Downsizing: How to Get Rid of Stuff You Don’t Need

Downsizing: How to Get Rid of Stuff You Don’t Need

By Lynda Shrager

People downsize to make life simpler and get rid of their stuff. Most are baby boomers and seniors. Some have chosen to move to a new house that is easier to manage, some may have suffered a life change such as illness or death of a spouse, and some just want their present home to be safer and more accessible.

Today we’ll talk about how to begin the de-cluttering process.  Let’s assume that the person who is the “downsize-ee” is going to be fairly overwhelmed at the job in front of her. It is best to break this daunting job into tiny little bite-sized pieces. Plan to work on one room at a time. Often, creating a time limit helps make it seem even more manageable. For example “we will focus on the big closet in the bedroom for 2 hours and then take a break. Our goal will be to get just the closet done today.”

Start in a room that they use a lot because the noticeable results will create positive reinforcement and keep you all going.  Another tactic for getting the ball rolling is an “initial blitz purge.” Have your loved one think about what she would grab if told she had 20 minutes before the house was going to catch on fire. This exercise makes them realize that most of the “stuff” they are surrounded with is not as important as it originally seemed.

Throw away as much as you can.  Include old makeup, food that has been in the pantry for too long (I actually had a canned vegetable expire), the grocery bag collection, broken toy parts, pens that don’t write – you get the picture. Empty that junk drawer to make room for fresh future junk.  You might have to make more than one pass through each room to be sure you catch it all.

Now that the unquestionable junk is out, let’s get back to the room-by-room plan. How do they decide what to keep and what is clutter?  Define what use the item has in their life.  If they haven’t used it in over a year they could probably live without it.  Is it beautiful and do they love it, or are they just keeping it out of habit?

Clothing tip: If you haven’t worn an item of clothing in over a year (I know, I too am hoping to lose that 10 pounds so it will fit), get rid of it. When they lose the weight treat them to something new and in style.

Categorize items into five groups:

1. Keep
2. Give away
3. Garage sale potential
4. Charitable donations
5. Throw away pile

Notice I didn’t list a “Maybe” pile. Let me share the OHIO rule with you as it is very helpful. This stands for Only Handle It Once, meaning no “hold till later.” Each item goes into one of the above five categories only.  The exception to this may be important papers because you don’t want to waste a lot of time reading through everything now. One big box of paperwork for later is fine.

If your loved one has a lot of items in the same category you may want to help cull the amount down by asking which of their favorites they want to keep. I personally have a huge set of pots and pans, but I find I use the same large one for soup, the same frying pan and the same sauce pot over and over. This works with kitchen tools, towels, work tools, and anything we tend to collect in abundance of over the years. I had six sets of measuring spoons! (metal, plastic, heart shaped…they all seemed needed at the time). Pick out the favorites (which are not necessarily the newest ones) and the rest go into one of the five piles.

Use the following organizing tips to decrease your clutter:

• Stay ahead of clutter. Sort and file mail daily.
• Keep newspapers until the next edition arrives.
• Clip and file articles you want and discard the magazine or paper it was in.
• Donate clothes and other items to your favorite charity.  You will feel better knowing   others are benefiting from them.  Theater groups are always looking for period clothing.
• If items you are throwing out are too big and heavy to handle consider a professional junk remover such as 1-800-Got – Junk or College Hunks Hauling Junk.

The hardest part about downsizing is deciding how to handle “the treasures.” Although I called my last post “Your Kids Don’t Want Your Stuff “ I think I should have called it  ”They Don’t Want ALL Your Stuff.” Next post will focus on the tricky business of deciding which kid gets what!

George Lagarde

ReverseMortgageLV.com

GLagarde@AllWestern.com