Downsizing

`Ever since my daughter and her husband bought their new house I've been thinking about this. They're moving to a smaller place. They want to spend less time on the house and not accumulate as much, just because there's space to put it.

I can't get the idea out of my head that I want to do that too. Well, not move, but jettison much of what I've been saving.

The thing is, I always wanted to live small. Before I was married and had kids--you know responsibilities, I used to picture myself throwing a suitcase, a bag of books, and my compact stereo and albums in the back of my little sports car and taking off on adventures. Not a lot to take care of or worry about. Just the basics.

But life takes funny turns that we don't always notice, and with a large basement we managed to collect an incredible amount of stuff. Thirty-seven years in the same house will do that.

As you well know, I battle clutter constantly. Even though I sort through things semi-regularly and sometimes take a great big load to Purple Heart, there's still way, way too much. I no longer have the excuse of saving things for the girls. They've laid claim to what they want from our "collection." The rest is up to me.

The other problem is that from years of tucking things away because company was coming, my stuff is scattered hither and yon. But never where I think I stashed it.

So, I need a two-prong approach. The excess is easy, in theory. I just have to keep going through the drawers and closets and deciding what's no longer useful. Or easy to replace if some day, six years down the road, I actually need it.

Pulling together the scattered stuff is a little trickier. I was talking to my husband about putting a bunch of boxes in a back bedroom and as I'm going through drawers and closers, I can sort all the bits and pieces into the appropriately marked box.

He said that's what he was doing in the garage. A few years ago he cleaned it out and bought a couple dozen heavy-duty storage bins. I thought he'd already sorted it all as he cleaned. Apparently he did mostly, but he still keeps runs across things where they don't belong, and adds them to the bins.

It gives me hope. First, that if I persist, it will be possible to get rid of much of what really doesn't get used. Secondly, that when I'm looking for the travel raincoats we bought at IKEA years ago, not knowing that there would be a long break in our travel plans, I'll find them.

Of course, there's the issue of where to put the stuff once it's all gathered.

I can feel the hope fading.

If anyone has every dug themselves out of this sort of situation, I'd appreciate some advice! 

I need h-e-e-e-l-p!