Painless packing takes months.

Little by little, we are clearing out the house. The junk drawers are getting noticed. The dings on the walls are becoming more visible, with each one triggering memories of accidents and rough play.

Over the last three years, we wore this house to fit the way a foot does with a shoe. We came as a family of five and will be leaving as seven.

There are always so many emotions present when it comes to packing up a home. Sorting through each item of children's clothing, deciding which to keep, which to throw away. And again, we are sentimental people and love the melancholy of revisiting the memories each onesie and pair of PJs trigger. For us, moving is a practice of cleansing that we have needed every few years.

Junk adds up quickly.

Back to those drawers! It's just so easy to chuck stuff into a drawer when cleaning. It is literally the oldest trick in the book. But boy oh boy, the chickens are coming home to roost! Check out this drawer in the picture. I know it looks organized. There are two reasons for that. The first being that we have already done two or three preliminary rounds of packing. For us, that means buying a big box of garbage bags and weeding the garden. (I wish I had taken a pre-preliminary-packing-pic!) The second reason it looks organized is that we organized it.

The reason I've decided to write about this drawer is that it sums up our life perfectly. A couple of weeks ago, it was overflowing with trinkets, useless trash, and drained batteries.

I sorted through the valuables within the drawer, and I estimated the original paid value of the items to be over $1000.00. An old iPhone, a Fitbit watch with no charger, another anniversary present watch that lost a strap pin just a few months after purchasing. We haven't had the time (no pun intended) or energy to get it fixed. At one point, each one of these items was 'needed' so badly. Now, forgotten in the drawer they've sat, collecting dust. I hope I am more alone in feeling this than I think.

Here comes the hope part!

Those watches and phones won't ever fetch even a tenth of the original price paid for them. Yet, they are still worth at least a few meals. If monetizing these poor decisions of the past is still in any way possible, maybe we can feed a hungry kid or two. And THAT would be cool.