New stage of packing

In May, I was tossing and sorting and packing items to ride up in the van to the new house. Now I am back with a lot of empty boxes and a rather confused plan. Where to start?
This batch of boxes will go to the new house in the moving van. It must be items that we want but don't need here, so there is plenty of sorting and donating to do. But we also need enough stuff here to "live" and "work" until the last minute, when ever that is.
I am preparing to toss towels that are really old and nasty. And bedding that is no longer comfy. But there are other things that need to be disposed of- like tools. Getting rid of tools is like getting rid of spinning wheels. I just can't seem to let them go.
While we were at the new house, we bought a new chainsaw. Wonderful thing. We had to take down a tree for some of the repairs and we cut it up and stacked it in the wood bin in minutes. Eduard was actually enjoying it. Old chainsaw down here- donate. It is not coming with us. But those are the easy things. The tough stuff is- socket sets, wrenches, screwdrivers, boxes of nails and screws. Just how much stuff to we really need to take with us? There is an entire strip mall up there of those things.
So part of the sort/toss experience will be about changing life expectations. There is much work to do up there, but how much of it will we actually do ourselves and what will we hire done?
I have the most lovely power drill, but I still need some tools for the work on wheels and looms. I have decided to clean out the drawers of stuff and pack only the most obviously useful item, in small boxes. And get rid of the obvious stuff I will not use- like glue guns. 10 years and have not glued a thing.
So this blog post will continually be updated until the end of July with info on how the tool toss is going.
Day  two- tool sort from lower cabinet, left side. We pulled out all the tools from this side and started sorting, which led to other areas of sorting. Things I had pulled from drawers in the brown cabinet- mostly socket sets- needed to get tossed. We now have about 3 full US measurement socket sets and the remaining duplicates are in a box to donate. Today, I sorted all the metric sockets and removed duplicates. It is ready to pack. We have maybe 5 socket drivers of different sizes. The little size sockets need the tiny end extender. It is packed in one box somewhere. There was no duplicate. What is that about. We have at least 3 of everything, but that. All small socket ends rely on the one reducing extender.
BUT- this is a really big clean out. After I get the top of the cabinet cleaned off and sorted, the cabinet will be almost empty. We have chosen to keep out a few tools we may need before the end, but as we use the to finish projects, those tools are packed up. The Right side of the cabinet has the soldering iron and solder, a hand saw that is leaving, and some detritus also leaving. I am packing the soldering iron today and the others go with the junk guys. Eduard will buy a new hand saw when he is ready.
Tomorrow- we will tackle the top of the cabinet. I want to get the cabinet cleaned out and only leave tools we are going to use to fix up the last stuff in the house. They will be in a cabinet that we will donate at the end and we will take the tools with us in the van. It is a plan. Yet, once again, I see the van as having way more room that it really has.
RANT- when Eduard's mother would go to the store, she would buy lots of different chemical cleaners, and yet never clean her house. I think she was hoping that it would clean itself if there was enough stuff there. So when she was sick her housekeeper caretaker only used vinegar or windex and dish soap. Pretty much what I use. All the unopened cleaning supplies came to my house for inspection and disposal. 6 years later, I am still disposing of this stuff. Today- 4 bottles buried in the back of my regular cleaning items hit the land fill/ and sewer system. This took 1 hour.
This blog is getting long. So much cleaning and sorting. The junk guys come today and will haul off a full truck load of big stuff. We have needed to get rid of this stuff for years now. Old ladder, building materials from three years back, old furniture pieces, old tools. As I clean out the garage I find more and more stuff that was just, well, stuffed. I am hoping to have only one last load before we leave, but I suspect there will be more. The last items may include appliances. I have not tackled the freezer in the garage yet, but most of the fruit in there is years old and needs to be dumped into the composter. Guess what happens today.
I abandoned the Macadamia nuts. The freezer was full of them and I really don't like them. I never liked them. But I felt obligated to eat the nuts from my own tree. Why, oh why, do I feel guilty about this. I made Macadamia milk. I used the milk in cooking. I made a torte with the remains of the milk. I didn't like it and don't want to do it again. Really, I prefer almonds or pecans. The trash is so heavy from the macadamia nuts - must be 10 pounds of them. Guilty and at the same time, kind of free.
I also packed up the larger, newer dehydrator. I have decided to let the old one go to the thrift store. I bought it sometime in the 1990's after S and I divorced and it has been with me since- making jerky and dried fruits and pastes. Time is up. I still have the newer, bigger one and I really only need one. Truth be known, I "need" none, but I am keeping that one.
The kitchen cabinets are starting to look bare. The hutch is empty. The bookcase is empty. Half of the cabinets in the kitchen are empty. I packed a lot of tea. I tossed a lot of tea. Things are getting simpler here. Fewer tools to work with. Fewer pots and pans. I am ready to head to the wooly room for a bunch of boxes there.
But first, I found a couple pairs of shoes in the closet that still fit!!! And look like new. I will pack them in the red suitcase and take them with me when I fly up to the new house.