Thursday, July 14, 2011

Shredding, sorting, packing, and house hunting

That pretty much sums up the past few days.  I really planned to wait and pack after I found a place to live, but it is probably a good thing that I’m starting early.  I realize I have too much junk.  It’s not to say that I’m not packing any of the junk – but I’m slowly making progress.  My house looks like a tornado ripped through it right now.  I have stuff everywhere.  I mentioned that I was going through stuff that has been in the garage for a while.  I spent almost a full day going through old bills and papers and such and shredding them.  (Thankfully, I have a pretty good shredder.)  I filled about 3 large trashbags with the shreddings (not sure if that is a word – but you know what I mean).  As I pack, I’ve been sorting through all sorts of things.  I have a big box of cassette tapes that I need to get rid of.  Several are commercial copies like my Garth Brooks tapes, but many are those that I made.  I even have the special tape that I made for my true love in the 8th grade.  I created a montage of song snippets expressing my love (or infatuation) with him.  I also have probably about a 100 video tapes.  Again – several commerical tapes, but also a bunch of tapes that are not labeled and I have no idea of what is on them.  I do still have the copy of the time that I went to California and tried to get on The Price is Right.  I didn’t get called to “Come on Down” but you can see me in the audience at least 4 times. I found a bunch of stuff that belonged to the theatre company that Richard and I used to participate in.  I friended the person who had organized the group and told her that I had the stuff and wanted to see if she wanted it back.  She said she did and we’ve made plans to have lunch on Friday.  I have seen her or her now husband (he was just boyfriend at the time) in probably over 8 years.  It will be nice to see them. 

During my breaks from packing (and there are many breaks), I’ve been doing some online house-hunting.  I’ve created a spreadsheet of all the potential houses in San Antonio that are within my rent range and have the features I’m looking for.  I’m able to copy the file into a website that will create a pinpointed Google map showing where all the houses are.  It will even color code it for me.  I have it coded by area.  That way when I do go down there (probably next week), I can organize my search.  Want to know how nerdy and frugal I am? (As if creating the spreadsheet and map isn’t enough.)  In the spreadsheet, I put a formula that divides the square footage by the rent cost to see which house gives me the best deal in terms of space for the cost.  

Today Josh and I had our picture taken for the church directory.  I know that I’m moving in less than a month, but I really wanted to have a nice photo of us and it was with a professional photographer.  So we had our picture taken and I spent an arm and most of a leg ordering some.  But we’ve never had a picture taken together so I figure it was time.  I’ll try to post a copy when they come in. 

Tomorrow night is the final Harry Potter movie.  Josh got tickets for the midnight showing last week.  I’m really excited and sad at the same time.  I’m going to go all out and dress up as Hermoine Granger. 

Well, that’s all that is going on here.  So much to do and I just don’t know if I’ll get it all done.  I really need more boxes!!

5 comments:

Patti said...

I hope it's OK that I am laughing at your self-described "nerdy and frugalness".

:D

That's AWESOME!!

Anonymous said...

Good luck :)
jan

Anonymous said...

"In the spreadsheet, I put a formula that divides the square footage by the rent cost to see which house gives me the best deal in terms of space for the cost."

... whow ... I'd just drive by, look and like it, or not. If I ever win the lottery I want you to do my business.

Annabel said...

Mago - Driving by and looking at them is the next step. The spreadsheet just helps me to narrow the choices down.

Patti - Yes, you can certainly laugh at my nerdy and frugal nature.

Thanks for the luck Jan

Ruby Badcoe said...

Three trashbags of shredded papers? That is a lot. But I think it is good that you decided to dispose of them before you moved out. For one, you will carry less stuff to your new space. And you can be sure you will not leave any important documents that contain your personal info.