Downsizing always sounds so reasonable when people talk about it from the outside. Like, okay, smaller home, less stuff, easier cleaning, fewer rooms to deal with, all very logical, right? Well, smaller spaces are known for giving a more peaceful life. Plus, more people want that minimalist lifestyle; they want to have less clutter, they want to own less, deal with less; again, it makes total sense. You can’t bring this stuff with you when you die, so why should it be so important, right?
But at the same time, there are just some weirdly personal things too, be it photos, books, home videos, a piece of furniture you made yourself, a souvenir, dishes that are used for holidays only, so that sentimental aspect does honestly hit fairly hard too.
A Lot of the Stuff isn’t Really About the Stuff
And maybe that’s probably the most frustrating part of it all: it’s that sentimental aspect to all of this. Like a chair can just be a chair until it’s the chair that sat in the old living room for twenty years. Or a box of decorations can look like clutter until it brings back every birthday, Christmas, and family dinner that ever happened in that house.
But when you downsize, you have to get rid of some of that stuff, be it putting it in storage until you know where you can put it in your new home, or just selling or donating it. But it gets to the point where stuff means so much more than just stuff; there’s meaning to it; you can’t do that with every piece in your home either. Sometimes you need to rip the band-aid and decide what you’re going to do with it: keep it, put it in storage for the time being (a limbo option), or finally depart with it once and for all. Downsizing has a way of making ordinary objects feel heavier than they should; it’s as simple as that.
Your New Home Forces the Conversation
A smaller place has no patience for “just in case” thinking. The furniture either fits or it doesn’t. There’s not too much negotiating you can do with yourself. So the cupboards either close or they don’t. The guest room, the big garage, the extra linen closet, all those handy overflow spots might not exist anymore. You get the point, but there’s a lot of compromising.
You can look at tours of small apartments, tiny homes, and just general small living. You’ll see that when it comes to downsizing, you take and keep only what’s needed for a day-to-day basis.
Rushing Every Decision Can Make it Worse
And another thing to keep in mind here is that moving dates are fairly annoying because they make everything feel urgent. Like every item needs a decision, and people start saying things like “just donate it” as if that fixes the emotional side of it. Yeah sure, donating is great when someone is ready, but being rushed into choices can leave a bad taste later. It means there might be some regret, or at least potential regret, or something potentially could get donated by accident that you didn’t mean to donate, like a box of photo albums.
Add Comment