Making the Right Choices When Simplifying

Our kitchen, with everything we need
Our kitchen, with everything we need

It’s not easy, this simplifying stuff. We made so many agonizing choices last spring/summer, when sorting through all our STUFF in our old 1200 square foot home. We let go of functional things like appliances and tools. We let go of furniture that had been in my family for decades. We let go of sentimental items. We let go of clothing. We let go of Jim’s truck that he loved. So much…

Yes, it was freeing in many ways to not have all those things to take care of and store. But at the same time, when there’s an emotional attachment to those things, it can be hard to accept that maybe you don’t really need them.

But what I wanted to talk about today was how you actually make those decisions. As I blogged last February, I started with the book, The Magic of Tidying Up. The strategy there was to let go of things that did not give you joy. That worked… to an extent. But when you go tiny, you have to let go of a lot more than just the stuff that doesn’t give you joy.

I actually let go of quite a few things that DID give me joy, but that I knew wouldn’t serve a practical purpose in our new life and our tinier living space. I was fortunate that some of the sentimental things, like family photos, certain Christmas decorations and mementos are going to my daughters. We sold some of our most treasured furniture items and Jim’s truck to friends, so we still feel somehow attached to them.

Somehow, we managed to downsize about 90% of our possessions, we think, when all was said and done. And yet… we still have a storage unit right now that contains things we’re not going to be able to find room for, even when we build a shed. So, there will be another round of decisions needing to be made.

So, how did we do with the choices we made last spring/summer… some of them seeming pretty brutal and extreme at the time? Well, as I was pondering that question this morning, I came to the realization that we did pretty darn good!

We’ve been living in this house for almost 4 weeks now and it’s working! We’re living a quality life, with everything we need on a daily basis. The kitchen appliances and dishes, etc., that I kept are what I need to prepare our meals. The clothes we have are enough.

We do miss Jim’s truck sometimes right now while we’re moving stuff and still building. But that won’t last forever. On a day to day basis, once all our initial projects are done, we’re not really going to need a truck. Certainly we won’t need 3 vehicles! And our 2 little commuter cars are really best suited for our new lifestyle and the small town we live in.

Jim has had to buy a few tools, but that’s because we couldn’t have anticipated that we were going to end up parking on an undeveloped lot that needs some TLC. And I’m sure as time goes on, I will miss some of the craft supplies I gave up, but the tradeoff is this wonderful new life we are living. And anyway, I may be too busy with our new outdoor-oriented life to do as much crafting anyway! (I did keep my sewing machine/supplies and quite a bit of my fabric, and that’s my favorite craft anyway.) 🙂

Life is good.

Till next time,

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