Over the years I've become a pro at packing up and moving my household. Having had many chances to relocate, I finally have a system that works relatively well. That said, I do have one hang up. That last pesky box with random items that don't yet have a home. I've lived in my current home for a year and it's just now been unpacked.
Truth be told, if my house was smaller, it would have been unpacked sooner, but my ability to ignore the contents for a full year have allowed me the luxury of turning a blind eye towards it. What was in it? A little of this, a little of that.
It started out as a box that was full of useful items that while many were removed and put away, what was left didn't have a home at the time. Shelves or storage needed to be built and so it sat. Then as other boxes were unpacked miscellaneous items of the same accord were tossed in.
It doesn't matter where I move, I always have this box. It might not be large, sometimes it's the size of a shoe box and it contains smaller personal items that don't really fit in the medicine cabinet or dresser, other times it's old driver's licenses or Altoids tins and spare change.
Maybe I move too often and this is a sign of my nomadic roots. Maybe I'm just lazy and should buck up and unpack the box. This one final box for me seems like a sign that I'm always ready for new adventures because if I never fully unpacked from the last move, then it's easy to feel temporary about a space without becoming attached. Do you have the same problem? Do you have that one last box lurking on a shelf in a closet? Share your thoughts below!
Image: Flickr member C1ssou licensed for use by Creative Commons
Coming to Terms with a Knockoff: Original vs. Reproduction Furniture Design
Monica & Austin's Charming Bungalow
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Ercol Bar Stool
True Greek Recipe: Paximadi Bread Salad with Tomatoes, Feta and Capers
Right now I'm just over a month post-move and all my books remain in boxes because I can't put the bookshelves together until the living room is painted, and I can't paint the room until I pick a color. Living with 6 unpacked boxes in a small one-bedroom is not awesome, and I can't wait to finally unpack that last box!
I have a box like that. It has been moving to different rooms for the last three months since we moved. At this point, it's mostly homeless fridge magnets. It doesn't bother me, but my husband hates it!
Almost three years since our last move, and there are still several unpacked boxes. Guess it's stuff we don't really *need* ! Still, I like to think of them as unopened presents... I'm sure there's lots of stuff I've forgotten about and will be glad to see again.
I have a similar box and ended up just getting a more permanent solution for it -- a small clear plastic drawer. It sits at the top of my closet now and anything that doesn't quite have a proper place gets tossed in there.
I have this problem! We just moved and we plan to stay here for years and years, so no moving in the future for us. But still, we have one box with items that I just dont know what to do with. I am super organized and these are the items that don't really have a category lol
Maybe you should get a more permanent box to store that stuff in so it seems more official? If you did have to use it everyday you probably would have found a place for it. I had a couple of boxes with random lightbulbs and crap that I have put into clear plastic boxes and placed in the closet. It also makes moving a bit easier. One less box to get and pack :)
We've moved lots and there really is always that ONE box, no matter how many other boxes you moved. We fit everything into our car one move and still had that box. Sheesh!
i've got a couple boxes like this in our basement. it's mainly just childhood things that our mothers gave us that we will probably never unpack but would feel awful for throwing away (childhood artwork, A papers, baby shoes, etc).
putting it in the basement is the easiest way for us to deal with it, because everything in our apartment is picked over once/month by me to analyze if we really need it.
I always have that *one* box! In fact, I bought a condo in March, and there's been one box just sitting one my closet shelf, eating up precious room. Just this past weekend, I finally took it down and realized that most of it was junk that I needed to donate--an old box, a scarf a friend's mom made me, a disney ornament, an old shower curtain. So I took a trip to the salvation army, and the box is gone!
Yup, I've got that one box that's moved with me 6 times over the past 12 years. It's got items of sentimental value that I want to keep but don't want on display. If I unpacked that box, the contents would just go into another box, though perhaps not one made of cardboard. So I don't really see the point, it just stays in a closet.
That always happens for me. I usually have that one box full of trinkets like a couple old pictures, bumper stickers, notes, driver license and other old things from my parents. They are meaningful to me so I feel like I should have a spot for them...but I can never really figure it out. I usually throw them in the back of a nightstand or arrange them on my dresser (looks really messy and bad when I do this) but I just have no clue what else to do.
I just moved four months ago and I have a couple boxes in the garage that I don't believe got unpacked in my last two moves. lol
My grandmother used to send me dolls from her travels. She died recently and I can't bear to part with them, but I have nowhere to display them, so they are in boxes in my garage.
I have two of those boxes from 6 yrs ago. On gets light bulbs stored in along with the other treasures. I know there is an ash tray, 110 camera film that needed to be developed years ago. Hoping to move soon and I think I'll toss what is in the boxes at this point. They are both the size of shoe boxes and live in my laundry room. I would be interesting to see that is on that film though.
I unpack that box in to a drawer. It's the drawer os stuff I need to have but don't use often and doesn't match other stuff I have.
I just moved in with my boyfriend a few weeks ago, and there's one little pile of things that he hasn't unpacked yet. It actually really annoys me. I like things to be finished, and his little pile is keeping the unpacking from being "finished" in my mind.
Since graduating high school in 2007, I've moved in and out of my parents house not once...not twice...but THREE times. I am now in my permanent home and have YET to move everything from my parents. Something about having boxes and belongings left in my room at their house is comforting...and always gives me a reason to go back home :) (unfortunately, my brother just called the other day to inform me that him and my sister-in-law will be staying with my parents for a few months and will be taking over my old room that I grew up in...meaning I am going to need to empty out their house asap of my belongings...)