This weekend is turning into my most productive weekend all summer. Went to Mansfield and bought out Macys, JCPenney, Sears. Bought them out of clothes, shoes, and scarves, I mean. More things I need to try to cram into my suitcase.
(Side note: For some reason I keep trying to spell suitcase with an extra E: suitEcase. Um…)
After I got home, ate dinner, played fashion show for my mom, and took a shower I started seriously packing. I’m about to use caps, but don’t think I’m shouting…
PACKING. IS. HARD.
Not only hard, but exhausting and mind numbing. How can one person reduce all of their worldly possessions down to two suitcases? In my case, one of my suitcases is smaller than the other so it’s even harder. How can I say to my two dozen cardigans “I’m taking you, Cat Print Cardi, but not youuu Tiffany Blue Cardi”? It broke my heart. (Okay…I don’t really talk to my cardigans like that).
My process had gone something like this:
- Pick out all of the clothes I might want to take with me and put them on my bed
- Fold said clothes and put into piles according to type (shirts/tees, pants/bottoms, sweaters, scarves, etc. etc.)
- Put in suitcase
- Become flustered at the sheer space said folded clothes takes up (the piles were 3 times the size the suitcase would allow to close)
- Bust out Space Bags
- Re-pack all of said clothes into space bags
- Struggle with getting all of the air out of aforementioned Space Bags
- Put Space Bags into suitcase.
- Sit on suitcase.
- Zip close.
- Drag downstairs to weigh (only 45lbs! But our scale is a bit off..)
- Wheel around with other already packed suitcase. Pick up multiple times, just to make sure I can even lift them
- Sit down and go through each article packed in suitcases and ask important questions: Will I wear this more than three times? Is it appropriate for the weather? Does this have multiple uses? Will I use this enough to feel good about carrying it around? Can I do without it? Does this show dirt easily? Does it dry quick and not wrinkle?
- Re-pack
I haven’t gotten to 13 and 14. In fact, I’m sitting in our office, tired and staring at the four piles of receipts on my desk. For as long as I’ve had credit cards in my own name (since high school) I’ve always paid the entire balance off every month. “Don’t spend money you don’t have” was the saying I frequently told myself. So staring at this pile of receipts that needs to be paid off before I leave doesn’t bother me as I’m sure it would bother other people, but it just reminds me, again, that I can’t wait on things like this. I need to pay these. I need to pack. I need to keep reading through these materials. My mind is still in Summer-land where the days are long, the weather is nice, and the hardest decision I have to make each day is what to wear to work and what to read before bed. By no stretch is my life hard and I’m sure it sounds like I have the Rich Kid Blues but…can I be honest?…I’m starting to freak out.
Normally the remedy to anything tough and scary is keep pushing through. Keep going. Don’t be discouraged. But tonight, I’m going to walk away after step 12, make some popcorn, watch a movie, and start again fresh in the morning. Ready for another day of shopping (third day, third city) and to take tackle my greatest enemy: my suitcase.
Wish me luck.
