Downsizing and how to get rid of clutter....

A friend of mine asked me the other day how I got rid of things when we had to move out of our house and had to downsize from 4000 square feet to 1000 square feet.  Our move was out of necessity and unfortunately, this friend's husband left her and the one son at home so they can't afford to stay there.  She now has her Mother living with her plus the son still at home, not able to afford much.

It brought back memories, some of which are recorded on this blog in past posts, and not all pleasant memories, for sure.  We had lots of rooms in our 'dream home' as we had built it for a future resale and hoping a large family would enjoy it as we did at some 'far off future date.'.  We didn't plan of course to 'lose' it like we did......
But when there are lots of spaces to fill, a person fills them so there won't be lots of bare areas.

I had started a year prior to our move in the 'sorting and getting rid of' stage of things.  I started with a table in the huge garage with things that obviously we didn't need.  As time went on, it got more serious; I was getting rid of things we could use but could live without.  When it got down to the weeks before actually moving, things were gotten rid of that maybe we even could use and would have liked to keep.

Pieces of furniture were listed on Craigslist; some sold, some did not.  Pieces of furniture were sold to friends, at a very reduced price.  Light fixtures were taken down and sold to those who would appreciate them in their homes.  Eventually the big commercial kitchen cook stove was sold and we finished our stay by cooking with microwave and toaster oven.

In our 'new' abode, the double garage is laid out in a single style, but tandem.  So it is long and narrow and is located directly under one-half of our condo we live in.  We didn't want the expense of a storage shed, so the only other solution to what we felt we had to keep to survive was to store things in this garage.  Luckily there is a sturdy shelf across the back (end) of the garage which held a lot of boxes and things that wouldn't fit 'upstairs' in the condo.  Luckily there were lots of parking places outside for our two vehicles, one even designated just to us.

The furniture we did keep was able to all get inside the condo, some areas being a little tight fit.  Our master bedroom has an Eastern King bed that we didn't really want to part with and it takes up most of the room; then there is the dresser and two nightstands.  The guest room had room for our twin guest beds, thankfully. Our living room now holds the living room couch plus a family room couch, facing each other but making lots of seating area.  We were fortunate to have a condo with enough room to have a little dining room that holds our dining set including the big china cabinet and a teacup cabinet.  Washer and dryer were included in addition to all the kitchen appliances so our washer and dryer, while still in our possession need to be sold.

All of this is not important but just an example of how things can be reduced, gotten rid of and life goes on and looking back, we have found we can live with so much less.  This isn't an effort to criticize people who have lots of room and lots of things.  This is normal to have rooms well furnished, but when the time comes to downsize, it is able to be done.

On a different note, another friend who is redecorating their home and updating bathrooms, etc., asked me how to downsize a home office area in their master bedroom.  They are going to close in a closet in the next door bedroom and move their desk and shelves into this area and close it off with folding doors.  She told me of all the papers, clutter and miscellaneous that makes up this office area and wondering what to do with it.  I could only tell her of what we had to do.  We used to have a home office  for our family business.  I know about file cabinets, filing, papers, clutter.  We had to downsize to a rolling file box; about 18 inches square.  We shredded old bank statements, old mortgage documents, old work orders for days, using the shredded paper to pack breakables in for our move.

 Bank statements should be saved for a year; most banks have our statements online anyway,  easy to be viewed at the touch of a few keyboard strokes.  Real estate documents are a little different,  current ones in a safe file.  Licenses, pink slips, birth certificates, etc. need to be in a secure area too.  All these thing can fit in this rolling file box we have.   Bill payment stubs can be kept until the next month; discard last month's.  Sometimes I just enter the payment on my computer bill pay and just throw the bill paper away.  The record is there on the computer anyway.  It is amazing how little paperwork we need to keep.   Even personal letters we receive; read them twice and toss them  in the trash.  Downsize the paper!    What a wonderful feeling.  Throw away magazines month by month.  Newspapers day by day.  In fact, don't even subscribe to a newspaper....it is all online on the computer.

My next project is to take all loose pictures and get them into organized albums;  categorized by children, grandchildren, friends, acquaintances, etc.  How nice to have them in albums and not a box.

Hope this will give someone a few pointers on downsizing and decluttering!

Don't Look Back

"A place to live could shelter and nurture you like a lover's arms, then turn on you one day and leave you out in the cold for reasons you barely understood."  

Well, this abode we loved didn't turn on us, but the economy did.  In ten days, it will be a year since our last night in this home.  Now we are giving up the keys this week.   I am so glad for the years we had to enjoy this place and the people that graced our doorstep and stayed and lived with us.  It was a joy to choose all the things to make it what we wanted.  It was enjoyable to watch my husband and his crew put it together.

