Rehabilitating a Pack Rat

Apartment tidying is nearly completed here. Over the past few weeks I've filled up the recycling toter three times over with paper products, including completely emptying a three-drawer filing cabinet. This is no small feat, since the toter is easily big enough for me to curl up and take a nap inside. All this cleaning and purging makes me feel lighter, even though I gained a couple of pounds by eating and drinking my way through a wonderful family weekend.


We currently have a pile o' stuff filling what should be the dining room of our apartment. It's all stuff that we're going to sell and/or donate. We're taking the first load away this weekend to our special garbage sale location, so I wanted to get some pictures of the pile in its impressive glory.

There are two more shelves of this vintage Ikea dresser/shelving unit, but we can't get rid of them until we move and get a ten foot wall of closet. We have a laundry table with a similar status.

Stuff on top of junk

The picture on the wall is not going ... yet.

The plants are moving with us, as is the wooden plant stand (now our only side table). The fountain, unfortunately, is not moving with us, but is going to get good use until winter ends and it's no longer our humidifier.

We have a very small collection of things that we still have to sort (in addition a few large furniture items that we're still using, but won't need at the new place). I've cut it down to what I think should stay, and my lovely wife will reduce it even further this evening!

Two-thirds of the milk crates are most certainly staying. Since we no longer give gifts regularly, the rest of the wrapping paper and bags will probably go.

And finally we've started a pile of things that we're going to take to the cottage where it will probably get better use. The cottage pile is sharing space with the future storage locker pile.

Cottage pile - stereo, Wayne Gretzky table hockey, Axis and Allies, basketball, football, Koosh balls and a cultivator. Storage Pile - includes our landlady's microwave. The MEC bags are only here temporarily to help us move, and then they too will be sold off.

Christmas decorations, cat carrier, work supplies and suitcases. What else would you put in a storage locker?

Packing and moving should be much easier now!