I have moved houses a couple of times in the past 8 years t…

Didn't think it'd be so hard coz we don't even have much stuff. we lived in a furnished house in the first 5 years and then kids happened and furniture was unnecessary coz if you have kids you know that they think furniture is for doing everything except sitting and relaxing

So we don't have beds (kids will fall down), no TV (kids will likely break it), no chest of drawers (had one, kids open and shut it so many times, it broke), no study table/work desk (lol, kitchen sink and dining table is only study table)

We also never bought any toys for the kids because again if you have kids, you know how useless toys are. The kids have played more with our furniture and our utensils than any of the expensive toys they were gifted with
(BUT ALWAYS HAVE 200 TYPES OF BALLS AND CARS)

Even clothes we don't have much because the kids outgrow stuff so fast, we keep donating clothes and husband works from home and has been wearing the same shorts and t-shirt since the day we got married and I have some 15-20 kurtas/leggings which I have been wearing for years

So basically we have very little stuff (or so I thought) and since I wasn't around when my husband and father in law packed up our house in Hyderabad, I had NO idea of the number of boxes and the amount of stuff I had, till yesterday

So here I am waiting in Ahmedabad for the truck to come and I am thinking - sofa, dining table, fridge, microwave and maybe 8-10 boxes of stuff. That should be easy to unpack in a couple of hours.

In comes the truck and apart from the furniture, SIXTY ONE boxes of stuff is off loaded and I am just like bhaiya some mistake, did you bring us other people's stuff too and no - ALL OF THIS IS JUNK FROM MY HOUSE

So husband and i take a deep breath and start sorting and unpacking in a systematic manner and I want to share some lessons with you which I hope you will follow so you are not faced with 61 boxes filled with random stuff when you move

As a summary, I had about 10-15 boxes of just kitchen stuff, 8-10 boxes of bedsheets and pillow covers(!!), another 8-10 boxes of pillows (SIGH!), 7-8 boxes of books, 4-5 boxes of pictures/frames, 4 boxes of clothes and about 8-10 boxes of misc shit

Lesson 1: Kitchen
YOU THINK YOU NEED ALL THOSE PLASTIC TAKEAWAY BOXES. NO YOU DON'T. THROW THEM AWAY.
I have so much ridiculous plastic takeaway boxes and tupperware boxes without their soulmates (the lids) that it filled two boxes, most of which I finally threw

Lesson 2: Kitchen
Make an excel sheet of all the vessels you have and the quantities.
I kept buying stuff thinking I didn't have spoons or plates or whatever, turns out past me had stashed away 'emergency' vessels which I had forgotten about and just kept buying stuff

Lesson 3:
You don't need so many vessels. I spent the past one year as a masters students with 5 plates, spoons, one plan, one kadai, one cooker and some other stuff here and I managed just fine without needing anything more

Lesson 4:
So useless but OMG so pretty and I am SURE i will use it is the reason I have 15 boxes of random kitchen stuff which I could have put in an SIP instead. Would have had some returns instead of plastic boxes without lids

Lesson 5:
Coasters, place mats, table mats, runners - LOL. You are never going to use them. They are too pretty for you to use when you are alone and no one who comes to your house will ever be special enough for those. Just don't buy them

Lesson 6:
STOP BUYING BEDSHEETS. no just stop. I know instagram is full of pretty bedsheets and quilts and cushion covers. You don't need to possess every single one of those. Buy few good quality ones which you use till they fade

Lesson 7
Guests in your house need love, care, a space free of judgement and good food and company. THEY AREN'T COMING BECAUSE YOU HAVE NICE PILLOWS. I have bought new pillows every time I have had a guest and I don't know why?!

Lesson 8
Books. SIGH
There is no lesson here. I will wait for someone to give me a good lesson on this which doesn't involve giving away or throwing books but still makes them easy to transport and store and pick and read

Lesson 9
You think you need a lot of stationery and diaries and notebooks BUT YOU ACTUALLY DON'T. I have some 200 pens and crayons and color pencils and notebooks most of which are unused and have dried and are ready to be thrown. Some 3 boxes were full of stationery junk

Lesson 10
THROW ELECTRONICS AND ALL ITS WIRES AS AND WHEN YOU STOP USING IT.
I have a Nokia 6600 charger and I don't know why. I last used it in 2008.
WIRES. SO MANY WIRES. AHHHHH

Will keep updating this thread as and when I keep unpacking more because lol obviously I am not done unpacking yet and when I say lessons for you, I obviously mean lessons for me so I will come back to this thread the next time I have to move houses or buy junk