I miss my mom and I think I am freaking out....

[Misskitty16]

Well, my Mom was a pack rat, so I smiled when you said you would like to take everything. I could just see me loaded down. chi

 

So you had to leave behind a lot of stuff, too, that was hard to leave behind? I'm struggling with this - I don't want to do anything that is going to make me sadder than I already am, like parting with something even though I really need the space and might end up in a small apartment (she had a 4 bedroom house).

[catfeeder]

So you had to leave behind a lot of stuff, too, that was hard to leave behind? I'm struggling with this - I don't want to do anything that is going to make me sadder than I already am, like parting with something even though I really need the space and might end up in a small apartment (she had a 4 bedroom house).

 

While experts advise filling a 3 box station of trash, give away and keep, it's always helped me to keep a 4th temporary box on hand for 'I don't know'.

 

Over the course of filling the boxes, I'd move stuff in and out of the 'I don't know' box, and I made it a goal to keep it as empty as possible.

 

I rented a small space from a storage facility a few weeks ahead of time for the transition. This was the best money I ever spent. I could pack my car every night after work and load it to storage on my way home from work. Then I'd go home to pack and load my car again for unloading the next day. This cleared my place of the stuff most meaningful to me and lessened my anxiety that I'd forget something important.

 

If you transfer any 'I don't know' boxes to storage, you can decide on those later. When you unpack storage you'll have a better grasp of the space you'll actually be filling--and that can help you ditch the 'I don't know' boxes straight to Goodwill or a church bazaar.

 

I used small standard (16 in. W x 12 in. D x 12 in. H) boxes from Home Depot. They were cheap, clean and the standard size made stacking for storage easy. I placed each box inside a large black construction-strength garbage bag to avoid infestation from other units, and rolled the tops and knotted the leftover plastic to seal the bags. This made them easy to carry by grabbing the handles this formed.

 

I labeled each box with a bright post-a-note marked with a black sharpie. I used clear packing tape over the labels--one on top and one on the side of each box, so I'd know from the outside what was in each box. I kept the 'I don't know' boxes on the outer edges of storage to grab easily when I wanted to decide about them.

 

On my actual move-out day I only had furniture left for the movers to contend with. If you're donating any furniture, call to have those pieces picked up ahead of time.

 

You may find that you become so good at this, a sense of pride and accomplishment develops--along with great muscles and good energy. Speak to your cats and your Mom as you do this work, and try to impress both her and yourself with your sense of humor and your resiliency.

 

The way you opt to approach this job will either carry you through it or make it a worse drag than it needs to be. I'd focus on making myself and my Mom proud of how well I can pull this off.

 

Write more if it helps, we're with you, MK.

[Misskitty16]

I definitely cannot afford to rent a storage unit. The furniture I can't keep - for what it would cost to transport, I could buy new furniture. But she has a lot of large china pieces, many quilts that she collected and she collected large lanterns. There are also dozens of holiday ornaments that were special to her, some of them in wooden crates (collectible sets).

 

I am sad at the very thought of parting with these things, but my car will hold me, 3 cats, my clothing and some bric-a-brac.

 

I have sold and donated many things that I was not attached to. Now it is down to the nitty gritty - especially the lanterns and quilts - things that are of no value to anyone but me. I can't bear to throw them out.