, someone did find it. Her name’s Laura and she posted a note on the comments for my Moving is hell post. Laura, if you’re reading this, I’d love to hear the continuing story of the first Leggo sculpture. Feel free to send me a picture or link to it from the comments! [...]

  by Leggo at Aral Balkan on 2006-12-19 14:55:56