Packing: The first step

When I graduated from college, my parents were gracious enough to let me move back in with them until I was ready to move out and live on my own. I'm not sure when they told me that they thought I'd end up staying for 3 years. But I did. And (I think) they've been ok with it. I think I've been a pretty good roommate! I pay my own bills, I watch whatever they want to watch on TV without (too much) complaining and I'm not too messy... With one exception. MY ROOM. Now, let me just put out there that I am a pretty clean and organized person in general. Seriously. My desk at work is so clean all the time. But for some reason when it comes to my room, I just can't keep the thing clean. My parents like to comment on it often, to which I usually respond "Try cramming every single thing YOU own into one little bedroom and see what it looks like!"  And I think that's a pretty good argument! Because when you think about it, really, almost every single thing I own, from childhood until now, is in that room.

So when I found out Chuckie and I were moving, I came up with a plan.  I will pack two separate piles: "Things I am taking to Boston" and "Things I am leaving at Mom and Dad's for the next 2 years." The things that are going to Boston will be packed into boxes we can easily break down and store or recycle once we're in our new place, and the things staying at mom and dad's will be packed nicely into several nice $5 Target storage bins and fit into the two closets in my room.

I've been thinking about how to start the packing process and I came up with a plan of action. The first step is to clean out my two closets so I will have space to start storing things when I box them up. This may sound like an easy task to some, until you see my closets.

Closet #1: All clothes, shoes, purses and blankets/sheets/towels. Not too bad.

Closet #2: Anything and everything that I've saved from about age 5 that I don't use on a regular basis.

Closet #2 scares me.  I don't know what it is about this closet but it's where things just... accumulate.  I'm scared. When I clean it out, will it be like a black hole? Will I get into it and disappear forever? What kinds of things will I find? Will the contents I find in this closet make me a certified hoarder? Stay tuned....