topic Re: Downsizing in Home

Downsizing

151949 — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 12:50:09 GMT

6 years ago DH & I moved from our northern home where we had lived for 28 years into a new retirement home in Florida. We actually moved into a slightly larger home 1100 Sq Ft to 1500 Sq ft but the new house has no basement and our old home, because it was a split entry, had a huge basement. Also, my DH had one room in our old home that was his home office and we had so much office equipment in there that the company did not want back after he retired. We got rid of so much stuff - we gave things away, donated things to charity, threw things away , and sold a few things. We were fortunate that we had a cousin whose son was buying a house and getting married so we gave them almost an entire shed of lawn and yard care items, and they took some furniture we didn't want to take to Florida, and they took an enormous box of Christmas lights. Our community was starting up a library so we donated a whole set of the Father Tim books and a lot of other books - about 6 large boxes. In the end we still moved a ton of stuff to Florida - we had our furniture and 70 boxes. Last night DH was asking me what ever became of something and I said I think we got rid of that when we moved. We noted that it was rare for us to ever have missed any of the stuff we got rid of. Makes you wonder why you stored all that junk in the first place.

A lot of stuff DH just could not decide about we stored in our camper which we stored for a year at a storage facility. When we reopened the camper the next year we found all those tools etc and he was easily able to say he did not need that stuff anymore and we took it to Goodwill.

Re: Downsizing

DCGIRL — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 13:47:44 GMT

That's nice. I am workiing on doing the same thing! What part of FL did you go to? I am trying to decide between gulf and ocean coast. But i have to be within walking distance to beach. But yes we do accumulate way too much stuff.

Re: Downsizing

pinky ann — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 14:36:57 GMT

@151949, We've been downsizing every part of our lives for years now, and I can see the end clearly in sight.

I started years ago with home decor, and eliminated all but what we felt were our best, and favorite pieces.

Holiday things were easy to part with when we finally had to concede I couldn't manage our attic pull down ladder very well anymore.That helped iginite a huge clear out of holiday things as they now needed to fit in the bedroom closet instead of the entire attic. Our Christmas things take up less than a quarter of the closet they now reside in, and it's so easy to decorate for the holidays.

Years ago a priest at our church had a homily on the subject :"How much do you really need?" That lit a spark in me to get our home and ourselves "Right Sized" and I hope that spark never goes out. It's a feeling of lightness that I've only been able to find living more minimally and with more focus.

Miss Minimalist's blog had an entry that also has really stuck with me. The subject was comparing going through life as a butterfly, compared with living life as a bull. The butterfly traveling so lightly through it's life is a brilliant image in my mind, and one I try to hold close when I consider bringing anything into our home. pinky

Re: Downsizing

GCR18 — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 15:20:42 GMT

I have a ways to go till retirement, but I've been downsizing. I used to feel I needed stuff. I don't feel that way anymore. I've emptied and organized every closet in the house. Yesterday I hit the garage. Today I'm going to finish the master closet and I'll be done. It feels really good.

Re: Downsizing

151949 — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 15:37:06 GMT

@DCGIRL We live in Sarasota county - south of the city but our town is right on the gulf. I would not want to be anywhere else. I kinda grew up in Cocoa Beach, Fl. on the Atlantic coast, watching the rockets being launched from the Cape.

Re: Downsizing

151949 — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 15:49:52 GMT

All my married life my DH the semi hoarder would have to go away every spring for a week long sales conference so I would take a weeks vacation that week and spring houseclean. It was best he was away because I would go through every cabinet , drawer and closet in our home and really throw away a lot of stuff. I would put the trash bags over at our neighbor's house so he didn't realize I was throwing so much away. He never missed any of it. The only area I did not clean was his garage. When we moved it , literally, took him 2 months, working every day, to get that garage cleaned out. That was the first time he had cleaned it in 28 years. I had NO sympathy. Now I am seeing signs of our new house's garage starting to accumulate so I go out there and start organizing and when he sees me in his "things" (junk) he is almost crazy to get me out of there, so he comes out and helps me get it cleaned up. He goes thru the trash bags and takes out every item I threw away - things like empty spray cans and empty containers of stuff like car wash soap and if he finds even one drop in there - back on the shelf it goes.

