Downsizing Part 1

Currently we are being snowed in here in the Jura; we spend time looking for building material (a good fire oven to keep us warm in winter will be a key product to find!) and taking hikes in the snow. So, I thought, I take this time to write about downsizing. As I already wrote in one of our previous post about this subject, decluttering can be a real challenge and should get enough “space” in your moving (in) process. As we have moved and are finished with our big “pre-move-decluttering project” (for now ;-)), I thought it would be nice to share our tipps so far with you. Many – if not all of them – have already been written down by other brave individuals who faced “The Purge”. But if nothing else, they just get our stamp of approval as well 🙂

Time is of the essence

And this means enough time. I said this before, but to me it is one of the most important factors: don’t rush the downsizing process. Take your time. Integrate it in your everyday life however it fits you best. Like this it will become almost a natural thing you do while walking through your current home – putting (imaginary) stickers on things, labeling them as something that will come with you or stay behind.

Get an assistant

No, you don’t need to hire someone to do your decluttering for you. But when it comes to certain aspects of your household, it might be helpful to have someone at your side, that gives you their honest opinion about wether to keep or toss something and asks you the critical question if you really actually think you ever gonna need that again. And don’t forget that when you do this as a project with your partner or a friend, this should anyway be a teamwork based on compromises and respect for the other persons possessions and you can be each others assistant 🙂

Listen to yourself

An assistant is helpful and can be the voice of reason (or the voice of emotions 😉 ) but your own voice and opinion count the most in the end. The key is just to really listen. To support this and to bring some much needed structure, I gave my items categories: for example there can be “need to have” and “nice to have”. To be clear: your home should definitely contain “nice to haves”! It is not about getting rid of all of those. And for me personally, “nice to have” was and is not always clearly separated of “need to have”. What helped me a lot was to envision myself using/wearing/looking at etc. this particular item. Let that first reaction that you get be a clear hint and honestly allow yourself to feel it (does it spark joy? 😉 ) even if later that other voice appears; the one with all the “but’s” and “on the other hand’s”…

Keep a checklist

Sometimes even listening to yourself does not bring a clear answer, that is the moment, when something a bit more systematic can come in handy. Like a checklist. That doesn’t need to be an actual checklist, but a way to see if and how often through the months and weeks you actually used something. With certain things there are easy ways to check that. Clothes on a hanger can be put in the closet with the hook facing towards you and then changed the other way, once you’ve worn them. Books can get a Post It on them or be turned upside down when you take them out of the shelve. And well, the pans that start to have a layer of dust on them might maybe also be ready to go. Be aware that this is a process that needs some time and is not a one-week project.

Sentimental Items

The category where checklists might not really work. I found three piles of old birthday cards from over the years that I hung on to because they could always remind me of the many good people I get to know. Technically three little piles of paper should easily fit somewhere in a box in a Tiny House. But those things accumulate over the years and three piles at one point would become thirty piles. And in the end I came to the conclusion, that – even when disposed of after a while – the content of those cards as well as the friendships stay with you. So I decided to do a little ritual: as luck would have it, we owned a fire place in our old apartment. I burnt a lot of those cards and sat there with a glass of wine, enjoying the warm bright flames. This felt more right to me, than to just put those cards in the trash. From a lot of them I took pictures, so I can still look at them when I feel like it. Of course not only handmade things have a personal meaning to you; books, clothing, a Mix-CD can remind you of a dear person that gave it to you or of a happy event that you love to remember. For me this is for example my two wedding dresses. I don’t intend to necessarily wear them again, but every once in a while I get them out of their cartons and remember that one wonderful day I got to wear them.

Repurposing

Even after checklists and patient listening, some things simply mean too much to you to give away. Maybe in a year you will be ready – things change. But if something in your heart clearly is not ready to let go yet, in my opinion: don’t do it. You might regret it. There is however a way to maybe give the item a new life, a new purpose. Some things can become a useful product in your household others can become a piece of art to hang on the wall. Space saving possibilities lay also in temporarily changing the purpose of something, when it is not in need for a while: my summer purses (yes there is such a thing) are performing wonderfully in their role as plant pots. The same goes for certain mugs that you are rarely using for your coffee but you adore for their design. Another form of repurposing for me is to just give things to someone who will give it a new life for me.

Allow yourself to be emotional about material things

There is no fault in being attached to your material possessions in my opinion. In the end you would still know what to take out of your house in case of a fire and it would certainly not be that new plaid scarf or that really good novel you have read three times in the last two years. And still it can mean that you have a close relationship with them. Just allow yourself to feel that – even if a few of those things anyway end up on the give-away-pile. And in turn also feel ok, with deciding to keep some of them.

For us the quintessence was and still is: You are moving into a tinier space and you will have to say goodbye to some things. With some it is easier, with others it is a, at times, almost hurtful process. In the end, at least for us, it felt liberating. We literally got lighter and freer – as if it is nearly possible to just pack a backpack and start a new life somewhere (even though we of course still have too much stuff for one backpack 😉 ). And last but definitely not least: It is not about getting rid of everything that doesn’t serve a practical purpose. It is a balance and in the end your new home should first and foremost also feel like a home: warm, cozy, lived in – by you.