I am a Box Hunter

Here is my kill!

It was suggested by a friend that I go to a local craft megastore and ask in the framing section for extra boxes. Since these boxes are made for frames the idea is that my pictures would fit into them nicely. I was driving past it on Friday and decided to stop and see. Boy, did I choose the right day. The store was restocking in every section and there were boxes everywhere. I headed straight for the framing section and the nice employee told me she could give me the smaller boxes but they had to reuse the larger ones. She gave me a good stack and told me to try other sections for more boxes. I took my haul to the car and returned for more. 

I talked to 6 different craft store employees in a few different sections and got 6 different responses. The first, as you already read, gave me a few smaller boxes with no problem, and they ended up being a great size. The second told me that none of the boxes were empty yet and to call back on a later day. I talked to employees number 3 and 4 simultaneously,  as employee 3 rushed to the back to find me two large boxes, number 4 told me that they don't give away boxes because they get money for them.  Employee number 3 returned form the back and handed me the large boxes and I took my second haul to the car. I decide to try my luck one last time. 

Employee number 5 said no, they crush ALL there boxes which seemed a waste to me. The last, Employee number 6 was a loving woman stacking yarn in the back of the store. I humbly asked her if they were able to give away their boxes because I knew some stores didn't allow it. "Of course we do, let's go box hunting" she said. She filled up two huge boxes with smaller boxes and helped me drag them to the front of the store. We even had Employee number 5 call out something as we passed, but this nice lady, employee number 6 kept her head high and didn't miss a step as she called back something about the boxes being empty. 

I drove home as proud as a peacock. It was my first time hunting, and I was coming home with a car full of my quarry.

Selling Stuff

Selling stuff is weird. So far we've made $70, but each time we have met in a weird place and it always feels like a shady deal. On top of that, I always wonder why they want whatever they are buying. I want them to explain it to me, and I want them to ask questions. But they never do.

Whatever, we've payed for our motel stay for the drive.

Too Much Stuff

Our landlady believes that our current dwelling falls somewhere between 900 and 930 square feet. So we need to leave behind all the stuff that fills the 250 to 280 square feet of space that we will lose in the move. And this has been a difficult thing to do.

We figured the best way for us to do it would be to take one room or section of the house at a time. Steven divided the house into nine of them. I thought starting at the linen cabinet would be easy enough. I had read that people only need two sets of sheets per bed. Makes sense to me; you have one on the bed while the other is in the wash. But, as easy as it was to set the extra sheets in the give away pile, the question did surface: how much space does a set of sheets take up, and would it really make a difference in the long run? And then we would sit and stare at the sheets and ask questions back and forth until we came to a decision. Moving into a smaller space is just a constant barrage of second guessing yourself about stuff to get rid of and making decisions is tiring.

We moved onto the master closet to thin out our wardrobe. I read somewhere that you should only keep what you would pack to take on a one month vacation; If you wouldn't pack it for a month's vacation, get rid of it. Here's the thing, getting rid of clothes is hard.  The memories you have of what you did or where you were in your clothes can create strong emotional attachments. And what if you need it someday? And you could always reuse it in a project or something, right? In the end we had to set all our feelings aside and look at our own clothes with an outsider's eyes. Using logic and numbers, you only need 6 pairs of shorts. And then, if you look at them objectively, the ones that are too big or too faded anyway need to go.

Let me tell you, closets and cupbords are the worst. Sure, on the surface we don't have much: a desk, a computer, a couple chairs, etc. But so many little things kept coming out of our closets and cupboards. We have already filled and emptied the cargo area in our car after only cleaning out 2 closets.

We've got a long way to go. But we've made some good progress so far.  

Time to Get This Ball Rolling

Two days ago we found out there was a two bedroom apartment available in our price range (cheap) for our family of four. Looking into it we have found that is it in a prime location; what we hope to be walking distance from some of our future favorite places. Steven has been in contact with the manager and it seems we have passed the application process. If we sign our names the apartment is practically ours. 

I have taken some snippets from emails Steven has received from the manager. Here is what we know of it so far:

-This apartment is upgraded with large refrigerator with bottom drawer freezer.  It has reverse osmosis purified water that is also run to the refrigerator.  The stove is modern glass top.  Since it is a corner apt. there is a side more private outside area as well as a private front area where the tenant has a veg. garden.

-There is a free washer in a shed, but no dryer--but here wash dries very fast. 

-There is some attic storage for boxes thru an opening to the attic in a closet.  Also, there is a metal storage unit outside that you can share with my gardening equipment!

AND IT IS 650 SQ FT! 

Floor Plan

Steven's First Post Take Two

This one should work a treat.

Steven's First Post

We are both going to write on this thing.