I don't think I know anyone who says they like to move. Especially missionaries who have to do it over and over again. I dread it with a passion and have come to realize how much emotional and mental energy each move takes. For us a move doesn't mean just throwing items in a cardboard box and driving across town.  For us, a move is a painful delegation of everything we own. World-travelers have to learn to simplify and ecconimize. 

Since we will just take a suitcase or two back to America for our 1 year of home assignment, we have to carefully think through each item packed. I have a list of clothes and shoes I need to purchase while home, but I also know I will need something to wear the first month or so we are back before I can replenish my wardrobe. It's a great chance to get down to the bare necessities and purge my closet.  We also found it helpful to make a pile of clothes that we will toss and then wear them the last week of packing to illuminate extra loads of laundry when we are extra tired and busy. 

Whatever we don't carry home in our suitcase, needs to be packed to store for a year and put in the storage unit OMF rents. We have a limited amount of space and we have to pay for the area we use.  So less is definitely better. A missionary friend used to laugh and say that you end up having to go through every item in your house, deliberating and deciding if it is worth storing....down to every pencil and pen. 

Well, I haven't gone through all my pens and pencils yet, but it really is true. If I don't love it and know I will use it, it's not worth the hassle of packing it up, moving it, storing it for a year, then moving it and unpacking it in our new house. Which gives me a wonderful chance, and a challenge, to downsize and reduce. Less stuff means less hassle and less work.  And we are reminded with each move back and forth across the ocean that life is really better when you travel light.