Eco-Friendly Moving

We ALMOST made it through a complete inventory of our first room yesterday. We took a medium sized load to goodwill (yea tax write off), and started our very long spreadsheet of home goods. I should say that the first room on the docket was Macy's room. This room is considered a 'bonus' room in our home and is above the garage. It is sparsely filled with a few book shelves, a bed and Macy's things. Still, the inventory for this room took 2.5 hours. WOWZA. I think it's a good thing that we are starting this process early.

The experience was delightful. We both felt liberated by purging our home and our lives of 'things' that we no longer need or frankly even remembered that we had. Certainly we both had moments of 'oh, gosh, but I loved that'...emphasis on the past tense. I've decided that many of the things I've been lugging around from home to home are unnecessarily. Each item contributed to my past experience, and in turn, have contributed to who I am now. But keeping around date books from 1999, or art supplies long dried up, only keep me weighted down. This process will no doubt become more intense as I begin processing my office....a densely packed space filled with notes, cards, books, journals, articles and the like.

But I am beginning to look at the things in our home with a new eye. I am also considering the imprint that my cross country move could have on the environment. Lady T and I try to live in a sustainable way by making small and permanent changes in our lives. Along these lines I have begun searching for ideas and tricks to minimizing the environmental cost of this move to Boston. Here is some of what I have found so far:

1. Pare down possessions to minimize the weight to ship or drive belongings to the new destination (in process)
2. Find boxes and other moving supplies that are recycled or reused (rather than buying new)
* I'm working on finding these by searching craigslist and other sources
3. Donate books to libraries and other charities

What are your suggestions?

This week we will learn about the official word on my funding from the American Cancer Society. We are excited and can hardly keep ourselves from becoming silly romantics about the move. We have visions of beautiful New England dancing in our heads.