There's nothing like a move to help you realize just how much stuff, and unnecessary stuff at that, you accumulate over time. As our household goods now head by sea to California, it's life kind of out of a suitcase for the next six weeks. And that minimalist life is pretty refreshing.

I often tell friends about one of the best times of my life. It was backpacking through Europe in 1989, and one day in particular always comes to mind. My friend and I had made our way out to Westport, Ireland -- just above Galway. We walked up the local mountain Croagh Patrick, had a night in the local pub, then it was hitchhiking time.

We'd never hitchhiked before. Ireland, we were told, was the place to do it. Feeling a bit nervous, we gave it a go. We started walking down a coastal road with no particular direction in mind and for me, pretty much all I owned other than my books on my back. Aside from my books, I had a few more clothes and a clunker of a car I'd left behind in California. Being out of college, I was pretty broke.

What I had on my back was enough. Walking to nowhere was great. Years of both working my way through college, worrying about money, dealing with coursework, pondering what I'd do after college -- none of it mattered. I had a backpack with a few clothes, a good book I'd picked up at used bookstore, a friend at my side and all day to go anywhere or nowhere at all.

Of course, my trip ended. And back home, it was nice to get an apartment again, a couch, a TV, the trappings of a "civilized" life. But when my wife and I decided to move to England in 1996, many of those things were abandoned. Some things were shipped -- my growing book collection, some clothes but much was sold. Shipping was expensive, especially when we still hadn't saved much and what we did have was going into a four month long trip before arriving in the UK.

More than a decade later, the possessions have built up. Those who know me are pretty familiar with my pent up consumer demand when I get back to the US, hauling to the UK things you can't get there -- holiday items, books for the kids about the US and other things. And the kids! How did I end up buying so many toys they never seem to play with? And was I completely obsessed with wooden Brio track for the boys (yes, I apparently was).

Unlike the move out, we don't have to trim things back for financial reasons. Actually, the shipping turns out to be much less than I'd expected. We booked our own container, like something you'd see carried by a small semi-truck. It's all ours, to fill as we please.

While we could get most everything in, lots got disposed of. The house we're heading to is smaller, for one thing. But more important, the move was a good time to dump the items we don't really use.

Away went many of my ties. I had quite a collection from my newspaper days, many of which were so out of style that you'd laugh if I wore them now -- not that I wear ties much anyway. And those jogging shoes I bought from when I lived in Newport and briefly tried running for exercise along the beach? Yeah, not going back -- plus running shoes have advanced somewhat in the years. The old wooden tennis racquet I won in a Read-a-thon? OK, I couldn't let that go. C'mon, it's an antique!

I already wrote about doing the car boot sale to rid my garage of stuff that wouldn't work in the US, like an old shredder or power washer plus assorted junk. The Xbox 360 and Wii aren't going. I could probably get them to work on a US TV, and getting a voltage adaptor is pretty easy. But I'd still have to buy UK games. So all the games went up on Amazon Marketplace this week, and I've been thrilled to find how quickly they've all found a new home -- plus, you know, it's still exciting to make a sale.

Lots of furniture is heading back. Some of it makes sense, some nice dressers and tables that you won't find easily in the US. I laugh to think they might be excited about a new life in a warmer climate. Into the container went other things, like some outdoor tables and a nice old bench. All the outside stuff apparently gets steam-cleaned, we were told, to ensure we bring no bad plants or insects in to the US. Sounds very efficient, but somehow I think it's more to make everyone think this will really work than actually effective.

Other things like two couches and a chair, we pondered selling them. But we have the room, and we like them -- who wants to go through the hassle of finding a couch you like once again. Plus, I remember moving into the first house we owned, when all our things arrived from our London apartment. Suddenly, it really did feel like home to have our own stuff around us. So these items, I know they'll be reassuring to the boys as they end up in their new lives in California.

The boys remain remarkably positive about the entire move. Like they're not worried at all. My oldest even said something about how he was going to live in paradise, where school ends early on Wednesdays and he'll get chocolate milkshakes everyday after school.

Heh. I'm sure the first week of school, when it's no longer seeming like they're on vacation, we'll hear about them wanting to go back home. Maybe not. But if we do, at least we can sit with them on the couch they're used to.

