apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

There must be a name for the syndrome I'm suffering! I own a large old inn, live in it, and rent out some apartments. To minimize sob story: taxes doubled; am selling/moving. I love my space in it, but now that I'm trying to sell the place, trying to pack, and basically trying to give a sparrow fart about how things look, I can't work up a head of steam to neaten and clean that lasts more than 45 minutes max! YET I MUST! I seek 1) ideas, 2) pity and moral support, 3) a name for this syndrome!

Au

Maybe "Reluctantly pulling up stakes" syndrome?

I pity you and anyone who has to move - I've been through it so many times and it just sucks. The good part is that if you move often, you don't have as much junk as you might if you never moved. Everytime I move, I offload a lot of stuff.

Do you already have a new place you're moving to?

Actually, 45 minute chunks aren't bad. It's so hard to keep the attention span going that long, esp if you really don't want to leave the space to begin with. How much time do you have to pack?

Yes, moving is grueling. The only way I have managed the last few times is to have someone, hired or cajoled, to help with packing and/or cleaning. It's just too hard to go it alone with the necessary homages paid to the layers of ones existence. A dispassionate helper is essential.
Best of luck.

I'm going through very similar circumstances right now - except that I actually have a love/hate relationship with my house that is more hate than love. And even though I can't wait to be free of it, I have a hard time getting going myself! ...Moving is stressful. And *having* to move is stressful.

This is going to sound really stupid, but a kitchen timer can be a miracle if you're frozen. I've tried a million but I find a vintage 50s kitchen timer (bought for $3 on eBay) is just perfect for me.

In general, it helps to set a reachable goal - ramp up and don't expect to do it all in a day. In the beginning (and I'm not far from this point in this round of packing/decluttering/renewing), you might just say, "Okay, I'm going to spend (for example) five 5-minute breaks tonight doing X and Y, and here's how I'll reward myself after, say, #s 1,3&5." Or to say, "Alright, I can watch the DIY channel, but I have to go through this box" or "I will sort through one stack of papers per commercial break." If that doesn't do it, the next day it won't seem so overwhelming to do a little more.

Also - it had *really* bothered me about what I was giving up, but when I thought about what I was shedding (constant worry about keeping it up and keeping it paid for, unbelievable time, stress, dusting, the knowledge that calamity ALWAYS strikes when you least expect it, money spats, dust where I just dusted, being distracted when I would rather have been with family and friends, banks, bills... and MORE dusting) and what I would gain for it (a new space, the golden opportunity to get rid of tons of junk, a chance to rectify the things that annoy me about this place) - it made losing my nice view not seem so traumatic.

That's all I know-not enough, for sure. What works for other people when inertia strikes?

If you have a friend that's good at that, it really helps; otherwise, do hire someone to help. If it's a friend that you know and trust, they can actually say, "It's been a while since you seemed really interested in that stuff; are you sure you need to keep it?"

It's so much easier if THEY are the one that's holding something up and asking you, and letting you respond and then THEY throw it away for you; it's a little less hard to face, and it can actually be kind of fun.