Re: Downsizing

151949 — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 15:52:36 GMT

I love love love when there is extra room in a closet. My DH is the opposite - he seems to take comfort in being surrounded by clutter.

Re: Downsizing

KentuckyWoman — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 21:18:26 GMT

@pinky ann wrote:
@151949, We've been downsizing every part of our lives for years now, and I can see the end clearly in sight.
I started years ago with home decor, and eliminated all but what we felt were our best, and favorite pieces.

Holiday things were easy to part with when we finally had to concede I couldn't manage our attic pull down ladder very well anymore.That helped iginite a huge clear out of holiday things as they now needed to fit in the bedroom closet instead of the entire attic. Our Christmas things take up less than a quarter of the closet they now reside in, and it's so easy to decorate for the holidays.

Years ago a priest at our church had a homily on the subject :"How much do you really need?" That lit a spark in me to get our home and ourselves "Right Sized" and I hope that spark never goes out. It's a feeling of lightness that I've only been able to find living more minimally and with more focus.

Miss Minimalist's blog had an entry that also has really stuck with me. The subject was comparing going through life as a butterfly, compared with living life as a bull. The butterfly traveling so lightly through it's life is a brilliant image in my mind, and one I try to hold close when I consider bringing anything into our home. pinky

Our minister did a sermon several years ago on the same thing. Stuff. He made reference to George Carlin's monologue on "stuff." I have been tryuing to get rid of things we don't need or no longer use. I have donated a ton of home decor to ReStore for Habitat for Humanity. I just shake my head at all we have accumulated. If I knew then what I know now, we never would have had so much. I am keeping our best but it's out with the rest.

Re: Downsizing

Mominohio — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 23:19:49 GMT

@151949 wrote:
I love love love when there is extra room in a closet. My DH is the opposite - he seems to take comfort in being surrounded by clutter.

I think this is one of life's sweet little pleasures, opening a closet and seeing that you have just what you need, just where you need it AND NOTHING MORE!

I have only one closet that fits that description right now, but someday....someday......someday!

Re: Downsizing

giddy up — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 23:25:27 GMT

@151949 wrote:
All my married life my DH the semi hoarder would have to go away every spring for a week long sales conference so I would take a weeks vacation that week and spring houseclean. It was best he was away because I would go through every cabinet , drawer and closet in our home and really throw away a lot of stuff. I would put the trash bags over at our neighbor's house so he didn't realize I was throwing so much away. He never missed any of it. The only area I did not clean was his garage. When we moved it , literally, took him 2 months, working every day, to get that garage cleaned out. That was the first time he had cleaned it in 28 years. I had NO sympathy. Now I am seeing signs of our new house's garage starting to accumulate so I go out there and start organizing and when he sees me in his "things" (junk) he is almost crazy to get me out of there, so he comes out and helps me get it cleaned up. He goes thru the trash bags and takes out every item I threw away - things like empty spray cans and empty containers of stuff like car wash soap and if he finds even one drop in there - back on the shelf it goes.

I need you to secretly come over my house and get rid of the excess superfluous redundant pieces of Temptations that I have collected over the last few years....STAT

Re: Downsizing

151949 — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 23:30:15 GMT

@Mominohio wrote:
@151949 wrote:
I love love love when there is extra room in a closet. My DH is the opposite - he seems to take comfort in being surrounded by clutter.

I think this is one of life's sweet little pleasures, opening a closet and seeing that you have just what you need, just where you need it AND NOTHING MORE!

I have only one closet that fits that description right now, but someday....someday......someday!

When I need something I want to know exactly where it is and just go there to find it. My DH spends an extraordinary amount of time looking for things because he never puts anything away, just heaps of stuff everywhere in his den and garage. I think it is a difference in how people are raised - my Mom worked and we lived on a farmand she had 5 kids so she did not have time to be searching everywhere all the time. She would be very angry when we would leave things lying around and not put them away because she just did not have time in her days for us to act like 2 year olds. My DH's mom was a stay at home and he was her only child.So he was waited on hand and foot.

