All About Downsizing

Downsizing... in some ways it's been very easy and in other ways not so much.

Hubby and I loved the idea of downsizing... to have less 'stuff', to live in a smaller home with less rooms to clean, less yard to take care of.  Which in turn will free us up to travel, spend more time with our children and future grandchildren.

But there is some serious work to downsizing and even after our move, we still aren't finished...

The Stonybrook house was a 3,400 sq. ft. house with a 3 car oversized garage, a full unfinished basement, that we didn't have a problem filling.  We had 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, an office, large open space living room/kitchen all sitting on a .75 acre. I think you get the idea... it was pretty big.

The little brick house is just about 2,100 sq. ft. with a 1 car garage, 2 bedrooms (plans to make it 3), 2 baths, a tiny kitchen and a good size living room sitting on .33 of an acre. There's quite a difference between the two.

It's amazing how easy it is to accumulate so much over the years. So much furniture, clothes, dishes, decor, the list goes on and on....

But now we need somehow make it all fit. Well, the reality is, it won't.  That's where we have to downsize our stuff.

While packing we asked ourselves these 3 questions.  

1.  Do we need this? 
2.  What job does this serve? 
3.  Do we love it?  

We want to keep things that fulfill a purpose.  Keeping something for the... 'someday I'll need it or want it', had to stop.  So, we began to purge, I mean really purge!

Did we want to have a yardsale? Ugh! No, that is so much work and we didn't have any time for that!  We have been so blessed by God in our life, we decided to bless others.  We took photos and put them up on our Facebook page and our neighborhood group page, and gave them away.

The best thing we did was put items out on the sidewalk for neighbors, friends and strangers to take.  It was awesome!  We were able to really get rid of some things that way.

I did sell some things on Facebook Market. Then we took several loads to our local mission/thrift store.  

The weight of the material things we owned was getting lighter and lighter. Yes!  That's the point of downsizing.

It wasn't all easy.... Somethings were tough to part with.  Hubby had 100s of books, some he's read and some he wants to read someday, but in this digital world it just didn't make sense to keep them and store them.  So, he took pictures and boxed up 7-8 boxes of books and they went to the mission.  

I struggled with craft and decor items...  It's the 'what if I need this someday'?  Well, Hubby helped me there.  He said, "If you haven't used it in this huge house, how will you ever use it in a smaller one and if you need it, then buy it".  He was right!  We really helped and encouraged each other through this process.

Well, we've moved now and we have a TON of boxes to unpack.  We both know that we did end up packing stuff that we probably don't need....

We've both said to each other, as we unpack, let's ask ourselves again those 3 questions... 

1. Do we need this? 
2. What job does this serve? 
3. Do we love it?  

If the job is that it's pretty and sits on a shelf and makes me smile, then it's serving it's job.

Whew! Downsizing is not for the faint of heart! It's also, something that will continue... just because we've moved, unpacked and are living here doesn't mean we won't stop downsizing.  My motto for years has been 'Less is More'.  It really does feel freeing to have less. Now that we've started, I don't want to stop!

The journey we've been on has not only been physical, but spiritual.  Hubby and I have both felt that as we've gotten rid of physical stuff, God has been working on getting rid of stuff in our hearts.

This world seems to make you want to hold on to things.  God says to let go of it and hold on to Him.  His load is easy and light.  Hubby and I feel like the load is lighter, a weight off of our shoulders.  We've learned to be more generous, to recognize the hold some things had on us.  It truly has been freeing.

Now we are starting a new journey at our Little Brick House.  There's a lot to do, lot's to learn, but this is exactly where God wants us.  We're ready to get started!!

Blessings,