Ditz Packing Strategy

True story.  I'm a ditz. But I'm the worst kind of ditz when it comes to packing.  I mean actual  packing. I'm a great packing planner, mind you; I've got lists -- and lists of lists -- of what needs to be packed in what size box within what amount of time of our moving date.  I've got packing tape and fat sharpies and packing paper and boxes and bins all lined up and organized, ready to use.  But, when it comes to actually doing the job, holy cow, am I inefficient!  Because, see, things like this happen:

* One of the first items on the list to pack is the deep-storage in the trailer -- where we decide, bin by bin, item by item, what is still sentimental enough to keep and what finally has to go, what we really would use in a zombie apocalypse, and what would just be extra weight in the moving trucks.This is agonizing decision-making for me.

 Agonizing.  I'll never wear my wedding shoes again -- and it's highly likely nobody else will either -- but how can I give them away? For heaven's sake, they cost almost as much as my wedding dress! How can I not keep the big boys' kindergarten artwork?  Seriously?  It takes up almost no space...  Who cares that I only ever really look at them when I'm going through boxes ready to move?  So, yeah... takes me a loooong hot afternoon to get through the trailer.  (And we kept almost everything.)

* Next on the semi-deep storage list, I pull out the contents of the linen closet; I go through said-contents; I look at each sheet, pillowcase, and tablecloth for holes and general keep-worthiness -- and I set into piles to be packed or disposed of.  Then I pack the good ones and seal the box, throwing the unworthies into a garbage bag.  But, then my daughter comes around and reminds me how in the last move it was really useful to use the sheets, pillowcases, and tablecloths to wrap some of the more fragile glassware, and why don't we just keep it all and use it for that?  She's right, of course. Imagine ditzy me forgetting that. So, I untape the box, and throw everything in together-- good, bad, and indifferent -- with the lid off so we can use them later.  One afternoon wasted.

* I begin the daunting task of packing up the summer kitchen the next day, and under the bed I find my big box of old photographs.  And you know what I end up doing all morning, right?  Yeah.  I sit there, crossed-legged on the floor of the summer kitchen reminiscing over old photos. (My babies..  how did they grow up so fast?)  I don't get any further until after lunch,when I come back, close my eyes and put the whole box into the bottom of a bigger box, out of my sight.

* Next step in packing up the summer kitchen is the wall of books. All my personal favorites are in there. It is my beloved book stash. Needless to say, I spend the afternoon going through books, reading a snippet here and a chapter there -- and making a stack of "next-on-the-list-to-rereads." And I really do end up getting actual books into actual boxes, but it takes two sessions over two days to finish a job that most would finish in an hour or two, tops.

Sigh...  It can be slow going.   But this is why we started so early! I've done this enough times now to know myself...   We still have a few small semi-deep storage areas to work on this weekend (the tail end of the trailer, the back of my closet), then next week we start on the next outer-ring of oft-used packable items: house decor and bookcases.  We'll also start doing some of the deep cleaning.  I'll tackle the oven, for instance, and deep clean under all the sinks.  Then, the serious packing begins the week of the 23rd. God, willing, this will go faster.  It usually does. I'll have all the children pull out two weeks worth of clothes and pack the rest.  We'll do the same thing with dishes, keeping out only the basics that we know we'll need, packing away the rest.  Then movies and toys.  Cats and dogs.  Girls and boys.  We'll be moved in before we know it.  Now that all the sentimental stuff is hidden away in boxes, I'll be fine. It'll all be fine.

Until it comes time to unpack.

But, then (Deo Gratias!) I can take all the time I want!