What Don't You Move?

When we begin packing for a move, we tend to address our most important items first. By the time we work through the rest, there invariably remain the misfits we can't see the point in moving...

We're trying to think of the items that we tend to whittle down to. It's tough to put a finger on it, it's always such a motley grouping. It might include excess unused office supplies, unwanted gifts kept out of sight and out of mind 'til this day of reckoning, odd unused dishware, wrapping paper, or partly used but still very usable pantry items or cleaning supplies.

We generally end up giving some of the items away to friends and donating what we can. The rest, after much deliberation, often ends up being thrown away. We feel wasteful but don't want to move unwanted items to a new home.

Do you end up with misfit items you just don't have the heart to move? What do you do with them? Please tell in the comments below.

Image: Southern Girl Rambling

Comments (23)

A giant can of pineapple juice.

When we moved from 24th St. in SF a couple of months ago, we would just set out unwanted items on the street on a day-by-day basis. It didn't take long for people to take them. Old vases, mismatched coffee mugs, sweater organizers, out-of-style clothes of tiny of pre-happy-marriage dimensions. Television from circa 1994. Etc. One man's junk is another's treasure...

It was great fun peeking out the window to see who was taking what.

I have donated copious amounts of items to salvation army, etc. The tax write off has been embarrassingly impressive...

Food, I donate to friends with big families.

I haven't bought most bathroom type items for a few years in an attempt to use all the lotions, soaps, etc that I've gotten as gifts or collected.

I tried a garage sale, which was effective, but scheduled the salvation army run right after.

And after going through all that after my last move, I just keep purging monthly now...my tastes are clearly a bit more minimal now after moving a few times...

freecycle.org

check it out, I am a big fan!

"One man's trash is another man's treasure"

I'm packing now for a move and also use the "put it on the street method". I've already set out leaky snow boots (with a note), books, and lamps. In the next week I'll be putting out furniture I won't need in my new place (and that isn't worth craigslisting). Things are always gone within 30 minutes.

recently moved from nyc to philadelphia. I left almost my entire kitchen (two of three chrome beehive blenders, treasured martini glasses and an old-school movie theater style popcorn popper). All left behind in my old condo's recycling room for the vultures.

And a lot of impulsive eBay "treasures".

The biggest one for me is clothing. Moving is a great time to purge all those old clothes that I know I'm never going to wear again. Throw them all in plastic bags and drop them off at a donation center!

Crap Swap them!!

A group of girls I know does a Crap Swap monthly! You bring all the stuff you don't want or can't use, and swap it for stuff you do want, or can use!

See the blog...

http://trashednotwasted.blogspot.com/

I have this stupid black ceramic coffee canister with the word "GEVALIA" in giant gold letters across the front. The thing is huge and horribly ugly, but it has managed to move with me 3 times now. I always shove it in the back of a pantry and forget about it until I'm packing up the pantry again on the day of the move (always behind...). And by then I'm too annoyed to do anything but throw it in the box. I always say that I'm going to deal with it at the new place, but that never happens.

I'm now inspired to go home and get rid of it tonight! Salvation Army, look out.

Baby stuff! You can always get it again at garage sales in the new place.

a friend and I *each* recently wound up with our very own 1 gallon jugs of vegetable oil, left behind by a friend of a friend's old roommate. good thing we were planning for a bake sale!

Paper. I never move loose papers if I can help it. I sort of look through them, and whatever I can't find a folder for goes right in the trash.

And plenty of clothes don't make the move. I force myself to decide what I really want and only that moves with me.

we're packing up for our move from san francisco to portland and have been ridding ourselves of excess. my philosophy is the less we have to move the better we will be. our budget is small so I first raided my closet and pulled out pieces I no longer wear and took it to my neighborhood crossroads. whatever didn't sell we left at a clothing dropbox. why waste. then I went for the shelves and pulled out books that we could be rid of, took them over to our used book store, green apple. whatever we couldn't sell I donated them to the library. and everything we deem as something we won't need to take w/ us we've posted on craigslist to sell or put it out to the curb to sell. all in everyone benefits.

Ex-Husbands

I've left several behind...

well, the original post hit our big pitch piles. moving is a great time to clean out the pantry and finally get rid of those unwanted gifts.

we also purge our closets of old clothing. most of the stuff gets donated. the really bad stuff gets pitched.

but generally, becuase we live in a very small space, we don't acumulate too much junk... so moving time isn't that bad for us.

litter box. I toss it a buy a new one.

I didn't move my toilet brush ... started out with a new one in the new place!

: )

On the other hand, it was amazing to see what folks left behind when my old building emptied out (everyone had to move). I grabbed a lot of stuff: a small table, bookshelf, and lamp; a perfectly working blender.

@bepsf: Hell yeah. Leaving one behind also means leaving behind the crap I hated that he loved. The last one had an alarming assortment of taxidermied fish. Sigh. Thank dog I never have to look at those again.

Always leave behind spices - they're usually old by the time I move. Also I ditch the assortment of empty jars and mismatched plastic containers that I usually save for possible storage. Those usually go to the recycling.

Clothes that I can't quite bring myself to get rid of, but have been too lazy to eBay.

freecycle

And my grandmother warned not to move a broom. Something about sweeping bad luck from the old place into new. She lived to 94 so I don't move brooms.

I leave a box in my apartment lobby labeled "free!!!".

I give my friends a heads up before but the box usually does the trick.

It's normally clothes and extra shoes I don't want to move - I use it as a great time to realize what I don't need and donate barely worn clothing. But it has come down to just knick knacks and stuff I know I don't want that were just gifts - that's about the right time to get rid of. You can always say they got lost in the move.

I have an odd assortment of knick-knacks that somehow makes its way into the last box. They include all the things I keep on my dresser bookshelf, usually odds and ends, some random gadgets, hair/beauty supplies, and little decorative objects like my taxidermied piranhas, army men, and designer piggy bank.

I also have an entire dresser drawer's worth of instruction manuals, extra printer paper, and a number of other things I wish I could remember, they're all in storage awaiting my move to my new apartment. My other two dresser drawers are occupied by fabric and sewing supplies, and shoes. My clothes I keep in a suitcase when not in use, my clothes I use are in my closet.