Moving Boxes

WHAT?! Did you know that a completely different world lives at Walmart at midnight? It's kind of magical...and kind of...different. First of all, everything looks different when the usual shoppers in each aisle are replaced by pallets full of boxes full of items to be re-stocked. Secondly, the only shoppers there are WeiRDOS, (yeah, I realize I grouped myself with said weirdos...) but seriously.

Also

{teensy little tangent} YOU CAN'T BRING YOUR CHILDREN TO WALMART AT MIDNIGHT! Your babes should be asleep and dreaming at such hours (so should I!). I feel like it's child abuse.

(in the pic this family has THREE KIDS out scoring through the bargain dvd's...one of them is behind the sign, I pretended to take a picture of John (in his special hoodie) so they wouldn't get wise to my plot, I am so tricky no?)

There were SEVEN different families with babies and kids tonight. Seriously? I just felt so bad for the kids, they don't know how terrible it is that they are being kept up so late, and the school aged kids, I'm sorry, what part of get a good night's rest and eat a good breakfast so your kid can be in tippy-top shape to learn stuff don't you understand. UGH. K, I'm stepping off my soapbox.

The reason I ventured out so late was to get moving boxes. I had been scouring craigslist daily looking for free moving boxes, and decided to try my hand at scrounging some at Walmart, I thought I might have to dig through some piles to find some usable ones, but dumpster diving is not beneath me, just ask my college roomies :) ANYWAY, I was told by someone once that cereal boxes are the best ones to get for packing, not too big, not too small. So I come to the cereal aisle and theres this glorious shopping cart full of collapsed boxes, all the SAME size, lined up like a card catalog. I asked the stocker guy if I could have them, and he said SURE, and that it's nice when people come take his boxes. really?! Could not have been easier, in fact I went back a second night when we ran out of boxes and the same guy had another cart full of nicely collapsed moving boxes, like they were waiting for me. cute.

{This picture is from the third night of scrounging boxes, we were too early for the cart full of cereal boxes all nice and neat...we did manage to get a few though}

Don't buy moving boxes, the ones from Walmart are free, and uniform sizes, the only downer is you have to stay up to get there when they're stocking, and you have to/get to see all the crazies that come out at night.

De-cluttering, therapy for the mover's soul!

Isn't it therapeutic to go through all your things and throw stuff out?! Ahh, I breathe a huge sigh of satisfaction when I get rid of stuff I don't need. Moving is the GREATEST excuse for de-cluttering, but even if you're not moving, don't you love to organize, evaluate and de-junk your stuff?!!! I LOVE IT!

For awhile I was hanging on to my FAVORITE tops and jeans and pants because I thought...I might be able to fit into them someday...HA! Jokes on me...I'm not saying I think I'm fat, sure I wish I were 15-20 pounds smaller than I am now, but let's get real for a sec... I am not one of "those" girls who springs right back into her pre-baby body mere months after they have a baby. I used to be smaller. I loved my clothes from my skinnier days.

My excuses for keeping some of my clothes were:

-I still LOOOVE it (it just doesn't look good on me right now)

-It's practically brand new, I haven't even worn it that many times, gotta get my moneys worth

-I spent REAL money on it, I can't just get rid of it

-I could wear it like...camping/working out/painting/gardening (HA!!!!!)

-This is my sentimental t-shirt from girls camp/efy/school/special run/whatever, I can't just throw it away, that's like a slam on my experience

-This is my Valentine/halloween/christmas/4th of July shirt, I should wear it when (that holiday) comes around

-I'm sure there's more...

OKAY. Seriously?!

-If it doesn't look good on me now, when would it? Reality check. If I bought it and don't wear it, then I gotta cut my losses, and free up some closet space.

-I allowed myself ONE painting t-shirt and my trusty old painting/camping/working overalls.

-I decided I wasn't a bad person for tossing my old t-shirts. For awhile, I thought, maybe I would make a quilt out of them, as a way to hang onto them...but gimme a break, I can't even imagine a pretty quilt that would take TONS of time and effort to preserve memories that are perfectly well documented with photos, and journal entries, not to mention I can't imagine it even being that cute.

-Lastly, holiday shirts have gotta be pretty darn cute for me to keep them around and remember to wear them at the right time (I feel the same about holiday socks...)

-And as far as old t-shirts to work out in, I decided I want to feel cute when I work out. I don't want to be all sweaty and nasty, AND be wearing a girls camp t-shirt from 1997 that's stained and nasty, I want to wear a work-out shirt that is cute-ish.

-duh! Why has it taken me so long to realize these things?!

Well, this weekend I let go of them. all.

And I'm giving you permission to do the same. DO IT! Get rid of the clothes you don't love, don't fit into, don't wear often enough to justify the space they take up in your closet.

When I do get back to my pre-baby weight, I want to buy NEW clothes, NEW styles, NEW fit. I don't understand how people use old clothes as a motivation to lose weight lol, it just doesn't make sense to me...new clothes though?! Heck yes!

I let my sister Stephanie go through the clothes I was giving to DI (Deseret Industries, like Goodwill), she is MUCH smaller than me, but she's expecting a baby in October (YAY!) so she can wear some of my smaller clothes(big for her and her cute belly)! This was SO satisfying to me, to know that someone will treasure my old favorites as much as I did...hahahaaa...

So the moral of the story is, if you haven't worn it in a year, THROW IT OUT, and if you haven't worn it in a year, but you still LOVE it, either re-purpose it, or give it to someone who will love it as much as you did.

This pile doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of everything I got rid of...