I have finally started to pack!

Post #7

Estimated Days to Departure from Saskatoon: 22

Days to Departure from Western Canada: 41

I just returned from a very busy one-week visit to see relatives and friends in Alberta. One of the things I did before I left was to get a quote on the cost of having a moving-and-storage company collect my belongings, store them, and then bring them to me in Toronto when I find an apartment to live in. The cost was going be prohibitive: probably more than the actual belongings are worth. So as I was driving along highways in Alberta and Saskatchewan last week, I was thinking about alternatives—and talking about alternatives with my clever younger son, who was with me on the road for part of the trip. He can analyze problems and come up with solutions like nobody’s business. And now I have a modified plan.

I am going to get rid of everything I don’t need. I bought the furniture I have here because I didn’t have any furniture at the time, and I never was too happy with it, so I’m going to sell it. The only stuff I am going to keep is what pertains to me and my memories—my books (and bookshelves, of course. Bookshelves are always expensive and hard to find), my paintings and other art, some dishes, as well as stuff like pots and pans that people always need.  There are also boxes and boxes of manuscripts here, and other papers that I want to keep forever. I’ll take my television. My computers. The clothes I really like. The rest of my belongings will be sold or go to the Salvation Army. (The plants and a few other things like spices and house-cleaning products I am going to offer to local friends. They/you are welcome to say “No thanks!”)

I am delighted with this decision as it means I can sort and whittle down, something I love to do. (Time permitting, of course. It’s not like I have time to sort all my papers again or anything. I did that once about 10 years ago, and am planning to do it again in my 14^th decade.)

While I am sorting, I am going to put everything I will need for my three weeks in Alberta and/or will need in the first few months in Toronto into one room, and the rest into the other rooms. And I am going to get a quote on moving whatever I don’t need immediately into a storage unit here. (I rented the unit itself yesterday.)

When I get to Toronto and find an apartment, I will replace the items I have just sold. I will get a new couch, chair, table, bed. (As many of you are aware, I know how to get what I want at auctions. :)) With the option to replace the basics when I get to Toronto, I will be able to function there (earn a living, write fiction, etc.) until I have time to think about getting a moving van that can bring the things I will have here in Saskatoon, plus the belongings I already have in storage in Edmonton (mostly my aunt’s things that I put there when she moved into continuing care). At that point, I may even look on-line for someone who is moving from Edmonton to Toronto and wants to share the cost of a mover. Even including everything in Edmonton and Saskatoon, I don’t have a lot of stuff.

At least this gives me options, and doesn’t require so much cash up front.

Somewhere I once read that the key to success in attaining a goal is being able to adjust your course of action when the original plan clearly isn’t going to work. My goal is to get to Toronto. My plan to hire a mover to get me there in one smooth transfer didn’t work. But now I have another plan for attaining my goal, one that gives me the advantage of an excuse to buy “new” (used) furnishings—things that I prefer over what I have now. So I am ahead of the game, and I am back in business.  And I am excited about and focused on the move.

(Anybody want to buy a couch—practically new?)