On Downsizing One's Life

It's not much more than a week before I leave Canberra to spend a week with my family before flying to Texas. There has been a lot to sort out ahead of the move. I'm trying to take a minimalist approach to the moving process, getting rid of all but the absolute essentials. The only things in storage are books, CDs and artworks, and only the bare minimum of what can be taken overseas will be taken.

Probably the most time consuming thing has been getting rid of all the furniture in the apartment. There's just so much stuff that accumulates over time, and getting rid of it is not a straightforward exercise. Lots of emails, texts and phone calls with prospective buyers, packing and storage of the things that need to be kept, and arrangement of disposal of things that are unsellable/unkeepable in a town where hard waste disposal is virtually impossible without a car (because that got sold). 

To move overseas like this essentially means downsizing your entire life. It's actually kind of liberating though, to get rid of the clutter. Less to think about. More space.

Better yet, the whole process has forced me to change my spending habits. Each purchase now has to be carefully considered in the context of its later use and disposal. This has usually meant less spending on objects. That's left more money for saving, and more money for social activities, which is good as there are plenty of people to have coffee with before I leave.

Speaking of which...