Surprise!

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I'm reaaalllllly sore today.  Why am I sore?  Read on and you'll find out...

This weekend kick-started my attempt to pack up my personal items and random non-day-to-day items at my house.  Oh yea, and transport them to my future home, David's house.  These things included my jewelry box, personal files (i.e. bank statements and credit card statements), school memorabilia, etc.  I had pulled two tubs from my attic and decided to empty them out, denote one tub for garage sale items and the other for transportation to David's.  After sorting through them I was able to discard numerous items and refill both tubs.  I loaded my car up with this tub and then some on Saturday, then loaded up even more items on Sunday.  In my spare time this weekend (hahaha) I cleaned my house and made it presentable...by the way, my house went on the market first thing this morning.  After this weekend, needless to say my house is squeaky clean and ready for strangers to inspect.  My fingers smelt like bleach all day Saturday...can you guess which day I scrubbed the bathroom?

So...after reading all this you can probably guess why I'm a little sore...scrubbing, packing, hauling, etc.  But, that's not all.  David and I had tickets to the Philharmonic on Saturday night so, though I had hauled items up to his house earlier that day, I had no time to unpack anything.  The real surprise came yesterday after unloading my second mass o' stuff.  I pride myself on planning ahead and being prepared, that's why I decided to start with baby steps and move one box/carload at a time.  However, I also am an adult and know that unexpected things happen.  Especially, when it comes to weddings (I've heard enough horror stories) and selling houses (I've experienced it myself!).  This I was not planning on...

I started to try and find places for my "stuff" to go and thought that my SpotBot would go nicely set side by side with the vacuum cleaners.  Yes, I already knew that David had vacuum cleanerS.  You know how when you're single and moving into your first place everyone wants to unload all their old stuff on you...because you need it, right?  This happened to me when I moved into my first apartment in college...with numerous things: wall hangings, towels, pillows, silverware...you name it, I had 5 of 'em.  All from different relatives and friends.  Yet...you were always missing one or two necessities that no one seemed to donate...  Regardless, David has three...yes, three, vacuum cleaners.  One he bought and two "donated."  But, that's not what I was surprised by.  When I signed up to marry David and move in with him afterwards...I didn't stop to think that maybe...perhaps...possibly...I'd have to organize and de-clutter his house.  Wow.  That's all I can say.  When I opened the entry door there were coats thrown haphazardly over the rack, vacuum attachments strewn and just about every piece of sports paraphernalia known to man.  I kid you not, there was a fishing pole (with a package of lure), a baseball bat, a bag of baseballs, a football, a golf bag, a broken tennis racket and a motorcycle helmet complete with visor replacement.  There were other random items, like the original box to his Guitar Hero game...

::sigh::  I've now added "clean and organize David's house" to my list of many to-do's.  Haha, he's lucky I love him!  All this being said though, David did jump in with both feet and help me clean out and organize this closet as well as a couple of other items/sections of the house.  We definitely have our work cut out for us; I think a few more sore muscles are in store for me in the months to come!

Another thing I did, that I thought I would share...I know a lot of us will be performing some "Spring cleaning" within the next few weeks and this might help.  One of the items I transported, like I mentioned earlier, was my vat of files.  The amount of space David had reserved for me was not big enough for the quantity of paper I hauled in...so, I needed to downsize.  Therefore, I decided to call one of my best resources, my CPA...also known as my mom.  Here are some time periods you might want to consider when trying to thin out your personal records. 

Bank records: keep for seven years...you can be audited up to four years prior, but if the IRS is suspicious of fraud they can go back an additional three.

Medical: keep ALL records always, this should be a permanent fixture in your records.

Automobile: As long as you own the vehicle.

House: As long as you own the home.

Credit card documentation: Once you receive your annual interest statement for tax purposes you can discard statements.

***Disclaimer: I am not an accountant nor am I a recordkeeping expert...do not take what is listed above as legal advice.  I'm just letting you know what I'm doing based upon the recommendations of my mother because I love her and respect her opinion/research.

This all being said, I had a wonderful weekend.  David and I had a fun weekend of bonding by looking at old pictures and finding little trinkets from our past.  We discovered that we're both semi-packrats...but, only when it comes to certain items.  Some of the things each of us has saved over time made the other laugh. He even had car keys to his previous vehicle that I never saw! 

I hope everyone had a fun weekend as well, whether it was nostalgic or not!