Because our stuff is going by sea, it had to leave about six weeks ahead of us. We'll arrive in mid-July, so last week was packing day. The movers were fantastic, covering seemingly everything with bubble wrap. Some pics, starting with lots of boxes:

A couch, bubblewrapped!

This is my favorite. I have this leather pig footstool, which is a story for another time. He hadn't been wrapped when I shot this:

Later when I came back, he had -- and the movers enhanced his wrapping with eyes and a mouth:

Outside stuff wasn't wrapped but kept out for that later cleaning:

Buried back in there are two bikes that originally were shipped out from Newport. I couldn't leave them behind. They'd be sad.

I also love containers. Plastic bins, big buckets -- I've used them for storage for years. It sounds crazy to take them, but there was plenty of room! Plus, what, I'm supposed to buy them all again on the other side?

Then there are the books. A blurry shot, I know:

Those are just some of the books going back, but that's a special bookcase, containing science fiction novels I've been buying since I was a kid. Lots of Heinlein. Asimov. Herbert. Steele.

Some of the books are really old, though not first editions or even valuable in any way. But they're my friends. They kept me company when I was growing up. They came with me to college, from apartment, to storage behind a trailer (another story), to apartments in Newport and then eventually to an apartment in London, then a home in Wiltshire, then our current house. And now they're going home.

Part of the move also meant going through my office. It was amazing the collection of stuff that was so expensive originally (my old Zip drive or SyQuest drive) that's now worthless. Much went to recycling. And much was a fun discovery. Take these:

Ah, yes, 5 1/4 floppy disks. I thought these were so amazing after having used a tape recorder originally to load programs into a computer. I do have an old 5 1/4 drive in among my things, more for nostalgia than in hoping to access these disks. And the contents of them were long ago moved to 3 1/2 floppies, then to hard drives, where they reside today.

Dump them all? Yeah, I got rid of a bunch. But this collection makes me smile. When I wrote the foreword to Philipp Lenssen's Google Apps Hacks, I talked about how I "borrowed" software when in college. I originally wrote pirated because c'mon, that's what I did. But there was a little concern that even after all these years, some software companies might come after me.

Bring them on. After years of paying for software and endless "upgrades," I feel I've redeemed myself. There's my copy of Lotus 1.0, lifted from our student newspaper office. And Leather Goddesses Of Phobos, lifted from a copy that was lifted and lifted again. SimCity I liked so much that I actually bought. And just some backups of stories and letters I wrote, all safely copied to 5 1/4.

As for my office:

Most of that stuff on the right is electrical remnants. A huge number of phone cords, from when I actually needed to run a modem connection around an old house with two phone points. Many extension cords, again because those 18th century cob house builders didn't put in as many power outlets as I'd have liked.

My desks have gone. So have my monitors, except for a 15" one that I'll take when we go (and currently being used to make up for my wife's Macbook crash). My wonderful chair! So where am I working?

That's the hallway outside my office. We had an old cheap desk in the kids' room that's going on the bonfire when we leave (it's barely holding together). An old chair on its last (heh) legs. And my Macbook Pro, my wonderful Macbook Pro. I've been on it since my Dell desktop crashed, and I haven't looked back. I'll be on it until we arrive in California, and I might just stay with life on a laptop.

Similar to my office, it's not completely life out of a suitcase. There are bits and pieces we still have, an old outdoor table serving as a kitchen table, to be left behind. Some old chairs that will stay behind as well. Air mattresses! Some plates and silverware that we've borrowed from friends.

I've got two sets of clothing. Some "good" clothes I've kept that all fit in one suitcase. Then there's stuff that will be donated, some old T-shirts, shorts, sweats and jeans that have seen better days. Last week in town, I was in "old" clothes and trying to find the entrance to the post office. It's in the same building as the Job Centre, which is the unemployment office to non-Brit readers. A woman came out from a side entrance, saw I was confused, looked me over and said "Job Centre? Around the back." I guess they really were old clothes!

So not quite a suitcase's worth of possessions, much less a backpack. Yet there's a light feeling not having all those other possessions around, of realizing how much less you really need. I'll be glad to see my books again, though.

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