Before I moved to my micro-appartamento in Italy, I decluttered big time. I got rid of years stuff, clothing, shoes, books, dishes, furniture, etc. Paring down to just my favorite stuff felt great. So how did I attract so much stuff again? Sure having a child brings lots of cute things and a ton of plastic, but my husband and I have certainly done our share to clutter up our lives again. It seems a constant battle. Do those of you living in Italy have the same problem?

Martha

Martha, when my wife and moved overseas we had the luxury of moving into villas that were much larger than our house here in Virginia.Since we were going to rent our house we had to de-clutter also but we shippped all of our household goods . We had to make sure that while we lived overseas for 8 years that we would by too many new things to fill up our villas because we had to fit it all in our house when we moved back. We did pretty good but had to have a big yard sale when we finally moved back.
That has been two years this month and we need to hold another yard sale

Danno,

I didn't realize you lived in Italy for 8 years! Fantastic! Where did you live? Did you bring back a lot of Italian pottery and furniture? We lived in such a tiny place and it was furnished so I couldn't buy much.

Martha

Danno, Santo cielo! 8 years in Italy and you didn't learn Italian!
I thought you were there for only 3 years. Even at that you should have learned Italian.
You could have been taking Italian classes all these years and or study Italian on your on in the U.S.
Non capisco niente!

Okay, let me clear this up. I said I lived overseas for 8 years, not Italy. I lived in Bahrain first for 4 1/2 years and then moved to Lago di Patria (just outside Naples proper) and we lived there for 3 1/2 years. Villa I never said I didn't learn Italian, my Italian is just fine to get me by. I had to converse with my Italian landlord's papa because he didn't speak a word of English. I took Italian classes back in 1984 when I was working in Sigonella, it was a six week course. I also had 3 years of Latin in high school, so it came to me pretty easily. Since I have been back in the states,2 years now, I don't to use it on a daily basis. If you don't use it you lose it. That's why I like this forum, it gives me a chance to learn more.
So, qualsiasicosa!

Martha, we managed to bring a lot of pottery back with us, but only a few pieces of furniture.We did bring back a slab of marble to use as a counter top for our new kitchen island. Being with the military we were allowed to ship back a "wine Collection" so we shipped back 150 bottles of wine!
Where did you live?

Adesso capisco Danno. Complimenti! Tu sei molto afortunato.

"If you don't use it you lose it." E vero.

Hi Danno,

I lived in Rome for two years. I didn't do as well as you with learning the language. I tried very hard and was able to shop, have conversations, make friends, but sadly did not become fluent. Now six years after re-patriating, I am surprised how Italian words will pop into my head sometimes when I least expect it. The language is in there, I just have trouble getting the words out and in the right order. So many times I'd have a conversation with someone, walk down the street, and then realize I'd said something profoundly stupid. Humbling.
Martha

Martha

This is what I am doing at the moment:

I have a few bags some for particular people and one for the charity shop.

As i go through things I am deciding if I want to keep them, give them to a friend of send them to charity.

At the moment it is a bag every fortnight is going to the opp shop.

I have stopped the binge on makeup and I am under very firm instructions from my more practical self to use the product up before we go.

I have also bought a stack of boxes from Ikea and I have started to pack books awy (next is the crockery). I am lucky, we have an attic and it is all going up there.

I am probably flying over and will take clothes, but we will then drive over from Ireland with the dog and very scaled down belongings.

I have clutter because I love books and cooking which means plates, glasses, books and all sorts of stuff.

I am also thinking of having farewell drinks to use up the alcohol...where is that Limocello recipe!