NEW DIGS
I have moved way too many times at my age for the process to be anything but a complete pain in the ass, by now. The amount of junk you accumulate never seems to blow me away.
Another move was added to my repertoire this week - not something I was particularly stoked about, but the hard work is done so I can't complain now.
In an attempt to save money and get a head start on our savings, my Papa B has generously allowed us to move in downstairs. I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am for that. It's just such an unbelievable help, and makes an enormous difference when you're trying to save. For what we need in terms of rooms and location, you're lucky to get away with anything under $20,000 AUD in rent per year - That's now all money I can be saving. I'm so excited about that.
Moving was a pain in the ass, just as expected. It wasn't as bad as our previous one, but that's because we decided to dump a lot of furniture instead of carrying it over to the new place. If I have one piece of advice when moving it's this: use the time as an opportunity to rid yourself of junk, clutter and ANYTHING you no longer use. Pick a number of months (mine is usually 6-12) and tell yourself, if you haven't worn it, used it, or even known it was there; you do not need it. Throw it away. Make space for new things.
In Japan my baby sister-in-law told me something that stuck with me. She spoke about how people put too much value on material things; that its cleansing to let go of those things and give them to others who may need it more. I started then and there, and gave her a necklace which my Dad had bought me - I knew she would get more use out of it than I was. I still have progress to do, I'm still very much a hoarder but I do try and remember what she told me. My partner was throwing out T-Shirts during the move and somehow I had more of an attachment to them. I was genuinely sad to see some go; I'm a psycho right?
We have our bedroom set up enough for now, however we really need to empty the boxes and unpack properly. It's a bit difficult as Dad's house is full of junk from 5 kids over 26 years, and that's not including all the friends who have used our family home as a hotel - hence the nickname Hotel McPhillips. Everybody is welcome.
I'm excited to get settled in the new place, and set up our space properly. A lot of work to be done, but it's almost over.
