After much discussion, Dave and I have decided a move is in our future. I won’t get into all the details, but we’ve been in this little townhouse for seven years and as much as I love my gardens, and the area of the city we live in, the universe is telling us it’s time to move on.
Now, we aren’t moving next week, or even next month… it will most likely be spring or summer 2021 (it’s got to be when I can dig up and bring along some of my garden favourites!), but we are putting the wheels in motion now, so we are ready when the time comes.
One of the big things we are doing is going through all our stuff (for just two people we have an awful lot of stuff!) and getting rid of anything we don’t need. Because, why move it if you don’t use it?
For Dave, it’s a lot of things like computer and electronic parts. For me… it’s definitely clothing and shoes.
While I haven’t been perfect at not buying any new clothes this year (Damn you Old Navy!), I have been better. And I’ve gotten much better at looking at things critically, and objectively and deciding whether I really need it or not. That has meant not much new has come into the house this year, but I needed to turn that new skill to moving some things out.
So… the other day, I emptied the closet and my two dressers and assessed everything down to the last pair of underwear.
Naturally I had a snoopervisor or two to cheer me on. Rupert was mostly wondering why his afternoon nap spot was covered in things that weren’t quilts. But his disdainful stare definitely kept me on task.
Burton wondered why I had so many skirt/pant hangers when I don’t hang my pants, and only have two skirts. I couldn’t give him a good answer, so into the out bin they went!
It took a good couple hours but I’m now happy to say, while I still have more clothes than any one person really needs, my overflowing dressers are no longer overflowing. I can get into my closet, and while there are still too many dresses, they at least have some room to breathe.
The next task was tackling my shoe collection. Those of you who have been around for a few years know just how much I love my shoes. But, since I began working from home, a lot of those beautiful pairs have been neglected. Even before COVID, Dave and I weren’t much for going out, so if I wasn’t going to the office, the shoes weren’t getting much wear.
It was definitely time to take stock… because if you barely leave the house…
Do you really need a pair of sparkly purple stilettos? No matter how pretty they are? And if you don’t need those, you probably don’t need the leopard print stilettos either… or really any stiletto shoe for that matter.
I did keep a couple pairs of sky-high heels – I just couldn’t bear to part with all of them. But I’m happy to say, I managed to half my shoe/boot collection. Instead of needing four shoe racks, I now only need two!
Now… I need to reassess my book collection, but I’ll save that for a rainy day!
Wandering Cat Studio 
Daughter just put her house on the market and is doing the same thing. They’ve decided to move too. I hate the idea of them having strangers walk through their house with our numbers so high but I have to bite my tongue. I rarely if ever give motherly advice especially to her but I really wish they would wait out the pandemic. Her rink just warned her that they may be shutting down again due to the high numbers. They’ve reduced the number of people in the rink to 25 now which cuts her work in half again. I could go on and on why this is a bad idea…..to you. Lol….
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I had about that much time to clean out and purge–it is a lot of work but feels so much better afterwards! Will look forward to other happy corners getting the ‘boot’ and seeing how your home hunting will progress! Good news!
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After three moves in two years I am pretty slimmed down in terms of stuff. I will say, I still have more yarn than ANY human needs, but even THAT got slimmed down over the moves.
Hope you find a place that you love. It will make all that work well worth it.
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Oh boy! That’s a lot of work, but it sounds like you’ve tackled it well. Good luck to you and Dave finding the right place.
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It’s hard work to downsize and make the tough decisions on what to keep, toss, or donate. I scaled down my “stuff” when I moved two and a half years ago. I still have too much but have adopted a new strategy: one new thing in – two other things out. Good luck on the decisions ahead.
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How exciting for you and Dave to be house hunting in 2021. I will be sad to see you leave your wonderful gardens behind. I am sure you will take all the plants and cutting and create a beautiful garden at your new home. I downsized a couple of years ago when I moved closer to my daughter and her family. I like having less stuff (but I didn’t purge too much on clothes or fabric).
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It feels good to purge some of the old clothes once in a while. I do it occasionally. I have been known to say, “Now where’s that shirt?..” months after because I forgot that I got rid of it! Kudos on the heels! I would fall off of those.
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I have a hard time purging stuff, which is why The Hubby and I are still living in this house, even though it was a temporary move. Yeah, in 1993! 😹
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That is such a hard job. Downsizing. Just ask me. We went from a 4 bedroom/3 bath house to a 38 foot RV! We do have a 10 x 15 storage unit for Dennis’s tools, one bed, and some sentimental things I couldn’t part with as well as kitchen things. I know eventually we’ll be in a house/condo so I’ll need those things.
Clothes. All of our clothes together fit in 3 dresser drawers and one closet. We took garbage bags full of clothes and shoes to the thrift store.
Good Luck!
Blessings,
Betsy
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Oooh, leopard print stilettos? Count me in!
We pared our stuff back a few years ago when we were considering downsizing to a condo. But we still haven’t found the condo of our dreams at the price we want to pay, so here we are. And stuff is creeping back in. Not too badly, though.
Good luck with your search!
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