Downsizing
 

I’m starting a library book by Margaretha Magnusson titled “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning”.
Only about 100 pages.

I don’t have “stuff” like some have “stuff” but there’s a need here to streamline my house & life !

It sounds interesting. Is it a new concept or a repeat of other methods?

DH and I have completed cleaning out closets, the garage, and our shed. We have sent piles of "stuff" out of here and donated most items to others. It is freeing to not worry about "stuff".

Good for you, Rhonda. Her book isn’t a new concept, but I figure if I hear it enough times, it might sink in !

I don't often do a big cleaning, but I routinely get rid of stuff that I don't wear or use. I keep a "charity basket" in my spare bedroom and put things in there as I find them. It's a lot easier that way and I don't get tired or sorting and just dump stuff and then wish I hadn't.

I dont' really use any "method" for doing this. With me, if I don't see a use for it and it's not a special collectible item, I get rid of it.

Patrice's idea is a good one. I have the same thing going at my house. A basket to throw stuff in, then off to charity with it.
Tranum, thanks for the recommendation on that book.

We recently went from a large 4-story farmhouse to a 2-bedroom townhome. Lots of getting rid of stuff. It is such a good feeling to be rid of all that "stuff". I also have a box where anything I no longer need goes into. When full it goes to a thrift store. I have never missed any of it yet. It is doable.

I'm pretty good about keeping a donation bag going and when it is full I drop it off. We moved about 3 years ago and did a giant purge then, so not much has accumulated. I just bingewatched Tidying up with Marie Kondo and decided to try folding things in one dresser drawer. One thing led to another and I did all the dresser drawers except gym clothes and bathing suits and related items. The folding didn't take long at all and for some crazy reason there are empty drawers! I didn't get rid of much, maybe 4 thin items, but, now I am going through things I had on shelves in my closet to fold them nicely and now I will be able to see all of them instead of them getting lost in a pile. Also, I rolled the towels in the linen closet. Takes up less space and easy to grab. Doesn't take much more time than folding the way I used to.

I just bought the book mentioned and hopefully it will help. We have been talking of downsizing for a year. Just didn't seem to have the time. Now is the time! Wish me luck!

Our town has a "free store" - really! Everything is donated - it is like a giant garage sale - used furniture, clothes, junk, building materials, etc. - the churches in our little town all tried to have a little clothing bank or resale shop in their churches but just couldn't maintain the volunteers, or inventory - so they all chipped in about $25.00 a month for utilities and a local business donated their building. It is only open Tues, Thurs and Sat. - run by volunteers - and anybody can come in and get anything that they need - no questions asked, no proof of income - just free. So, it is a wonderful place to donate anything that we have lying around the house that we don't need. We live way out in the country at the end of a dirt road so having a garage sale is out. So, we just have a big bird feed bag sitting out in the junk room and everytime that we run across something that we don't need, we toss it in the bag and when the bag is full we take it to the free store. How many pie pans does one old couple need? Half burned candles might help light a home in an emergency, etc. Old Tupperware, etc. gets put into the bag.

I recently got the book "Decluttering at the Speed of Life" by Dana White. Since this seems to be a 'been there & this is how I finally took care of it' book. I'm hoping it will motivate me more than Marie Kondo.

I wish I could talk my husband into cleaning out some of the stuff he as accumulated over the 30 some years he has lived here. He always says "more" is better so instead of buying one of something he needs he does multiples. When we married four years ago I thought It was possible to talk him into getting rid of some items. I was wrong. With a three story house, garage, work shop and another building that can house two tractor trailers and some tractors there is just too much of his stuff to deal with. I clean and donate my extra's several times a year.

I recently read an article about "Swedish death cleaning" (but not the book itself, I'll have to check that out) and discussed it with my DH. We've been through cleaning out the estates of both sets of our parents and decided we didn't want our kids to go through that. So we've been methodically going through our stuff and donating or trashing what isn't useful. It's a great feeling. The one problem is our 20-something children are having a hard time with us getting rid of things that were part of their childhood - even if it's an old, ugly chair that never was comfortable. But they don't want the stuff either!

your last comment about the kids not wanting it either is so true. Maybe it will skip a generation and the grands might want something

Great plan !

Our DD isn't into "stuff". But when I decide to get rid of something I let her have first choice. Then out it goes. DH is a saver with his stuff but wants to clean up mine. Whenever he starts I say, "if I can get rid of 'his stuff' you can get rid of that one thing." He's learning.

I love the "free store" concept. I am slowly but surely making my way through our four bedroom house. I was inundated in 2017 with the loss of three single siblings and I was the only one with room for their stuff until I could sort what was valuable and what needed to be donated. I have one much younger sibling left and one child who lives 1000+ miles from home, so my husband need to be diligent in the cleaning process.

I vowed this year to remove one box/tote per week, this week have not done so yet but will before the week is up. Made a sewing studio in my basement. Next May I hope to add a long arm machine so I am motivated to do this. My daughter will get first dibs on any items she may have given me in years past. Then off to donate. So far I am doing well. Perhaps I should try one of the books listed to help.

I really liked the decluttering book, I listened to the audio version and found it very motivating. Now I need to get back to it. Today I'm tackling the pile of papers and notebooks I have in my sewing room.

I haven't watched the show. I did read her books but felt she was a little too extreme. I love my books and she made me feel guilty for keeping them. I'm interested in the clothes folding, tried it when I had the book but wasn't sucessful. Maybe I should watch the show.

