The Pack Rat Packs in Pakistan

Yes, it's true. I am quite a pack rat... or as much of a pack rat as possible for someone who has moved internationally soon for the fifth time. Local moves number around 20. It's no wonder that everyone in this family considers himself to be packing pro.

I've been going through my personal stuff and realize so much of it could just go into the trash can, but not so much of it that I could reduce my life to two 70 pound suitcases per person. I've done that twice and vowed to never do it again, so since we have to have a shipping container, lots of stuff that really wouldn't make the cut if I were packing for a suitcase only make the grade just to fill the container.

Now it's looking serious as clothes make the final grade of suitcase or shipment. Household stuff needed to start from scratch makes the suitcase grade so I'm advising each person to consider one suitcase for clothes and the other for bedding, towels, dishes, basic pots and pans and such start-up essentials to set us up in a new apartment till our shipment arrives.

In all reality, I'd love to be so free of this stuff that I could content myself with two suitcases per person, pack and walk out on the rest of it all. Sure, I would miss this stuff for a while, I would even mourn it's loss, but eventually I would recover and feel glad to be free of it all.

I am a living dichotomy of two opposing philosophies... One: Be prepared. Two: Beware what you own, 'cause what you own owns you. Part of me wants to keep all kinds of junk in case I may need it at some future date. The other part of me wants to live a simple junk free life. In America I would buy lots of junk, only to force myself to sell off most off it before the move. Now, in my old age, I think I've gotten a little smarter... I'm buying less junk so I have less stuff to get rid of. That was easy in Pakisan where local consumer goods were low quality and untempting. I hope I can keep new aquistions to a limit in the shoppers' paradise of the UAE.