I was recently sharing my experience of downsizing my life with a coworker.
About a year ago I had some life circumstances that left me to move back home. In an effort to fit a house’s worth of things over the last 7 years or so into a bedroom, I hesitantly started to get rid of my things.
The first to go was the suede furniture set.
The furniture set!
But it was so nice, I thought.
I probably worked 6 double shifts at my shitty waitress job for a whole few weeks to pay for that! It looked so nice in my nice-looking artsy-funky-vintage-ecclectic-independent- bachellorette-pad apartment, I just couldn’t let it go…until I started considering storage costs, and how long it would potentially be until I used it again. And off it went. Oddly…it felt just a little bit good.
Next went my super-spiffy all-glass display shelving unit. (But I got that for my gallery! It will look so nice someday when I have a bigger place to live with all kinds of pretty things being displayed from it!) So expensive. So not being used at the time, or within the indeterminable future. Gone.
The remaining furniture started to feel a little less painful. The oak coffee table with the matching end accent tables, the lamps, the mini-fridge.
But I had it all throughout college! I might use that someday when I have a bigger house!
The microwave that I haven’t used in 3 years.
I might actually want to reheat something in this. Yeah, no.
At some point, I began to feel a shift from being resistant to getting rid of my physical items that I had worked so hard for, to being extremely relived that I no longer had these things cluttering my mind, my space, my workflow, and believe it or not, any thoughts pertaining to my future.
But if I decided to move, how would I move all of my THINGS???
As the year has gone on, all of my big “things” are long gone, and I don’t miss them. I don’t even know where I’m going to be in the near or distant future. With that in mind, I’ve taken the downsize even further. Clothes that I haven’t warn in the last year? Donated. Special Edition beer glasses saved from microbrew events…in storage somewhere in my moms garage, sold on ebay. Extra electronics that I hoard for no reason, flower pots that I have in bulk, camera lenses that I spent way too much money on, extra inventory from my Etsy shop, all sold online. Paintings and drawings that have been sitting in my basement, given away, sold, or searching for loving homes.
We all make associations with things. Songs, places, smells, and items can all remind us of moments- conversations, a lover’s touch, laughter as the sun goes down, music by the campfire when the smoke blows in your face and you think “white rabbits” and watch it blow away with the wind, or sometimes memories less than warm. For myself, I feel like I associate most of my material things with past moments in my life. Not to say that this can always be a negative thing, but for me, at an uncertain time when I feel like I’m either going to move into a hermit-country-house in the middle of nowhere with my dog, cat, and big-ass garden (ok maybe not hermit) , or take all the money I have (eek!) and head west- all of those things, sitting in places that I don’t go to, being useful and inspiring to no one, reminding me of times that are not this present moment make me think a little less clearly. Less physical clutter equals less mental chatter. And now that I have less things, I feel a little less guilty about moving around a bit more freely.
In talking with my friend, she shared her understanding. She also has moved often, all over the country, and has experienced similar misgivings about downsizing her life more than once.
“A friend gave me a bit of advice when I lived in Seattle that I think of every time I downsize in relation to change. I think it fits your situation pretty well. Do you want to know what it is, Meg?”
“Sure,” I smiled, having no idea what was about to come next.
“Clutter makes your ass fat, Meg.”
Here’s to a new blog layout.