Would you move it?

How to decide what's worth keeping

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to pare down your belongings by asking
whether you would move something to a new place. If not,

(00:26):
you probably don't need to keep it now. My family
and I have been in the process of moving. Fortunately,
our new place is only about two miles from the
old place. We can drive there in six minutes. We
are hiring movers and we don't have a strict deadline
for getting everything in a set amount of truck space.

(00:47):
We don't necessarily have to purge things, but we probably
should because there is nothing like packing up to make
it clear just how much stuff you can accumulate over time.
We have lived in this home for ten years, so
there are ten years worth of Christmas and Birthday presents,
kid artwork, books. It all adds up. Any given puzzle

(01:12):
or game might not have been touched for years, but
it's not hurting anyone just sitting there and so nothing
happens to it. That's fine as far as it goes.
But if you have been thinking about lightning your house
up in the new year, maybe it's time to start
taking a few minutes a few times a week to

(01:32):
really look at things. Marie Condoz says, to ask if
the object sparks joy. That is certainly one way to
look at it. But another reasonable question is this, would
I pay to move this thing? If so great, If not,

(01:52):
maybe it's time for it to get sold, donated, or recycled,
if at all possible. I certainly been asking that question
as I have looked at a few storage spaces in
my house. We have a garage, we have an attic,
and we have a basement storage room. All of those
places wind up being a halfway home for things that

(02:14):
aren't being actively used but haven't landed on the chopping block.
Yet these are secondary value spaces in a house. And
yet when I brought in potential moving companies to give
me estimates, all of that stuff had to be included.
It would cost the same to move that stuff as
to move the stuff we actually like and use. When

(02:37):
things are going on a truck, there is no such
thing as secondary value. The movers pack it up and
move it carefully, same as they would with anything else.
With those dollar signs staring at you, you start rethinking
things fast now to be sure in our case, there

(02:58):
is sort of a middle ground. We can put stuff
in the trunk and drive it over whenever we're making
a trip over to the other place. That happens about
four times a week. If I'm going anyway, best not
to go empty handed, and I don't have to wrap
things up carefully. That said, I've been sending piles of
stuff out the door to be donated, and stuff that

(03:20):
can't be donated has been recycled if possible, or trashed
if it can't. Books I'd stop seeing on my shelves
have wound up being sent to the thrift store. I
wouldn't pay to move them, so clearly I don't truly
want to keep them now. I'm doing this because we
are moving, but you do not have to be moving

(03:42):
to ask these questions. Just put everything through the same rubric,
look at its size and weight. Would you willingly pay
I don't know a dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty
dollars maybe more for the big stuff to move that
particular item. If the answer is no, that is a

(04:06):
good sign that you don't really value it all that much,
So call the donation truck and put it in those
boxes instead, too, much stuff can cost us. We just
don't always see that so clearly as when we're moving.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

(04:29):
here's to making the most of our times. Hey, everybody,
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

(04:49):
That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

(05:12):
a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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