declutter

Attachments, Part 2 of Stuff Series

Monday, I started talking about the effect that possessions have on some people's decisions to move, especially abroad. Today, I want to touch on my own personal attachment to things.

For me, I have never been terribly sentimental. I don't look at photos from my childhood that often and I prefer to look towards the present rather than the past. I think that people tend to equate stuff with having it all and want people to know that they do. For me, my show items were always my cooking, art and books, I wanted people to know how well read I was.

I think my upbringing has a lot to do with they way I feel about things. My mom has collected flamingos for her entire life. Every time there is an occasion which calls for presents, she gets something with a flamingo. Because of this, I think I have decided never to collect anything. My grandmother is also a borderline hoarder. Don't get me wrong, I love her and I inherited her messiness, but I have no problem throwing stuff away. If something of mine gets ruined, I either don't replace it, or I get a new one. I'm also incredibly cheap, unless it comes to food. So I never want to spend my money on too many things.

Of course, there are things that I love and have felt like they were worth packing away in boxes to move across town. Books mostly. But with the high cost of shipping things to Holland and the constraints of air travel, I have had to make some serious choices. As I mentioned on Monday, when I was in Holland, I left 4 boxes worth of stuff at Loek's current apartment. I took with me a bunch of clothes and boots that I knew I would not wear again before it was time for me to move. What also made the cut: All 7 seasons of my favorite show, Gilmore Girls, a peacock print I got in Venice,The New York Times Essential Cookbook by Amanda Hesser, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Like I said, I love to cook!

Of course the Lorelei's made the cut.

As of now, I have packed one of the duffels I mentioned in my last post. (The smaller one), In it, I have packed my mother's jewelry box that my real dad gave her. (We don't have a relationship and this is the only thing I have that he gave anyone) As well as, my K stamp and calligraphy pen that I got in Italy, the new bike bedspread I bought, some clothes I won't wear in the 76 days I have left here, and my copy of The Chronicles of Narnia, by CS Lewis.

My next post in this series is going to be about what else made the cut. Stay tuned.

Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Let's Talk About Stuff Baby!

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It always takes me off guard when more often than not, I tell someone I am moving to the Netherlands and marrying at Dutchman, they ask me not about my upcoming nuptials or what I am going to be doing once I move there. Instead they say “OMG, I could never do that, what about your stuff?” As if their possessions weigh them down and are therefore I am supposed to be weighed down by mine.

Let’s talk about stuff shall we? Currently, my fiance lives in a one room apartment that is about the size of my current bedroom. It works for him, but we are moving into a brand new apartment that is currently being built in Utrecht. It is about 65sq meters or for those of you use to American, 699sq feet. Not big, but not really bad for a one bedroom apartment. There are going to be two of us living there. Loek already has a sofa, desk, entertainment system and coffee tables. As well as, an oven the size of a microwave, a 4 burner stovetop and a washer. (You get a box when you move into most apartments in NL, it is up to you to add the floor and appliances) We are buying a new bed because something in the apartment has to be my style as well as a new closet or two because Loek’s is falling apart and I love me some clothes.( Very Undutch I know.)

When I leave the States in October, I will be taking Atticus as my personal Item, a carry on doctors bag by DVF, I die, I got it for 60! Then I am checking two rolling duffels, one is the biggest suitcase per cubic cm I could find.( A Kaitlin packing tip: Duffels fit more than traditional suitcases) With these three bags, I plan on taking all the stuff that matters to me in the world. Okay, maybe that is not entirely true, I left 4 Albert Heijn sinaasappels (oranges) boxes of stuff in Loek’s apartment when I visited in April.

My DVF Bag

In the next week, I am going to do a series about how I chose what to take, how I freed myself from my possessions and how I learned that stuff doesn’t really matter, it is the experiences you have and the person you love that make you who you are. I would love to hear back from you as to your struggles with stuff, or how you were able to purge your junk.

Image by: dea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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