Re: Downsizing

Mominohio — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 00:01:21 GMT

@giddy up wrote:
@151949 wrote:
All my married life my DH the semi hoarder would have to go away every spring for a week long sales conference so I would take a weeks vacation that week and spring houseclean. It was best he was away because I would go through every cabinet , drawer and closet in our home and really throw away a lot of stuff. I would put the trash bags over at our neighbor's house so he didn't realize I was throwing so much away. He never missed any of it. The only area I did not clean was his garage. When we moved it , literally, took him 2 months, working every day, to get that garage cleaned out. That was the first time he had cleaned it in 28 years. I had NO sympathy. Now I am seeing signs of our new house's garage starting to accumulate so I go out there and start organizing and when he sees me in his "things" (junk) he is almost crazy to get me out of there, so he comes out and helps me get it cleaned up. He goes thru the trash bags and takes out every item I threw away - things like empty spray cans and empty containers of stuff like car wash soap and if he finds even one drop in there - back on the shelf it goes.
I need you to secretly come over my house and get rid of the excess superfluous redundant pieces of Temptations that I have collected over the last few years....STAT

I'd ask that @151949 come do the same thing at my house, but it would kill an army to go through mine and get them under control. I just can't do that to another poster!LOL

Re: Downsizing

homedecor1 — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 01:16:31 GMT

Something happened to the "retail therapy part" of my brain on 4/9/16....I got rid of so much home decor, kitchen, holiday decor, furniture (accent), clothing, etc.at our community yard sale that I really had a moment when it was over realizing I made good $$$$ BUT nothing near what I paid.

Sadly, most of my items were impulsive or brand new things I "thought" I'd use in my new home still in orig boxes that made the trip with me when I moved south..obviously not!!!

I have not purchased 1 home item since. come to think of it I bought a new pair of vionics sandals that's it!

And love I can go in a closet, cabinet and it's neat, organized and empty. I even cleaned out my pantry & donated excess food to our food drive which is given to families and sr. Citizens in need (nothing expired or stale). I now go to food store & buy only what I need on a weekly basis!

This week I'm tackling my master bedroom walk-in closet (my stuff is even in my spouses walk-in🙄) it's a mish mash of linen/clothing closet. I have sealed containers of "winter" clothing from my move south. Don't need them obviously!

Then to the garage🙄😳🙈...

PS: my spouse has no "excess" seriously!!!

Re: Downsizing

Nomore — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 03:21:48 GMT

I've been decluttering/ downsizing for three years now. I go back through each room and find lots more "stuff" to donate. My husband still hasn't tried to tackle the garage.

My goal is to get back to less than what we had during his Army career. When I first got my civilian military job, single & out of college, my first long distance move, I only had 11 line items, only one was furniture.

I know I can't get back to that little, but I think we had 11,000 lb limit on pcs moves, with 2 kids in tow. We had just enough, we always had a large storage room where we lived, and it was mostly filled with seasonal suff only and empty boxes for things to be repacked on the next move.

So my thinking is get down to no more than 7000 lbs, since we won't have kid stuff and their furniture. We want a smaller house definitely, this one at 1800 sq ft is not big for some, but we lived in 1000-1200 sq ft easily then. Living in a larger house for 16+ years, it was too easy to accumulate things.

Re: Downsizing

Mominohio — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 03:49:51 GMT

@Nomore wrote:
I've been decluttering/ downsizing for three years now. I go back through each room and find lots more "stuff" to donate. My husband still hasn't tried to tackle the garage.

My goal is to get back to less than what we had during his Army career. When I first got my civilian military job, single & out of college, my first long distance move, I only had 11 line items, only one was furniture.

I know I can't get back to that little, but I think we had 11,000 lb limit on pcs moves, with 2 kids in tow. We had just enough, we always had a large storage room where we lived, and it was mostly filled with seasonal suff only and empty boxes for things to be repacked on the next move.

So my thinking is get down to no more than 7000 lbs, since we won't have kid stuff and their furniture. We want a smaller house definitely, this one at 1800 sq ft is not big for some, but we lived in 1000-1200 sq ft easily then. Living in a larger house for 16+ years, it was too easy to accumulate things.

