Fitting my life into 3 suitcases

hklover wants to know how the heck I am planning on fitting my life into 3 suitcases

I just will.

Simple, but not so simple if you have a lot of stuff.

We don’t own much in furniture

I don’t have or care much for furniture or things (I hate vacuuming around things), and this is all that we own that can be considered actual furniture or.. well, things that will be bulky to move.

• 2 metal racks that can be disassembled and packed flat
• 2 bikes
• 1 ironing board + customary iron
• 2 floor futons (we sleep on the floor like Japanese)
• Pillows/Blankets
• 4 folding chairs
• 1 table
• 2 stools
• Stereo system
• Lots of blue recycling boxes that we’re using as tables because we sleep/sit on the floor
• Pots/cookware
• Plates/Silverware/Kitchen Gadgets

That’s it.

What we DON’T own in furniture that most people have

• Lamps (we don’t have any)
• TV
• Couch (we don’t have one)
• Side tables etc (we use the big kitchen rack as our side table and for our pots on the bottom)
• Art/paintings
• Rugs
• Drawers
• Dressers
• And so on….

… you get the idea.

So based on the above, we’re going to:

Sell/Give Away

• Sell the metal racks before we move
• Sell the 2 bikes (we already have a waiting buyer/friend who wants them)
• Sell or give away the ironing board/iron — probably to my parents
• Pots/Cookware — ditto, giving them to my mom who loves to cook but doesn’t buy stuff
• 4 folding chairs —- sell/donate
• 1 table —- sell/donate
• 2 stools —- sell/donate
• Stereo system — Sell to a friend who wants the system
• Blue recycling boxes — Give to my parents/friends
• Pillows/Blankets — Given away to my mom who is in dire need of new sheets 😛

Keeping

• Plates/Silverware/Kitchen Gadgets — taking them with us because they’re nice
• 2 floor futons— taking them with us. We need beds, after all!

WHAT I HAVE LEFT:

That will leave us with only our clothes, suitcases, toiletries and technology to travel with.

As for me personally, I own 3 laptops, 8 hard drives (not big ones), and a whole mess of jewellery, clothes, shoes and purses. I’m going to bring a couple of my favourite books, but the rest I shall donate.

I don’t have much paper, I got rid of most if it because I scanned everything onto my hard drives.

And I don’t have any paintings or artwork I’d like to keep that I feel the need to bring with me.

SO FAR: 2 SUITCASES = OKAY

I have already started packing somewhat, and right now I’ve packed 1 suitcase full of just my clothes, as I sold 50%+ of my items last year to have them go to better homes, with the added benefit of putting money towards my debt and decluttering.

My second suitcase will hold my shoes, purses and jewellery with a couple of books.

I am also bringing 2 carry-ons with just my technology because I do not trust packing it with the way I’ve seen those luggage handlers toss those suitcases.

Like I said, 2 laptops and 1 netbook, with 8 small-ish hard drives are all of the technology I have.

If I can keep it to 2 suitcases under 70 pounds each, I will, so I won’t have to pay the $100 fee to put the third suitcase on the plane or if it’s overweight.

But if I need a third, I’ll buy a third suitcase, but so far it looks like 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons will do it for my life’s stuff.