Scaling back, paring down, downsizing—whatever we call it—I’ve reached that stage in life. It actually started eight years ago, when my husband and I decided to relocate halfway across the country. We knew that moving from a five-bedroom home to one with two bedrooms and a tiny office would require getting rid of a lot of “stuff.” That meant more than merely the flotsam that both of us had accumulated over the decades. It also encompassed our families’ belongings, as we’d lost all four parents in recent years and we assimilated from their estate items we thought might prove useful.
A series of garage sales and a flurry of online selling punctuated our final months in our beloved, long-time dwelling. We somehow managed to squeeze what remained into our two vehicles, a camper, and a large hired truck. Only my cherished kayak wouldn’t fit, so I found it a good home.
Even that proved insufficient. We had a tough time squeezing everything we’d brought into the new house. We added shelving and cupboards in the garage as a temporary solution while we re-sorted and re-evaluated expendability.
For the past several years, I’ve focused on reading books I’ve collected for decades, intending to read them “someday.” Someday is now, and gradually the pile is diminishing to meet the bookcase space available. I purchase almost no new clothing, instead, wearing out the duds I like and donating rarely-worn garments to thrift stores.
Just as I think I’m making progress, something jolts me back to reality. Google notified me that my inbox is nearly full. Fifteen gigabytes is a lot of space to fill but, somehow, I managed to use up ninety percent of it. I confess I’ve been lazy, not deleting emails after I receive them, thinking I might want to look at them again, later. Many of those dispatches have photos or other space-hogging items attached. My choice: Start paying for storage or clean out thousands of old messages.
Cheapskate that I am, I dove into the cleaning project. I immediately discovered that I can’t delete without rereading because I want to save many of the hefty attachments. So, I am now examining them individually and saving the keepers to my hard drive. I worked on it most of yesterday, and reduced it to (drum roll) 88 percent!
So many reminders. I am thankful for plenty. Share the abundance. Hoarding is counter-productive. Use it or lose it. Tend to it now with ease or, later, with difficulty. Enough can be too much. The list goes on.
Lessons learned. If you don’t hear from me for a while, that’s why.
Image: Screenshot by S. G. Benson
#downsizing #useitorloseit #purge #cuprunnethover
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