24 January 2009

Domestic Excavations

I moved into my current apartment in 2002. Before that there was a period where I moved around a lot - including one year where I moved three times. After a while, there didn't seem much point in bothering to unpack, because soon I would just have to repack it all again.

It's now 2009. It's probably safe to unpack now. So I finally started going through my storeroom full of boxes that I've hauled from place to place since 1991. After removing all the empty boxes (I never break down boxes, it's annoying to have to retape them back up again later, see) and some other miscellaneous things, here's (most of) what I have left:


Over half of it appears to be school-related stuff (class notes and papers from high school, college, grad school). There are at least three boxes worth of stuff belonging to former SOs/housemates (but not all together, alas). The harp is a lever harp that doesn't hold its tune so well anymore due to neglect; it's from a friend who bought it with a broken base from an auction somewhere for $50, fixed the base but did not prettify the fix, eventually lost interest, and handed it down to me. The mound of papers next to the big black bin is what I'm currently sorting through; it seems to be half junk mail, and half daily-life detritus from circa 1996 (receipts, paycheck stubs, utility statements, etc.).

It's a little like opening a time capsule. I have other such paper piles in the other boxes, probably one for every move, as it was easiest just to dump together whatever I had at the time instead of figuring out what to keep and what to toss (which would happen at a hypothetical "later" that never came around until, well, now).

Yay unpacking. :)

8 comments:

Random Michelle K said...

OK. You're not secretly Susan. Susan has a hell of a lot more boxes in her spare room--including some that contain grade school art from her daughter who is a year and a half older than I am.

Yay for getting things straightened! I'm doing a happy dance for you in my mind (because I'm too damned tired for anything else.)

MWT said...

Well, my mother has all my childhood art. She was trying to get me to take some of it with me over Christmas, too. o.O

Maybe I should've included a photo of where I put all the empty boxes. They're presently lining a bedroom wall and stacked floor-to-ceiling.

Random Michelle K said...

MWT, that's still nothing. Susan's second bedroom is filled chest high with boxes. And that's the stuff that isn't in her storage space.

When we go to visit her, the cats completely disappear into that room. If we ever meet, I'll tell you about helping her move from Morgantown to Cincinnati. :)

Tania said...

Jealous. And happy for you. I'm trying to do similar things with our house, and going through things and we don't need it get rid of it.

mattw said...

Good for you for cleaning up. I've temporarily lost interest in the basement because it's so damn cold down there.

MWT said...

Heheh... my motivation comes and goes. This weekend all I managed to do was move the paper shredder into the room. But I have high hopes of getting it all done by the end of the year. :)

Megadeus said...

Yeah, I should clean my room. I have several boxes and a bit of miscellaneous crap from my recent move-in that I need to organize. But since I spend most of my time in the living room, I don't think about the bedroom until I go in there, usually to sleep.

MWT said...

Better do it while it's still small. ;) It'll be much easier than if you wait ten years...