If I never see another packing peanut in my life it will be too soon....

The last few months of my life have been dominated by assessing our "stuff" in preparation for our move, sending some to the charity shop, putting some in the bin, leaving a little for my grandchildren to play with when they move into this house and packing the rest.

During the time I have come to the conclusion that we just have too much stuff (certainly we had too much stuff, we now have less!).  Unlike moving within driving distance there is no option to throw the last, unsorted, oddments into the car.  When packing your life into a 20' shipping container it is necessary to be ruthless and ask questions in the vein of the following:

• Do I really need it?
• Does it fit?
• Will it ever fit again?
• Will I ever wear it again?
• Have I ever worn it?
• Is it cheaper to buy a new one on the other side of the Atlantic?
• Will it even work on the other side of the Atlantic?
• Could someone else have more use/fun with this than me?
• Why have I still got this?

I have become good friends with the volunteers at my local Barnardo's shop - they greet me with a smile as I enter, offer to help me with my boxes and ask me if I am one of their gift aiders.

Some specific items have been donated to my younger son's scout group.  He has gained so much from his time there as a scout, explorer and young leader that I felt it was time to give something back.  This was also the same group where my daughter was a Brownie so they have been part of my life for getting on for 20 years!

Even after all the winnowing there is still enough to fill the container, and almost every box has been packed by yours truly, hence my surfeit of packing peanuts, bubble wrap, tissue paper, sticky tape and cardboard boxes. In particular the (free) banana boxes from my local supermarket.  In a few weeks they will wonder why the banana boxes are still under the checkouts at the end of the day.  I can now tell you what size bananas come from which countries (it is marked on the box) and that a box designed to hold 18kg or 40lb of bananas is also just right for holding 20kg of books.  Any more than that and I can't lift the packed box.

Of course, the only stuff to which the above questions are totally irrelevant are my sewing and quilting supplies.  I need every last thread, scrap and notion of my stash, whatever anybody else says or thinks.  All those boxes contain items vital to my creativity, even if I haven't opened them for years.

My main consolation after all this?  The shipping container should arrive at our new home several weeks before I do, so my husband and sons can do the unpacking!

And a couple more pictures of the cats:

Rocky pretends to be a box file

Smokey likes curling up in the empty boxes