Forums » Smalltalk » Downsizing tips?

I am downsizing all my stuff as there is a good chance I will move into an efficiency apartment at the end of the month. I am good about throwing away obvious trash and things I know damn well is not useful anymore.

The issue: The totes I "cleaned" still have a bunch of stuff I want to keep. However, I would rather use my totes for stuff I actually need to pack such as dishes, clothes, ect….

Tips for downsizing without the hording tendencies? A lot of my "keep" piles is mostly old story ideas, notebooks, such that I tell myself to trash, but have no heart to. "I'll use it later" tendencies and such....

Thanks in advance!

Use your vertical space... store under the bed and buy strong, stackable drawers that can go all the way up. Get rid of any packaging material you can (ie. CD cases, just get a sleeve to put all the CDs in, etc). Over the door shoe holders work great for almost anything. Notebooks and things, I would put them in boxes and keep them in the closet. I keep my old journals too. They've moved with me countless times.

Thanks I will definitely do that once I get the new place. For now, though, I need to pack up stuff in my current place. Lease is terminated and I have to move out by Feb 28th.

I am trying to use as less boxes as possible for "extra" stuff (for some reason I am hooked on the idea... don't ask...)

Doesn't help I have an overflowing tote of books that I am definitely keeping, no questions asked.

With regards to story ideas and notebook stuff, you could try digitizing it. Scan the pages into your PC and save them in files there/ an external hard drive. You can then get rid of the hard copies to save yourself physical space, and then when you have time, retype the ideas from the scans.

hmmm... I like that idea. For now just focusing on trashing what is trash then will go back to what I want to keep.

Part of me just wants to toss everything in the totes, except for folders, notebooks, and binders, away. I can always start all new with stories, considering I have not touched the ideas in some years in most cases.

The best advice I can give for the piles of notebooks with story ideas and what not is get another fresh clean composition notebook - one night, spend several hours just going through the notebooks, and write down only the ideas and content that you want to keep and really see yourself doing something with. You have at least 200 pages (100 but with both sides) usually in a fresh notebook, to put anything you want to keep either to remember, or story ideas you seriously plan on doing something with. After the notebook is full or you've gone through all the notebooks, then you can toss them. It will force you to pick things you are serious about keeping because you only have so much space in the notebook.

When it comes to things like diaries or journals you've written like personal stuff in day after day - if you do that - line them up in order of oldest to newest. Keep the oldest, keep the one in the middle of the timeline, and the newest. Throw the rest away. Or, as yourself if you really want to remember the stuff that is written in them, and if not, then only keep the recent one/current one.

I like that idea! I'll have to make sure I do it at some point.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Marie Kondo yet. She is everywhere and despite all the hype there is a lot of method in her madness, she is basically a tidying consultant who created the KonMari method for decluttering, here's a short article about her process. I hope it helps you, it did help me.

Thanks! I actually did not see her pop up when I did a search.

Ask Abigail to invent the Transporter and a Holodeck and Transport everything you don't need into the Holodeck for Abigail to play with. ^^

lol. I'd rather send everything to the incinerator.

I have a great Tip let me snuggle you and keep you safe you look like an adorable person who just needs love, kindness, and more friends!

Lol. I have a boyfriend whom gives me all the snuggles I need

Momo is here to cheer up North-Wood

Whenever I've moved, I prefer to put my clothes in large unscented garbage bags. Dishes should be in boxes, preferably cushioned with newspaper or dish towels. If you can, try asking your nearest grocery store for any boxes they can spare, most have a surplus of cardboard you can stow those in! I guess it's more "alternative packing" than "downsizing", but I'd be reluctant about getting rid of my tote treasures, too. Good luck with your move.

You're welcome. And, ahhh...I see. Hmm. Well my approach, honestly, was to move a bunch of our clothes in plastic bags (big, sturdy trash bags) to avoid having to buy so many boxes, but...I say it's better to buy the boxes. Less confusing and messy. But...also... FYI, even though movers will sometimes quote you a certain price based on how many boxes you have, warning: they also will sometimes count one box as two boxes or refuse to move a box at all if it's over a certain number of pounds (our said 40 lbs). Which can happen if you have an entire box of only books. So...bottom line, I say buy more boxes. Lol. But...if you really don't want to... then one thing to get rid of extra weight is to tear out any blank pages in journals and throw them away, especially if like half the journal is unwritten on. You could take pictures of the pages you want to keep and toss the hard copy. But all that stuff takes wayyy too much time, probably, so I say, buy more boxes. Imho.

Ha...I also bookmarked this article for myself. Thanks.