How Minimalism Made Moving Day Less Painful

I know it's been far too long since I have blogged. Since my last post, I have left my previous job that I held for nearly a year and half, started a new career in the marketing field, and have been packing up my apartment for a move on Saturday. Life has been busy and full of emotions lately! Leaving my old job was emotionally tolling on me and I felt like I was breaking up with everyone in the company. Starting my new position has been scary, fun, detail-oriented, and I am settling in quite nicely.

When I began looking for a new position, I wasn't sure what I'd be looking for. I knew I wanted to write, so I went into marketing and have been exercising my writing skills every day. When I applied for the job, I couldn't believe where it was located. I now work two doors down from my husband. It's weird running into him in the corridor and I'm not used to seeing him throughout my work day, but it's been great to run out for lunch together and enjoy a nice vegan sandwich. 

A couple of months ago, we started thinking about where we wanted to move. We love living in Austin, but the rent keeps creeping up. The Southwest Austin area has really grown in the last few years and we've been down here since 2009. I knew I wanted to stay down here but wasn't really sure how we would be able to find an apartment that was within our budget. If you've been keeping up with me, then you'll know that we have been aggressively paying down my husband's student loans and we knew we had to keep the budget tight on our new apartment. 

Luckily, I was able to find an apartment that is two miles west of where we currently live, nestled in the little suburb of Oak Hill, and only half of a mile away from where we both work. I couldn't be more thrilled to move and have been anticipating the packing part for some time now. I had been collecting free boxes from Spec's for weeks now, and also been filling a few to take to Goodwill. Tonight, just one full day before we start loading up a moving truck, I'm 99.9% done packing and we hardly have 40 small boxes of things. 

Now I know that sounds like it is too much, but I promise this is 1/3 of what we used to own! I had a bit of a shopping problem a couple of years ago and had no regard for the health of my bank account. If I wanted something, I would tell myself that I deserved it! (Why, I have no idea!) Since I watched Adam Baker's TED Talk, I realized that I don't need to bury myself in debt and more crap. I can proudly say we've been paying $1,000 per month for the last three months on the student loan debt and are projected to be completely out of debt in less than a year and a half.