We are living in a strange phase of apartment purgatory. It’s weird knowing that we could move to the West Coast as soon as a few months from now, but maybe not for a year. We have had moving to California on the agenda since graduation, but now it’s getting closer to becoming reality. This opens the big can of worms called, “What do we do with our stuff?”
The general plan has always been to ditch our furniture and ship everything else. Over the past few years, I have cleaned out the closets thinking the more stuff I donate to Goodwill, the less I’ll eventually have to pack. Most things fall easily into one of two categories: absolutely-must-keep and happily-throw-away. This thinking generally works, and we live lighter and lighter by the day.
When I started thinking about my board game collection, I found myself in a conundrum. I didn’t want to throw away/donate all these games (because I just love them) but couldn’t justify shipping them for practically the same price it would cost for me to re-buy them. I would say 70% of the space that board games take up in a closet is just air inside the box. I’m not paying the post office to mail air.
The solution:
Use my supernatural organization skills to consolidate the board games!
I took the contents of each game out and organized the pieces. I held stacks of cards together with rubber bands and all the loose pieces were placed in clear baggies.
As I worked, I tossed the boxes and superfluous cardboard dividers off to the side.
The actual contents of the games didn’t take up too much space once I had them all laid out.
I decided to keep a couple games in their original packaging, like Scrabble and Tangram Master, because their boxes weren’t large or inefficient. (Settlers of Catan didn’t get packed up because we play it every weekend.)
I also kept Monopoly in tact because my sister gave it to me when I was 13 and it’s very special to me. I figured someday, my child might look at how old the box is and think their mother is from an ancient time. Holding onto the box will be worth it, in that case.
Boxes for everything else went to the curb. I stacked all the boards for the board games together – they’ll take up maybe a few inches of a moving box someday. All the game pieces were packed ever-so-magically into a medium flat rate box from the post office.
If it fits, it ships.
And it fit, narrowly. I am always so pleased with myself when I manage to pack a suitcase or a box in such a way that barely a square inch of space is wasted. The box is pretty heavy because it has about 10 different board games stuffed in there, but it’s takes up 90% less space that the original boxes.
For about $15 ($11 for flat-rate shipping, plus a few dollars to ship the boards in another box), I’ll be able to mail all my beloved board games across the country! Success!
When we get to California (whenever that may be), I plan to buy some plain cardboard craft boxes or maybe boxes for photo albums. I’ll create my own labels. Then, the board games can be stacked in the closet, this time looking more cohesive and stylish. But, cross that bridge when we get to it!
About The Author
totempolejourney
Shanon Durham is an irreverent news writer. She covers wide variety of areas and topics of interest. She believes that writing is a powerful tool that can be used to change the world.
