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Have you shed yourself of the OTHER 1150sf worth of 'stuff' you've been used to having around?
Throw in another 250sf worth while you're at it.
But, what about grandmother's porcelain dinnerware? It was harder to get rid of the camping equipment. I haven't slept in a tent in years, so it was time to go.
I moved from a 1200+ sq ft 1 bedroom/1.5 bath townhouse that included a small basement to a 900 sq ft 2 bed/1 bath. I sold most of my furniture before the move, and what little furniture I brought with me I wound up selling once I got here. Almost all the furniture in my new apartment was purchased through Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
In the townhouse I had shelves set up with plastic bins in the basement which became my storage area. In the new apartment my "basement" is now in the closet of the second bedroom. I pared down from 4 to 2 shelving units for the plastic bins and have some smaller bins stored under my bed. I did a lot of tossing, giving away and consolidating and still have a small amount of space left over.
I really don't miss the extra square footage. My current apartment is roomy enough. Interestingly, my current kitchen is bigger than my old kitchen back in the townhouse and the dining area is about the same.
Hopefully, you'll discover that you don't need all that "stuff" you're clinging onto, and use this opportunity to purge and get a fresh start.
That's key. There can be an emotional component to doing this.
When I last looked to see what to get rid of, I opened a high cabinet over the fridge into which I had stashed some dishes when I moved in and never looked at again. I took them down, and decided I needed to get rid of them, but all of a sudden I felt very sad. It was a beautiful set that my ex-husband had brought home from a house where he was doing work and the owner had given them to him. I never got to use them, and we got divorced not long after.
I carted them with me in a box the next few times i moved, then I came across them when I bought the condo after my daughter was grown and left. I was excited and envisioned using them when I made new friends in my new town, maybe had people over for dinner, maybe even I would find a relationship and make dinners for someone.
None of that ever happened. I ended up spending most of those years working long hours and having a minimal social life. I never even had so much as a chance to go on a date, let alone have a relationship. I rarely had company. I had other dishes, but I never used the pretty brown-and-white ones that I liked so much, and by now I'd been carting them around for twenty years.
So I put them out front for the veterans organization to cart away the next morning, but more than once that night I thought about going out front to take them back. When I woke up the next morning, it was too late. They'd been picked up at 7, as promised.
I wondered what the hell was wrong with me that I was feeling teary over a set of old dishes, but I realized it was that they represented a life I'd dreamed of and didn't have. It is best that they are gone, because I am moving forward with life as it turned out in reality and I need to cut away that which drags me down to the past.
It's bizarre how we can get emotionally attached to things, even if they represent unrealized dreams rather than memories.
I moved from a 1200+ sq ft 1 bedroom/1.5 bath townhouse that included a small basement to a 900 sq ft 2 bed/1 bath. I sold most of my furniture before the move, and what little furniture I brought with me I wound up selling once I got here. Almost all the furniture in my new apartment was purchased through Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
In the townhouse I had shelves set up with plastic bins in the basement which became my storage area. In the new apartment my "basement" is now in the closet of the second bedroom. I pared down from 4 to 2 shelving units for the plastic bins and have some smaller bins stored under my bed. I did a lot of tossing, giving away and consolidating and still have a small amount of space left over.
I really don't miss the extra square footage. My current apartment is roomy enough. Interestingly, my current kitchen is bigger than my old kitchen back in the townhouse and the dining area is about the same.
Hopefully, you'll discover that you don't need all that "stuff" you're clinging onto, and use this opportunity to purge and get a fresh start.
I've packed and moved things which I'm planning to get rid of. I really don't need a food processor. I used to love when I could find the time to spend a day in the kitchen cooking and baking, but now I just want something to eat when I'm hungry. I no longer have to bake cupcakes at 10 PM because my son forgot to tell me that that I was donating 3 dozen to the school party the next day.
The new kitchen is depressingly small, but it's really enough. I'm just going to have to get used to it.
Yes. I bought a 640 sq ft condo, moved in and found I hated it. Not just the cramped space but being surrounded by typical Bay Area people; i.e. the kind that love making their neighbors' lives miserable.
There is only so much you can do in 640 sq ft.
I don't think I'd been there even two years when I moved in with my BF and rented the condo out.
I'm sorry your move has to happen but you'll probably have better results than I did. Having a storage unit for the overflow is a good idea as long as it doesn't drag out for years.
I'm not happy about this. I'm leaving my flowering cherry, hydrangeas, kerria, clethra and the veg gardening bed.
When you get down to the one single box of (whatever)... it's a different discussion.
Keep and use the good stuff and discard the Corelle.
But you need to start with the idea that it'll all be going somewhere else. And soon.
That's what I did when I downsized nearly five years ago, i.e., placed my inherited "good dishes" into daily rotation. The everyday dishes were packed up and passed along to someone who could put them to good use.
Why save things in a box when they can be used and enjoyed? I believe that concept is a large part of the downsizing and decluttering process, this paring down of personal possessions to only those things that are useful and, to quote Marie Kondo, "spark joy."
Last edited by Formerly Known As Twenty; 09-04-2019 at 08:59 AM..
But, what about grandmother's porcelain dinnerware? It was harder to get rid of the camping equipment. I haven't slept in a tent in years, so it was time to go.
When we moved I gave all the porcelain dinnerware and crystal glasses to my daughter in law, if she hadn't wanted it I would have put it on consignment somewhere but from the research I did it's not worth much anymore, people want stuff they can clean in the dishwasher. I scanned all my old photos and slides and put them on a portable hard drive & got rid of the originals. I took photos of the kids baseball and football trophies (they wanted to keep them but not in their own homes lol) and got rid of them. It's amazing how much stuff I got rid of that I have never missed in the 5 years since we moved, we went from 2900 sq ft to 1400 so it was easier than it would have been if we were going to live in a tiny condo but after the experience I'm pretty sure that we are still living with a ton of stuff we don't need.
I'm not happy about this. I'm leaving my flowering cherry, hydrangeas, kerria, clethra and the veg gardening bed.
Now that is a bit painful.
When I rented the house, it had been empty for a year, and there were 18 rosebushes that had not been cared for. In the five years I lived there, I brought them back to their full beauty and health. But they weren't mine, and I had to leave them.
MQ, that is good way to consider that space. It will be my space to use as I choose.
I helped clean out my father-in-law's house and was in charge of my mother's hoarded stash. I don't want to be that person.
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