As long as I have my memory, I will revisit this home in my mind and think of the things that were so special to me.   I can walk through the rooms and touch the walls and sit in my favorite places..... Of course only in my memory.......

Auction Day

Today, July 26, our home we built with all happiness and hope for the future, was sold in a public auction to the highest bidder. Sad day. Sometimes when I am feeling badly, I think of that saying: "I complained that I didn't have any shoes until I saw a man with no feet." And I feel like we are, alas, the ones with 'no feet.'

But of course, we have much to be thankful for. A host of wonderful friends, wonderful family, a measure of health, food and shelter and most of all Life. I want to keep that in mind......

Now What?

So after we have been living in this condo for 6.5 months, the landlady decided she must sell it. From the property manager we understand that she is 'upside down' on the mortgage and it must go for a short sale. We don't know if we have six months before we have to move or two months or a year or......... Back to living in unsettled conditions. Sometimes I envy those folks in their 60's who are settled and have been some place a long time and have little stress in their lives. Not good to be envious....but it gets tedious always wondering if we have to move; where we will go, etc.

...... Husband is a wanderer, so loves to move; I see him all the time on his computer looking at new areas........not fun for me. We have been in this area for some time. We feel like we have some (shallow) roots down. Yes, this is our third living space here, but still in the general area. Four grandkids live in the area and son and daughter-in-law. As we get older, it gives (me, at least) some comfort knowing a blood relative and sweet grandkids are nearby. Who wants to live 500 miles from the nearest child when one gets older, gets sick or needs help?

Today one of my good friends was buried. She was 3 months younger than I am. I will miss contact with her. But so happy for her victorious finish in this life! What an inspiration she has always been to me. I've known her since I was 16 years old.

.......What is dying?

A ship sails and I stand

watching until she fades

on the horizon, and someone at my

side says, "She is gone".

Gone where? Gone from my

sight, that is all; she is just as

large as when I saw her...

The diminished size and total

loss of sight is in me, not in

her, and just at the moment

when someone at my side

says "she is gone" there are

others who are watching her

coming, and other voices

take up a glad shout, "there

she comes!".... and that is

dying.

(Thanks to Doug for quoting this in an email)

The New Year

It is a brand new year. It wasn't hard to see the past one go and hope this one will be better. Our holiday was fun and not very materialistic. We had lots of family time and games and laughs. Surprising how many we can get in our little 'house' here!

Our weather in this 'temperate clime' is very cold right now. It is hard to complain, though, when it was 60 degrees and sunny just a week or 10 days ago!

School is back in session so I get to see the grandkids every day after school; our "old" house is in process of being sold, so when the family moves closer to the school, I won't be picking them up at school except for rare occasions.

In a little over 6 weeks, we will see our 45th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe.

Hoping to visit Southern California soon and then hopefully Phoenix in March. Our hearts our with our sick friends and hope their year turns out good, too.

Little groups in our little house

Living Small

It seems frivolous to write about me, but since it is my blog, I guess that is okay. What a concept.

The loss is still a keen pain in my heart and mind; the loss of our home. Some days are so busy, though, I don't feel the losses of the past year, and that is a good thing.

Having said that, I have a confession to make. I am finding that "living small" is becoming more and more appealing to me. I can't speak for my husband. He doesn't say much and I know he has a sense of loss also, but he wasn't as attached to 'our real house' as I was...even though he built it.

I am finding our "new space" very cozy and fixing it up and moving things around is sort of like 'playing house.' The small area is underwhelming. It takes less than an hour to do a thorough cleaning. We have no clutter because there is no room for it. Important receipts or papers have to be filed right away into the 12 x 12 box that is our new entire 'business' and home filing system. We don't feel we can afford a newspaper, so those aren't cluttering up the place. All the news and comics we ever want are on the computer anyway. (A good friend just told me this week that they quit the paper because of cost, too.)

Our phone system is our cell phones plus a jack that plugs into the computer and phone and it uses our standard phones. $20 a year. Reception is very good.

We entertain quite often. Just not huge groups at a time.

It is a nice feeling to go to a store and realize I can't have just whatever appeals to the eye. I don't need it. Can't afford it and have no room for it. What a freedom.

I have a minimum amount of shoes. While packing to move, I pared down our closet to just what we wear on a weekly basis. No excess. My purses fit in a plastic rectangle box.

Our kitchen holds what is needed daily. A few necessary, but not daily-used, items are in a hall closet. Our refrigerator is not old, but it has no ice maker. We use the old-fashioned ice cube trays.

Most days I feel such a contentment with this scaled-down living. I don't know how long we'll be here or where the next 'adventure' will take us, but for now, we have what we need. And that is enough. I hope this lasts a long, long time......