STUFF!

We moved.  On October 2nd we packed up our entire home... or at least that was the plan.  We ordered 5 pods from Door to Door Storage to pack our things in.  Supposedly all of our stuff would fit in them and the company would drive the pods up to utah and deliver them to our new home when we were ready.  Well, the pods were much smaller than we anticipated. 
On the morning of the 2nd, a deluge of Elders Quorum members and family members showed up at our home and started moving things out into the pods.  We packed as much STUFF in them as we could, but in the end, we still had about half of our STUFF that didn't fit. 
I am not a pack rat.  In fact, I think I am the exact opposite.  I have a rule of thumb that I go by... it is, "If you haven't used it in the past year, and you don't plan on using it in the next year, GET RID OF IT!"  I really don't feel like we have a lot of extra things laying around.  However, we do have about 6 months worth of food storage for a family of 6, and enough water barrells to hold 500 gallons of water.  THAT takes up a lot of space.  Plus, I have big furniture.  My entertainment center wouldn't have fit in the pods, even if we'd had enough space.
Moving is a great time to clean stuff out and a frustrating time to see how much STUFF you really have.  I am somewhat appalled at all the things we have.  After hauling the other half of our stuff over to my mom's garage (to store until we can bring a trailer back down to get it) we cleaned up the garage and the house.  After hours of making it just right and filling the car with one last load, we headed over to my mom's to spend the night.  On the way there I realized, WE FORGOT THE ATTIC!  My heart sunk.  After an entire day of dealing with all of our stuff and getting it all safely stowed, there was MORE.  I gasped when I realized this.  Brandon said, "What?"  "You don't want to know," I said.  He looked worried so I simply said, "the attic".  He had the same reaction I did.  It was late, and there was no going back.  We had to get some sleep for the big drive to Utah the next day.  We asked his family to get over there sometime that week to clear it out before our renters move in and they agreed.
That night, as I lay in bed, I felt so burdened by all of our belongings.  I don't want to be tied down by STUFF.  I decided that, although I'd already cleared and gotten rid of a whole bunch of things while packing, I would get rid of more as we unpacked.  I resolve to NOT feel burdened by my STUFF!