We’re in the process of trying to move. This means going through a lifetime of boxes and others things we’ve packed away. There are boxes I’d packed when I moved out of my apartment and in with my husband many, many years ago. Boxes I’d forgotten I even had, as they’d been put in the closet and then over the years had been shuffled from one place to another. Since I haven’t needed anything in those box in over ten years most of the stuff was thrown away. But this whole process has really opened my eyes to the amount of stuff (ie. junk) we store. I mean, there are things I’m not even sure why I had in the first place, let alone why I kept it all these years. There are things we have multiples of because my husband is bad about never putting things back where he got them. We’re really trying to get rid of things and only keep the items we really want or need. I’m tired of having a house that has more storage space than living space.

Part of us moving is to make our lives easier. I want a smaller house, one that is easy to keep clean and doesn’t have a ton of extra space for storing things. I mean, obviously we’ll have storage but only for the things we actually use, not a lot of room to add things we don’t need. Ideally we’ll start the one thing in, one thing out method where you can’t buy something unless you get rid of something else. This will be much either for me than it will be for Hubby.

We’re planning to build a house. And when I say build… Hubby and I will be doing the actual building. We want this house to be what we want and since we have the skills, it makes more sense to do it ourselves. Plus, it will mean more that way. And I want things to mean more. I want the things I have in my life to mean something to me. We’re not planning to build a big house. There are only two of us and a small dog so it’s not like we need a lot of room. Plus, part of the point of moving is to be able to be outside more. We want a healthier, happier, more sustainable lifestyle.

Hubby is looking forward to having a garden and being able to grow our own food. He’s tried several times here but it’s so hot that most things don’t want to grow and if they do they are often lacking the flavor we’d like. So having a big garden is something we’re both looking forward to but it will be his baby as I have a black thumb. I grew up on a farm where we had huge gardens and plants everywhere, yet I did not inherit that gift. My grandmother was one of those people who could take a plant you were sure was dead and within a few months it would be green and full and beautiful. My mom is the same way.

Me, you give me a nice health plant they say you can’t kill and that sucker will be dead within six months easy—probably sooner. So the garden will be all his.

But that means I’ll be making a lot of pickles. While I did not get the green thumb, I did learn how to can and pickle. I’m looking forward to having a pantry full of glass jars instead of metal cans.

So as I go through things here, I keep those things firmly in my mind. I picture the life I want, the one we’re trying to build, and it makes it a lot easier to throw out that thing I don’t really need—and if I take it will me will probably end up in a box in the closet forever—but have been hanging onto for some reason. I have a few sentimental items I plan to keep. Things that remind me of a certain time in my life or of someone I lost. For the most part, however, I find myself getting rid of things I never thought I would. Instead of making me sad, as I thought it might with somethings, it’s actually freeing. I’m giving myself permission to leave the past behind, to focus on the future, and to become who I really want to be.