The Art of the Discard - Downsizing and Decluttering

Here I am again, on the precipice of another life changing event.  This time it is moving from my home to a smaller space.  Downsizing is emotionally difficult and getting the home ready for market and for the move is time-consuming and complex.  As a real estate agent, I know that my clients go through this and how tough it is for them, but since I am going through this myself right now, I thought I’d share some insights into this process.  I’ve come to realize it is a process with four steps:

1.       Awareness of the Need to Downsize
2.       Envisioning a Better Future
3.       Keeping What Matters
4.       Organizing Your Life

1) AWARENESS OF THE NEED TO DOWNSIZE

Some people plan ahead and downsize before they have to, but most people don’t.  It’s a lot like growing older.  We don’t think about how our bodies are changing until we try to do something and can’t.  I greatly admire a client of mine who is in her 80’s.  As soon as her husband died, she examined her finances with the help of her children and realized that she needed to move from her large single family home to a condo.  She couldn’t afford or manage the upkeep of her home.  She very efficiently downsized and moved into a condo four months later.

I admire her practicality, but I’m not like her.  I have hung onto my single family home too long.  I didn’t want to give up the home after my husband died in 2013 because of the shared happy memories of our life together.  I have an emotional attachment to this home that I needed to work through before I could move on.

2) ENVISIONING A BETTER FUTURE

In order to let go, I had to envisioning a better future without my home.  What could I gain by downsizing?  I realized I spend too much time worrying about finances.  I’d like to live well below my means and save money for my future as well as spend money in the present without feeling guilty.  I also want to feel lighter and freer. 

The material things I have are weighing me down mentally.  When I need to find something that I don’t normally use, it is often hard to remember where I put it – in a closet, in the garage, or in the basement?  I look at my paper files and books, my closets stuffed with clothing, and drawers that full of things I rarely use.  For example, I found an unopened stapler specifically designed for tacking up Christmas lights outdoors.  What was I thinking?  I don’t even have outdoor lights to put up.

I have spent a lot of time daydreaming, planning, and just thinking about my new life and what I will need there to make me happy.  This is an important part of the process.  I want to be excited about this change in my life.  I’m now mentally and emotionally ready to part with my home and move.

3) KEEPING WHAT MATTERS

Downsizing and preparing a home for market requires tossing things out, giving them away, and reorganizing what’s left.  The discard is the hardest part for emotional and practical reasons.  I found the best way to deal with this is to first figure out WHERE my stuff would go if I got rid of it. 

I researched how to throw out old paint cans (a paint can recycling center), sell things on eBay (got $800 for the sale of an espresso machine I had never used), give things to charity (Goodwill has a drive through drop off area that is protected from rain and snow), give away the stuff Goodwill won’t take, such as old file cabinets and office equipment (Facebook, Freecycle), and what could be thrown out in the trash vs. what needed to be taken to the dump.  Once I figured out the practical aspects of where the stuff would go, I began to deal with the actual act of getting rid of the items.

I started with the dump trips.  I had a friend with an SUV and he encouraged me to get a load together each week.  We did this for two months until my garage and basement were free of the stuff that needed to be thrown out.   I gave hundreds of my books to two libraries (university library and a public library). Then I went through my clothes and household items and made many trips to Goodwill.  Next I sold items on eBay and gave away items on Facebook and Freecycle.

Paperwork was one of the toughest items.  I envisioned a life with almost no paper files.  This meant I had to figure out what paperwork could be thrown out and what needed to be kept.  I then had to scan the remaining paperwork.  The IRS only requires you to keep supporting documents for three years after the tax return is filed.  However, I know from past experience that insurance companies want to see the receipts of items when you file an insurance claim, so I pulled out the receipts for furniture, appliances, etc. 

Also, if you have made improvements to your home and are expecting a large capital gain (more than $250,000 for a single filer or $500,000, if married) then you will want to keep receipts of all the improvements from the day you purchased the home.  

4) ORGANIZING YOUR LIFE

Of course, putting your home up for market is more than just throwing things out and making space.  You want it to look organized, clean, and inviting.  I gained inspiration from books on the minimalist lifestyle.  While I couldn’t imagine living in 300 SF, there are some who do this and it really changed my mindset when I realized what the benefits are of living light. 

My next step will be to follow the KonMari method of decluttering.  You’ve probably heard of the New York Times bestseller, Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.  In a nutshell, what she recommends is to declutter in one shot, one category at a time, starting with your clothes.  She suggests taking all your tops, for example, and dumping them in a heap and holding each one to feel whether this item brings happiness to you.  If not, then you toss it into the discard pile.  At the end, you carefully fold and put away the tops, organized by texture and color and folded in a certain way.  Yes, it is extreme, but it turns decluttering into a game for me and sounds kind of fun now that I’ve already thrown out a lot of things.  I’ll let you know after I do it. 

One of the keys is to sort your items by category, not by location, e.g. gather all your clothes from all over your home into one pile and sort them in a single sweep.  The major categories are clothes, then books, then documents, then miscellaneous items, and finally mementos.  Photos and mementos are the most difficult to part with because of the emotions involved.  For example, my dad made paper sculptures (see photo).  Because they are three-dimensional they take up a lot of space.  My plan is to take photos of them and keep the photos on my computer, but throw out the sculptures themselves.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I would say this entire process has taken me about 8 months and I’ve worked at it steadily in my spare time.  I have a 1,600 SF home and accumulated ten years worth of items.  Plan ahead and set yourself artificial deadlines to create a sense of urgency.   

I spent the summer months on the dump trips, the fall months on books, clothing, and household goods.  I’m nearly finished with the paperwork.  And will start on the photos and mementos next.   In addition, I need do some interior painting and repairs to get the house ready for the Spring market. 

I have four weeks in which to complete the rest of this process, so you know how I’ll be spending every spare minute from now until then.  Wish me luck!