A frost covered tree on a farm outside of Sauk City, Wisconsin.

I told myself I would pack light. “Only take the bare essentials,” I told myself.

Doing so is harder than I originally thought.

I spent much of today sorting through my belongings. I made three piles of stuff; (1) stuff I’m taking with me, (2) stuff I am giving to friends, family, or St. Vincent de Paul, and (3) trash. The pile I plan to take with me is much larger than I imagined. I will need to pare it back tomorrow.

It is amazing how much crap one accumulates in a lifetime.

I decided to adopt a goal of living a life of minimalism this past summer. The more stuff I have means the more stuff to move, dust, clean, insure, fix, remove, etc. It all seems so pointless. Sure, there are basic necessities and keepsakes we all need, but in the end what’s more important? A big pile of stuff that depreciates and gets used less and less than we thought when we first purchased it? Or experiences that can last a lifetime?

Yes, some of that “crap” I will miss. Hopefully I will be moving too fast to notice.