I’m coming up on a half-century on this planet, and have moved several times as an adult. Each time, I end up pressed for time, and just throw everything into boxes and swear I’m going to sort through everything and de-clutter, reduce my stuff before I move again. It never happens, because the next time I move, the same thing happens.

This time, I have plenty of advance notice and am determined to downsize, de-clutter, “Kondo”, and otherwise reduce my belongings to just what I want to carry with us to the next place. Minimalism, to a degree. It sounds like Heaven to my Spoonie heart – less stuff to manage, organize, clean, maintain. Fewer spoons needed for the maintenance of my space and stuff. Yay, right?

One problem. Getting from here to there takes a lot of spoons. In the pre-chronic illness days, I’d make like Marie Kondo over a long weekend with a few nights short of sleep and be done. Not an option now. I can clean/sort/pack/paint/whatever for about 30-45 minutes at a time. Then I have to rest for about the same amount of time. I can only do this about 5, maybe 6 times a day on the weekend. That’s not nearly enough time to get through all the things we need to get done in preparation to sell our house, de-clutter everything, and pack for the move. Oh, and find a rental property. While working full time and hopefully without triggering a massive flare.

I wasn’t prepared for the emotional work involved in decluttering. I luckily am not dealing with hoarding issues or anything like that, but I’m finding that many of the items I’m having to sort through have a lot of memories associated. Many of those memories are not good ones, and more than once I’ve wished I could just pack up the things I want from the house and walk away from the rest of it. Not really an option, though. So I just take breaks when I need to, and lean on the Mister who is being a fantastic partner in all of this.

So sorting/decluttering is happening, but it’s a slow process. I guess if it were easy and quick, I’d have done it before now. We’re probably looking at the move in about 6 weeks, and I think we can actually be done and ready for the movers in that time.

Wish us luck.