one item in, one thousand items out

A lot of people are surprised by how much I can fit into my little Toyota. I've used it to haul lumber (most recently, all of the trim boards for the outside of our recently-painted house); ten storage containers full of books and three folding tables for Wordstock in Portland two years in a row; a flat pack Tromso loft bed, Poang chair, Lycksele Havet chair, and mattress from Ikea (in a single trip); and, of course, stuff I need to get rid of (like the collapsed canopy, glass bottles, cardboard, and bags of trash you can see in this picture, taken at the recycling center).

One thing I can't fit into my little Toyota is a piano. A 106-year-old piano from the charity store three blocks away, hypothetically speaking. No, to carry a heavy wood and brass upright piano three slightly hilly blocks, you need a piano expert who talks a good game and shows up with a buddy, a piano lift, and beat-up Datsun pick-up truck. And maybe you'll overpay for the privilege, but on the other hand, you won't herniate anything. Not that I'm writing from experience or anything. (Photos to come soon.)

Of course, a piano is rather large, and if, like me, you're not necessarily a minimalist (ha!), you'll need to make space for a huge piece of furniture.

My house: I cut down a corner bookshelf into a shoe rack, moved another bookshelf into the kitchen, gutted my magazine collection, donated a bunch of this and that. There's a lot more to do, and a ton more to get rid of. A constant struggle 'round these parts. But I'm getting better. After all, I only brought one item in, and got rid of thousands.