I’M JUST CURIOUS: The mess of moving

The chaos of moving. (photo by Debbie Walker)

by Debbie Walker

Have you seen those shows on TV about the “Little Houses” and the people are “scaling down” to fit into them? Keep that picture in your mind. It’s not real, it can’t be real! And some of them with children! No way!

Oh all right. Maybe it’s possible if, and that’s a BIG IF, no one in the tiny house has any hobbies or interests and only owns two sets of clothing for each person.

Most of you know I moved back to Florida, last year. I got rid of a lot of my things in that move, only took what would fit in a minivan and my car.

I was moving into one room of my minimalist daughter’s home. It is the home of a minimalist (doesn’t like clutter) plus my room (hoarder). Half of my things were in my bedroom and the other half in a storage trailer they have.

Yes, I am moving again. It has been my goal to live in a trailer/camper when I retired. A few weeks ago I got my 26-foot fifth wheel camper. If you are not familiar with a fifth wheel, in this one the bedroom is basically over the bed of a pickup when it is being towed. So 8 feet of the 26-foot length is over the bed of the truck. The bedroom gives me about two feet on each side of the bed. I am referring to it as my loft bedroom because there are four steps going up. And you can’t stand up in there unless you are maybe five feet tall or under, otherwise like for me, you are bending over! It’s okay, I don’t spend much time up there anyway. The rest of it, kitchen, living room and bathroom, are quite comfortable. That is, will be comfortable once I get my things organized and weed out some that I probably don’t truly need. (That will be at the least, the third time I have cleaned out what I really don’t need.)

In this move, because I lived with my daughter, I am not rushed to get out. I have been able to move a few boxes at a time, thank goodness, because there would be no place to stack the boxes. If you can see clearly in the picture, under that pile of “stuff” is actually my sofa! I will try to put all that away tonight and go get some more to work on for tomorrow night.

Needless to say, packing a camper for a vacation is a far cry from packing to live in one. My biggest problem is clothes and books. I am going to have to get creative to put those things in order. I also have to figure what to do with things like my computer, printer, my sewing machine and my craft supplies. Are you getting a picture in mind? Nana Dee says we may have to do some creative construction and build up a second story. Now that would be a sight!

I am just curious what your craziest move was? I am waiting to hear. Contact me at DebbieWalker@thetownline.org. Have a great week!