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ditty_gw

love my small house but.........

ditty
16 years ago

Well we are in my small 1100ft house and I love it but I am still PURGING! I have donated soooooooooooo much, given things away, sold things at consignment, and had a moving sale, not to mention things thrown out to the trash and still PURGING!!!!!!!!!! Is it true that when you downsize it takes around a year to finally get your place the way you want it??? I think I am looking at 3 years MAX! I will never ever accumulate or buy anything that I absolutely can not use!!!!!!

Comments (7)

  • grainlady_ks
    16 years ago

    I'm right there with you... 3,000 books down to about 1,000. Two sets of china and a large assortment of serving pieces, given away. Anything the grown kids think they want, they can have. The newly-wed neighbors have gotten all sorts of things they didn't have (and needed) and we had too many of. A number of huge garage sales, and the thrift stores have been "blessed" in this town....and still going.

    I'll have to agree with you on the 3-year thing. Five years ago we moved from a small home we had lived in for 23 years. Downsized to what we thought was our retirement home - a townhouse. After 3 years we had things "right", inside and out. Then idiots move in next door a year ago March. I gave them the paint color for the townhouse (which are supposed to be kept the same, by code) - we had already painted our half. They said they were going to put pearl-gray vinyl siding on their half (I nearly fainted). We put our townhouse up for sale that evening (April 3) and sold our townhouse in 10 days and moved into a new house (May 10). So almost one year under our belts.

    The things we had at the townhouse did NOT translate to the new home, so we're still going through stuff, and I figure that magic 3 years is right yet again. We said the next time we move we're only taking the can opener and the fake Christmas tree.

    -Grainlady

  • emagineer
    16 years ago

    If the 3 year thing is correct.....I feel much better, even if it means another 2 to go. There is still chaos at my end and am so ready to have things in order, decorated right, etc. I can't get my arms around the comfort status as once was with a larger home. Have moved furniture around rooms more than I should admit and will probably continue until it feels right.
    The good news is my garage is finally in order and can put the car in there.

  • mrsmarv
    16 years ago

    I hear ya'. All I can say is thank goodness for storage buildings. Our 1500 sq. ft. house has limited storage so we have a large amount of stuff stored in our workshop. The workshop is attached to our rental cottage, so I try not to go rummaging too often because I don't want to disturb our tenant. Not that he would mind because he's a really nice guy, but I feel strange going over to his neck of the woods, so to speak. The only problem with having the extra storage space is that we tend to accumulate unnecessary things because we *have* the space. I will be cleaning the workshop out in the next few weeks to get ready for another tag sale. I swear the stuff multiplies. That and the laundry LOL.

  • hotzcatz
    16 years ago

    Wow, your houses seem so big. Ours is only 875 square feet and no closets! No hallways, electricity or indoor plumbing when we moved in but I think it was the "no closets" which are the most difficult. We've now got the indoor plumbing and the electricity, lacking closets is still a difficulty. Lots of shelves, pie safes and cupboards which helps a store stuff but there's still a lot of stuff without anyplace to be. The big earthquake last fall did wonders for making our house bigger, not that I'd really recommend earthquakes as a good way to get rid of excess stuff.

    We give loads of stuff away, but then we go gather more up. Everytime we bring something into the house, then usually something else goes out. With today's yard sales one of our living room chairs (no room for a living room couch) got replaced by a grandfather clock. It's probably time to rearrange things and see if the chair can be tucked away somewhere else.

  • merry_ann
    16 years ago

    I feel your pain. We have been in our place, 1350 sqft for a little over 1 yr. We downsized and built small deliberately. I like smaller homes, truly love ours, and wouldn't trade it for anything. I am pretty well settled in now so according to the three year thing I may be a bit ahead of the curve for once? :) Still over the last year....

    I was unpleasantly surprised that a number of peices of furniture, antiques and things, that I wanted to keep just wouldn't work. I finally bit the bullet and found them new homes with other family members and freinds, purchased peices I like that are scaled to fit, and do the job they need to do, and I am happier.

    I was unpleasantly surprised that I had developed some big house attitudes and habits that were not working. I found I was storing lots of good "useful stuff", but not necessarily stuff I "actually used". Purged again. It was hard and embarassing, because my family thought I was arrogant to be getting rid of such good stuff, but now that what I have is what I use, I am happier.

    I can report to all of you others with smaller homes that freinds of ours that moved into a nearby much larger home about the same time are struggling with the same issues. They kept much more and storage is still an issue in their new house because they moved much more. Not all of it is worth having and She hates at least half of it but he wants to keep it ALL.

    I am becoming used to the idea that from now on my life is about not bringing home what I don't want, ( funny the junk I have a tendancy to drag in AND I actually considered myself "hard to market to" hmmm). I am also going to need to admit it when my interests change, and purge again the storage issue may never be completely "over"...

    I don't think I am any worse off though than someone who just shoves it all in a box a closet or a drawer because they have the room.

  • skagit_goat_man_
    16 years ago

    We sold last June and knew our new home wouldn't be ready until this comming September. We had talked about getting rid of things that just took up space. Some were very nice but we didn't use them and in a 1100sf house we weren't going to have room for them. So before we moved out we called friends and then the thrift store and gave just about evey piece of furniture away. That was scary but a great relief. Now all the house supplies/furniture we have don't even fill a 10x10 storage unit. Our new house has built in furniture: sofa, desks, and dining bench. Tom

  • okieladybug
    16 years ago

    Our home is just under 1000 s.f. We have one closet (shared by two bedrooms), but it holds our hot water heater, so we don't store much in it for safety sake. There are a few boxes in there...I told DH we need to clear them out because if I don't even know what's in them, I don't need them! Our garage is not large enough to hold a vehicle so it's packed with stuff...architectural salvage (planned projects with most of it) and there are some more boxes of stuff...who knows what?!? We had a yard sale a while back and got rid of A LOT, in the sale, to a friend and to a thrift store. I'm quite pleased that I was able to purge a lot of things I once thought necessary. I'm like the rest of you...trying to keep only the things I use on a daily/regular basis. It's harder with seasonal items (holiday decor, etc.) but those things go in the garage.