Calls and texts everyday from my customers now. We are in that busy season, and not everything is going as smooth as we want it to go. That happens in real estate markets like we are in — fast furious sales, and not enough time on the sellers side to allow for finding that “next step” in their story. Not enough time to go through all our stuff, to decide what to pack and what to leave.

So, what to do? Pack. Keep Calm and Pack. Use this time to purge, to listen to that inner self that is asking you, “Do I really need all this stuff?” 9 times out of 10 if you answer that question honestly, you already know the answer. I’ve always said, “People should move every 5 years just to get rid of all the nonsense we accumulate,” hypothetically, of course.

Interestingly enough, I’ve seen just about everything when people begin packing their things. Anger, tears, laughter, things I wish I had not seen… apathy, fighting. Packing things, for some, bring back a flood of memories and emotions, evoke something entirely different to others, something disposable and unemotional. I never could figure that out, but I suppose is I won the lottery, I could part with some “stuff.”

No matter what we think about our stuff, no one else will see the value in it that we do. Selling off your life in a garage sale or estate sale — you’ll see really quick that no one thinks as much of your things as you do. It just makes me wonder, why do we by anything new anymore. Rethinking how to shop, and how to unload some things here in my house too. Also thinking of things I would never get rid of, my dad’s pocket knives, my grandfather’s Masonic Pin, the little pottery pinch pot my oldest made, and the handmade cards I still treasure.

What’s your most prized possession — what would you never leave behind?