Could you do it? Does 3 bags sound like a lot? Does it sound like too little? This may seem like a series of silly questions, but if you think about it seriously, it could make you wonder why we have so much stuff!
This is something that I have been dealing with for the last month or so. Initially, when I walked through my home I saw a lot of things that I had come to think that I cannot not live without like my KitchenAid stand mixer, my waffle iron, and my Lululemon wardrobe. Now, I walk through my house and cannot imagine how I could have possibly thought that. A KitchenAid mixer, really? That is a luxury item that I no longer have in my house. It was tough to part with it, but in the end, it made two people happy. The person that bought it and ME because I do not have to store it.
When we first signed the contracts with Heritage International School we considered many methods of taking care of the excessive amount of things that we have in our home. We looked at storage options, but that was ridiculously expensive and seemed unnecessary. We are a TYPICAL North American family, we buy things that we do not necessarily need and we keep things we no longer use. I am not saying that we are hoarders by any means, but we do have a lot of things we have not even looked at in years. Getting rid of our stuff has been the most liberating feeling that I have felt in years. I never would have imagined that I would have viewed my material possessions as such a burden and that by having less I would feel like I have so much more.
The last couple weekends we have been liquidating our more valuable possessions on Kijiji. This has come with some frustration, but also much success. Some things we have been sad to see go, like my KitchenAid for me, and for hubby, his bike and bike trailer, but in the end, we know we are doing the right thing. Our little princess has been catching on and no longer gets upset when something leaves the house. It has become a normal thing for her. She says, "People are coming to take things". She does not see that they pay for them, but that is okay. When she cannot find something she says very panicked, "the people took it away". She is a little confused but does not seem to mind, even when it is her own things. She has such a generous heart even though she does not care for sharing.
So, back to my original set of questions. Can I pack in 3 bags or less? Well, I do not have a choice. Neither does hubby. 3 bags is the maximum, little princess can take 2 bags and dimples can only take 1. The question for me then becomes what should I take and I am having a hard time thinking of things that I can put into 3 bags. A month ago I would have thought that was crazy! We have so much stuff! The biggest restriction for me is that I cannot take half of my clothing because it would be deemed culturally inappropriate and if you have read my previous posts you would see that this is a major concern for me because of the ONION factor. So, if one bag is full of clothes and another is full of teaching materials...that leaves one more bag and I cannot think of what to put in there! Hubby is in much the same boat. One bag for clothes, one for teaching materials and the other ___________? We will see what happens as we pack in the next few weeks but these two bags remain empty for now. Do we need to take three bags, no we do not. But since we can we thought we would try :)
That leaves little princess and dimples. They will each get a bag for clothes and they grow so fast they will not have much to take, the rest of their luggage will consist of toys and books, including the little princess's fairy tent. We want to attempt to bring as much as we can from home to create some familiarity for the kids. This is a big change for them and while hubby and I have been preparing for a couple months, arriving in Egypt will be challenging for them. Although we have told them everything, they are too little to truly comprehend the amount of time that we will be away from home.
So, in the end...I have no idea what we are taking. Perhaps we will just toss things into bags as we pack the remainder of our items that we have opted to keep around.
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