My neighbors are moving. Watching them purge their belongings reminded me of the times I've moved and done the same thing. Why do we wait until a move to purge our "stuff"? Why not purge on a regular basis? Isn't it funny how attached we are to our things until it comes time to pack them? I'll be the first to admit, I like my "stuff" but I hate moving "stuff"!
What is "stuff"? It's those annoying things we keep because they are cute, the nephew made it one Christmas, grandma passed it down or it was bought on a whim. UGH! When it comes to packing this worthless stuff, the anxiety hits full steam and I want to just throw it all away!
I've downsized to a modest little house from, what might be known to some as, a McMansion. It was not easy to purge those treasures I had scoured antique stores for years to find. When it came to moving them though, 20 years of collecting began to weigh heavy on my sanity as the daunting task of carefully packing this stuff drove me insane!
While I sold a lot and stored a lot, last year I finally emptied the storage locker. I was free! Uh, no I wasn't. While I had purged 80% of my previous belongings I still had a "stuff" problem. With wall to wall furniture surrounding every room in my modest little house, I find I'm spending sometimes hours to find one thing! I'm still having a "stuff" problem. I finally sat down late last year and wrote down what was not working and what I needed.
The list was very heavy on one side and light on the other. Can you guess which was which? The side that was not working was long whereas the side of what I needed was short. One thing that was a recurring want was "I want to be able to find anything in 5 minutes or less". Sounds easy right? Here comes the stuff I think I love to hang on to. It's all junk if I would just think about having to pack it up and move it!
Several times this year I have donated umpteen boxes of great "stuff" that is nothing more than junk if I have to pack it.
I'm still not able to find "stuff" in 5 minutes or less. Although some days I see this as a failure, I remind myself it took years to get here and will take time to get rid of all this "stuff" that it really just "junk".
So because this process seems to not be moving fast enough for me I've embarked on a new tactic. I did some clothes shopping the other day. I purchased 5 clothing items, 1 pair of shoes, a rug for the bathroom and 1 kitchen item.
As soon as I got home I started a bag for donations. I would purge 16 items to off-set the 8 brought in. Sounds easy right? The clothes were easy it was the damn stuff preventing the bag getting filled with 16 items.
Purging my stuff now will make my life easier and no one should wait until a move to get rid of stuff. But it's hard. With the end of the year looming I am disappointed in my progress. I could have done better. Amazed at how much power "stuff" has over me makes me feel weak. While I try to look at stuff as junk it gets easier to purge. Hopefully next year at this time I will have my want of finding anything in 5 minutes or less. Wish me luck!
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It is funny how there comes a time when we turn from collecting to purging. I guess that is part of our death preps. Your post reminds me of two closets I battle. :)
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I have problems finding what I want to find. I am battling a huge walk in closet currently, the closet is winning.
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@originalworks
Wooooo!
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The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @watchfulmomma to be original material and upvoted(1.5%) it!
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So many things to remember to do!
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Just reply to your own blog posts with @originalworks in the comment, and if you have enough text in your blog post it will get you a vote
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Okay, thanks for the tip!
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Good luck with your downsizing! This has been an ongoing struggle for us, but when we decided to rent out our antique house as an AirBnB one summer, I packed everything I needed to stay with a friend of ours - and learned that everything I cared about fit into a Honda Civic sedan!
I've also thought of borrowing the "Packing Party" technique described by the guys behind The Minimalists documentary on Netflix. You pack up everything you own as if you're moving, and throw sheets over large pieces of furniture. Label the boxes so you know where to find things. Then, for the next 30 days, unpack stuff when you want to use it. If you haven't unpacked something by the end of the month, it gets sold, donated, or thrown away.
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What a great idea! My 87 year old mother moved like a pro. She was unpacked in 3 weeks and her apartment looks like something out of a magazine.
Of course, she has started to complain she doesn't have this or that since she moved too. She went way over board on her purging throwing her pots & pans, knives, bakeware etc.
Needless to say I was mortified.
I will have to watch that doc. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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It's a decent documentary. I really enjoyed the book they wrote as well. I think it's called Everything that Remains.
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