Making the Internet My Accountability Partner

Upon graduating with my master’s degree I moved out of my mom’s house in Maryland into an apartment in Boston with my best friend. The bigger items in my Boston room like my bed frame, mattress, desk, and chair I bought online and had shipped to Boston. So when I loaded my U-Haul on June 1, 2022, it was primarily full of the smaller everyday items – clothes, decor, books, etc. But I still felt like I was leaving a full room of stuff behind in Maryland. Reflecting now, it may have been that I hadn’t yet really moved out of that room, the furniture and knick-knacks left behind were all arranged according to my taste. So when I loaded my U-Haul and looked back on a room that was still full of my touches it felt like I wasn’t even leaving.

But life moves on. Eventually I would return back to Maryland for holidays or time with my family and I would notice small things, like knick-knacks and decor being replaced or empty bookshelves being filled with my sibling’s books. Then bigger things like my mom choosing a new rug for that room and moving the furniture around. Now when I return it feels less like stepping back into my high school room and more like staying in the guest bedroom that just so happens to be painted the same color as my high school bedroom.

Each time I return to Maryland I walk in with the recognition that 99% of the items I have stored here I never think about. I set out with intentions to declutter everything of mine in that room. Each time I run into some hiccups, as I still have some emotional issues around money and the things it’s spent on to work through. The featured image for this post displays the items I have identified this time around as items I can donate to find a home that will use and appreciate them. Some are organizational items I’ll never use, some are pieces that were once sentimental but I no longer cherish as much as the memories I made, and some notably are books. Now I still have quite a few books that are being stored here, that’s the 1% of items I do think about. I’ll go further into them in another post.

I feel proud of myself for being able to continually work on myself and to release the shame that’s often associated with owning things I don’t use. This time I was very surprised by the relatively small amount of items left out that are mine. While I do still have some things in Maryland, I finally feel like I live fully and completely in Boston rather than like I’m splitting myself between two places.