Can We All Downsize In Place?

by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@   WarriorTales)

I’m reading a book about getting organized titled, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing,” by Marie Kondo. She has two rules of getting organized and the first one is the hardest; discard what doesn’t give you joy. This includes sorting everything in your entire house.

It sounds simple, but she recommends a six-month process to make this happen. I think I’ve been trying to do this for sixteen years myself. Truly, I have a collection of decluttering books! Case in point.

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is realizing our lives and activities have changed but we hang onto the clothes or sports equipment or artwork from the past.

Another favorite organizing book had some powerful advice; “storage is sorrow.” Whether past triumphs or tragedies or both, if we don’t love the items or display them as keepsakes, storage is not honoring the role of those items now, so set them free!

Easier said than done. Lately I’ve been shopping my clothes closet. While pretty organized, I have more stuff than I can remember. Found some shoes I’d forgotten about which are just the right sandals for this summer. Breaking in one pair of them today.

I’ve also been watching a lot of style tv shows, a favorite is “Love, Lust or Run” with Stacy London and “Dare to Wear” on TLC. Think I must be craving a change in fashion. Part of it comes from getting used to my thinner bod and wearing clothes that actually fit. New experience.

So today I boxed up some clothes to donate that I truly loved but am not willing to pay the cost of tailoring. I’m going to set them free so someone else can enjoy them and I have a cleaner closet. Now, I have drawn some lines so far; beads, yarn and books. Yes, I will sort them, but I’m not going to be brutal about it. Luckily they don’t take up much space. Okay, if I’m truthful I’m not going to get rid of beads – period. But the books and yarn are smaller than a bass boat! I think.

Of course, my fun trips to my favorite antique mall are not stopping either, but I’m trying to be very careful what I bring home. Last visit I came across a basket of 45 RPM records and sorted through. Pounced on one by Elvis and several made in Hawaii with the label in a red and white floral print. Plan on using them as wall decorations in the Maui/Elvis in Hawaii bathroom. Now if I can just find where I put them …..

P.S. For those of you keeping track, I finally switched out my cable tv modem this past weekend. With cussing and lots of chocolate, I made it work. Then I downgraded my tv package, kept football of course, and they sent me a new DVR to switch out. Sigh. Now I have to actually watch the shows on my old DVR. Stop the insanity!