This is my biggest motivation to downsize my collection of stuff. My mother passed away about three years ago and towards the end of her life had become quite a hoarder. None of us, not even Dad, realized how bad it had become. My sister and I have worked together to go through the stuff she had saved. We have spent about four weeks out of every year since her passing, and there is still more.

I really do not want my kids to have to deal with anything like that. I may not be a hoarder, but I am very sentimental. I am slowly learning to let go of "things." I do sort of loosely apply the Marie Kondo idea of asking the question, "Does this inspire joy?". I find it helpful because I'm realizing that a lot of the things I have, I'm really just keeping out of guilt. Either someone gave it to me and I feel bad getting rid of it, or it belonged to DH's Nana and I feel bad getting rid of it, or the biggest one: I spent Money on this and I can't bear to get rid of it without ever even using it.

But lately I've decided if it doesn't make me happy any more, or especially if it does inspire guilt, it's time for it to leave my house. It it is So very freeing to let things go. Most of the stuff gets donated so it can give someone else joy if there's any joy left in it to give! At least my daughters won't be shaking their heads one day and asking why in the world their mother hung onto these things!

Scraplady, I understand keeping too much stuff, but how it weighs us down. My mom, in the last few months of her life, wasn’t able to go to the grocery store so she sent my dad with a list. Apparently she listed any sale food items, because the freezer was jammed with food they prob wouldn’t even eat. No telling how much we had to toss after her death due to freezer burn, etc. I’m working to clear my house of non-food clutter. I don’t keep a huge amount of food on hand. My freezer went out in Sept & I had to toss a lot of food that may have been past its prime anyway.

I've always said - we spend the first half of our life getting stuff (cars, furniture, houses, clothing, dishes, etc.) and the last half of our life getting rid of stuff! I guess that's the normal cycle......getting stuff to raise a family and have a busy life (sporting goods, etc.) and then when the family is raising their own family.....getting rid of the stuff! I think it's a constant effort of keeping that "balance" and as lour lives change...that balance also changes.

I am organizing and getting rid of things as I go. I do keep some things in storage out of the way because I use them several times a year. It is a process.

it drives me crazy when the kids don't want it, but they don't want us to get rid of it either. So I stopped asking them and now I take a box over to their house every now and then and say, "toss what you don't want, I no longer have an emotional attachment to these things". Surprising how fast it goes to the dump or goodwill.
PS. The things I do have an emotional attachment to, I take a photo of. Keeps the memory alive!

I watched one or two of the shows and felt inspired....but then again, the thought of trying to donate sewing machines (vintage) and older fabrics, reminded me how our local Goodwill and other charity places, would not accept a lot of things from my parents' estate (I had to clean out their home, all by myself, lame siblings!).

The charities seem to want perfect items, no upholstered furniture, and nothing with older style non-grounded plugs.
And forget throwing them in the trash---when I threw away an old ironing board, our trash pickup service charged us $10 for the metal ironing board (to dispose of it!!!).

Our daughter's sons are 16 and 18 -so too young to be interested in household stuff - and their parents don't want it either. Our son's kids don't have space for "stuff" either. And he lives with us.

You have a husband that Does that? My DH is a hurricane of disorganization. I'm so envious! :)

~ C

The Free Store is such a great idea! Our community has a facebook page that is similar, but I like the physical store idea better.

~ C

As several have already mentioned, I, too, do not want my children to have to deal with disposing with lots of "stuff" that I can take care of now. In 2017, all the family pitched in to clean out my Mother's house so we could sell it and use the funds for Assisted Living. Me, my sister and my daughter did most of the work and it was a very tedious task. Now I'm helping my 89 yr. old aunt make repairs to her house so she can move back home. (She cared for her brother at his house for years.) Once I get her moved, then we have the brother's house to clean out and sell. Plus I still have a quarter of my basement and a third of my garage full of Mother's things that family wanted but still hasn't picked up. Sooo ... needless to say ... I'm completely overwhelmed with where to start on decluttering my own house. LOL. I'm determined to do this and my DH has offered to help. Unfortunately, he doesn't see the value in a lot of things like I do ... it's all trash to him. I have some things of Mother's that I'm sure I can sell to antique dealers and/or collectors and we have a large antique mall about 15 minutes away. I keep saying I'm going to take pictures of items to see if any of the dealers might be interested. Oh welll, some day. Ha.

I read it and agree with the principle. My relatives are dealing with this now. Unfortunately, their parents never downsized. I started decluttering a couple of months ago and it’s very liberating. I’m not a minimalist but I appreciate the aesthetic and air quality improvements that come with less belongings. Plus cleaning is a breeze.

I didn’t have a lot to toss and never had a stash to contend with. I plan my sewing projects and I’m applying a similar approach to quilting to alleviate excess.

It's such a wonderful gift to give your children, cleaning out your own house. Downsizing while you still can do it yourself. After clearing out two homes one of my parents, one of his. There is so much emotional trauma, getting rid of someone's life items.

I am planning on downsizing my stash as well as patterns and books, quilting notions etc. My biggest thing to get out of the house is my Bailey. I will continue to quilt but not on a grand scale. I am going to focus on wall hangings, lap quilts and smaller quilted things. My true passion is clothes and handbags, totes and things for the grand kids.

Too bad you live so far away. I’d get your Bailey