This says it all! The more space we have, the more things we will find to fill it! And sometimes, that tipping point from "I have enough" to "somebody call the crew from 'Hoarders' " seems to sneak up on us with no warning!

Re: Downsizing

DCGIRL — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 04:05:43 GMT

Sarasota County? - i have been looking there - one of the realtor's I've been working with is with DWELL realty. I was down there a few weeks ago looking but we were over on the other coast by Juno Beach -- i need to come and check out the gulf side. I just retired from the Government in March and live in No. VA - i love florida though - i cant wait to be there again. But yes we are def downsizing too. Way too much "stuff!" The older you get the less you need all that - its just more to clean...

Re: Downsizing

CelticCrafter — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 12:26:47 GMT

@151949 wrote:
All my married life my DH the semi hoarder would have to go away every spring for a week long sales conference so I would take a weeks vacation that week and spring houseclean. It was best he was away because I would go through every cabinet , drawer and closet in our home and really throw away a lot of stuff. I would put the trash bags over at our neighbor's house so he didn't realize I was throwing so much away. He never missed any of it. The only area I did not clean was his garage. When we moved it , literally, took him 2 months, working every day, to get that garage cleaned out. That was the first time he had cleaned it in 28 years. I had NO sympathy. Now I am seeing signs of our new house's garage starting to accumulate so I go out there and start organizing and when he sees me in his "things" (junk) he is almost crazy to get me out of there, so he comes out and helps me get it cleaned up. He goes thru the trash bags and takes out every item I threw away - things like empty spray cans and empty containers of stuff like car wash soap and if he finds even one drop in there - back on the shelf it goes.

@151949 I don't know if going through the trash is a man thing or a hoarder trait but my husband is the same way. He could be a serious hoarder if I allowed it.

When I do get rid of something, I make sure I do it the day the trash can gets put to the curb.

Re: Downsizing

151949 — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 12:36:48 GMT

@CelticCrafter - OMG this spring before we snowbirded north to Pa I cleaned out my pantry and donated anything that would expire while we were away over the summer and some things that already were expired I tossed. He was actually rooting through the trash can of expired food until I stopped him.Then when we got to Pa I shopped and the bill was > $200 and he about had a stroke because I had thrown away things like catsup and mustard and then bought ones up here. Meanwhile if we had brought that stuff it would have needed refridgerated, and they were almost empty!

Re: Downsizing

151949 — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 12:47:00 GMT

@DCGIRL wrote:
Sarasota County? - i have been looking there - one of the realtor's I've been working with is with DWELL realty. I was down there a few weeks ago looking but we were over on the other coast by Juno Beach -- i need to come and check out the gulf side. I just retired from the Government in March and live in No. VA - i love florida though - i cant wait to be there again. But yes we are def downsizing too. Way too much "stuff!" The older you get the less you need all that - its just more to clean...

Everywhere in Sarasota County is lovely. It is a tourist destination and so everything is beautifully maintained. Our taxes are low, and where we live is not incorporated so we only have to pay one property tax to the county and they provide our police and paramedic services. Within the county, of course , there are communities where they do pay city taxes and some of those are quite high so one must be conscious of the tax situation before buying. We have friends who bought a villa in North Port the same sq ft as ours and their taxes to the city plus a special tax they have to pay for the development of their area makes their total tax hit 3x ours. I don't know why they would build without finding out about taxes before signing.

Re: Downsizing

CelticCrafter — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 12:48:46 GMT

@151949 wrote:
@CelticCrafter - OMG this spring before we snowbirded north to Pa I cleaned out my pantry and donated anything that would expire while we were away over the summer and some things that already were expired I tossed. He was actually rooting through the trash can of expired food until I stopped him.Then when we got to Pa I shopped and the bill was > $200 and he about had a stroke because I had thrown away things like catsup and mustard and then bought ones up here. Meanwhile if we had brought that stuff it would have needed refridgerated, and they were almost empty!

My only saving grace is that even though he is collecting his pension, he's still working so I can do it while he's not here.

He likes working and feels he's too young (62) to just sit home but I don't see it happening for much longer, the commute knocks the heck out of him and he's starting to realize that maybe it's just not worth it anymore.