how many hours, moving and purging

[Zoe Girl]

I realize I don't have too much of an issue getting rid of things, I do however have an issue with how much of my life energy is being spent on all of this!! I should have kept some track of what I am doing, however I am trying to see how many hours I have put into this move. The packing, moving, arranging things like internet, all of it really adds up. My son is not feeling well but he went to do some things today. I took 2 hours in the middle of the day to move all the food out of the fridge and freezer. That includes throwing away food, washing tupperware, moving and putting into the new fridge. It seems we are spending a couple hours every day, and then most of the day slowly on the weekends (between rain and snow storms).

I am estimating and pacing the cleaning. I can't vacuum and carpet clean and scrub the bathroom all in the same day without being in a lot of pain. I may keep track of how many hours that part is. What amounts of time are the others who are purging, remodeling, moving spending on these tasks? How does that factor into valuing your life energy? What do you do when you know it is out of balance and can't really fix it?

I am super excited to have my fully functioning kitchen today. And spend the last 2 nights at the new place. I am already feeling some stress settling and flowing out.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Oh moving is a huge amount of work and I can't imagine it ever not being so, unless you literally did own no more than 100 things (and had almost no mail to redirect. And all the utilities when smoothly and well .... good luck with that). It leaves a reluctance to move easily it's such a huge effort.

I mean one can imagine I have a lot of stuff. Really I have some stuff. I've never lived in bigger than a 1 bedroom apartment by myself, my entire adult life, and I'm not much of a stuff collector beyond books a little bit, so put it in that context.

[TxZen]

My big purges all were done with weekend completely off. I started at 8 and ended at 8. I just kept going, fueled on coffee and a desire to live simple. I have probably done this over and over at least a dozen times but now, it's small things still going out but I do it for 15 minutes here and there. You will get there!!! Think how far you have come.

[Chicken lady]

I am very glad I am not moving, but i do have so much going on. I keep wondering if this was really the best time to start punching holes in my walls... but then Is there a good time?

I completely get the out of balance - I spent the cool of the morning working with my daughter to pack up her room because that is when she was home - she works after lunch to close this week.

Then I have been struggling to get stuff planted in the heat of the afternoon. All my seeds have gone in late this year, and I will not have the room cleared before dh wants to start this weekend. I am actually grateful to the goats who are kidding late this year for not getting bred when they were supposed to. The only thing I am keeping up with is work, and I have a feeling when I start doing evaluations I'm not going to feel so caught up with that. I just feel like I'm putting out fires.

Why am I on-line? because I'm sitting down drinking water so I don't collapse in the garden.

[Zoe Girl]

Oh I don't question you being online! I take 5 minutes here and then back to all the work I have. I don't have internet yet at home so I found last night super relaxing, but the stress was there with the full to-do list.

I am starting to feel more in balance, basically if it doesn't get done then I will give the landlord some warning and pay for another junk haul or a carpet cleaner. There is only so much I can do.

[JaneV2.0]

Effort on my own behalf rarely seems wasted to me. It's the other work that I did grudgingly (that's why they call it "work") that seemed like a huge waste of life.

[Chicken lady]

I am actually dreading my son coming home this weekend. I love him, I miss him, I'm excited to have him back, but he is bringing a shelf and a desk and a bed and a couch and a lot of stuff, and I don't know where I'm going to put it!

[shadowmoss]

Don't you mean you don't know where HE is going to put it? If it is important to him he can find a corner somewhere for it to live. Then again, I live alone with 2 cats, so what do I know of family dynamics. The cats tell me where I can put my stuff (by mangling whatever I leave out that they think should have been put away)

[Gardenarian]

It is HUGE Zoe Girl. We started moving in December and are still living out of boxes. I'm not going to try to estimate the amount of time I've put in, not only physical energy but the mental energy of trying to keep everything in my life straight (new job, new school for dd, summer plans, buying and selling houses, and all the details of being in a new state - car registrations, insurance, bank accounts, voting, taxes...)

I try to balance it by planning really fun activities every day - it makes an eneormous difference. Work hard, play hard.
And lists - lots and lots of lists.

[Chicken lady]

shadowmoss, when he left he had a 10x10 room. now it's a construction zone. I put his old bed (which I will be keeping) in the basement for him to sleep on. His new furniture has been in his new room in his rented house which won't be his anymore on Monday. He's still in school, so coming home for the summer was not a surprise. Technically i could make him rent a storage unit for three months - he did that last summer, but it seems like we should have space.