-{ redgeek.net }-

I own a condo and I want to travel. I want to travel for many months. I no longer want to own a condo. So, come summer, the condo’s going on the market. Because of this, quick trips to the kitchen or bathroom are now viewed as Tours of Accumulated Crap. Where the hell am I going to put all this while I traipse around the world for six months living out of a backpack? I mean, damn, I’ve got a lot of crap. What to do with it? Send me ideas. This is what I’ve got so far:

• Donations: Goodwill should be seeing a full truckload a in the near future. Perhaps cut the (now) largely-unworn black T-shirt collection from 70 down to 10, and toss out various old jeans and shorts that are now either too large or too small for me. (Yes, it’s been long enough that I have clothes on both ends of the poorly-sized spectrum.)

• Sales: I’ve decided I’m going to sell my stereo (gasp!) – yes, the high-end audiophilic masturbatory device I so treasure. I’m just not home enough anymore, and once I’m out of the country, I’ll be listening to it even less.

• Giveaways: I’ll be bringing boxes of various old computer bits and pieces to the local 2600 meeting for the taking after I see if I can cobble together a working machine to donate to the local elementary.

• Bonfire!: Who needs huge books dedicated to the administration of decade old versions of sendmail? Not me. I’ve got tons of outdated information security and administration manuals – even a 1991 copy of “Practical Unix Security,” before they changed the name of the next edition to “Practical Unix and Internet Security.” Sendmail’s more useful as as a fire starter anyway. Potential 2600 material here as well….

• Storage: I’m not really down with selling my 150 year old antique Chinese credenza, nor the coffee table, end-tables, wall-hangings, and CDs. (I want to keep the CDs around as backup in case my iPod dies.) There’ll also be a good number of books I can’t bear to part with. Anyone have tips on good cheap long-term storage companies? How are those ones that drop off/pick up at your house?

• Friends: Anybody want to borrow something of mine for a year? Perhaps my outdoor table and chairs, or some of my power tools? You just have to return them in comparable condition.

• ???: What do you do with crappy but usable kitchen gear? I’ve a bunch of pots and pans and whatnot that are probably near the end of their usable lifespans – is donation acceptable? Something else?

Of course, the travels are still at least a year off, and I’ve got to sell the house and work out all sorts of logistics first, so I’ve got time. But just the though of moving is providing me for the emphasis on this winter-cleaning, and I thoroughly believe in some significant change at lease once to years to spurn a minimization process. Much more effective than an empty “spring cleaning,” which typically just becomes not-quite-completed chore.