Last day for Week Three of the Clutter Cleanse: getting rid of the big things.
The biggest way we downsized our stuff: we moved overseas.
Life can bring some wonderful coincidences. After we purged like mad and got rid of over half of our things, including our car and the torch I ran with in the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay. After we payed off most of our debt mountain. Once our home was in good order and we had a solid grasp on our personal finances, we found ourselves moving overseas.
I can still remember my husband telling me he was applying for a job in the Isle of Man. After looking up where that was exactly, after several fun conversations about the possibility of moving overseas, some real excitement settled in.
If we made this move we could GET RID OF ALMOST EVERYTHING.
My minimalist wannabe self was overjoyed with thoughts of selling every last stick of furniture and just owning whatever fit in our suitcases (the reality ended up being a bit different).
If removing a big piece of furniture hasn’t kicked you into action or selling your home to yourself didn’t give you new eyes on your stuff, think about what you would do if you moved overseas.
The big challenge with your things when you move internationally is that you have to think critically about what the cost of storing or shipping items is versus what the item’s real value. Is it worth it to spend $5000 a year to store furniture that is worth $5000? Do you want to spend $4000 shipping furniture that you could buy second hand in your new home town for $3000?
Pretending that you are moving overseas quickly gives you a clear benchmark of high value items in your home. And the value can be financial or emotional. That easy to replace bookshelf from Home Depot can go but the coffee table your Grandfather made will be carefully stored or shipped.
Pretending that you are moving overseas can release you from the “it’s irreplaceable” fear. Family heirlooms that you really love: irreplaceable. High backed chair that you got for a steal at a furniture liquidator: replaceable. This is helpful when you want to make the leap and downsize but you’re fearful of the what-ifs. Very few things are truly irreplaceable. Yes, you might have to “suffer” with a different style, color or model, but most of what’s in our homes can be purchased again. And if you’re open to buying pre-loved, those things can be bought at a fraction of their original price.
So… you’re moving half-way around the world: what would you take with you? Of the 14 boxes we brought with us I quickly learned that a handful of them weren’t needed (furnished rentals here come with everything: silverware, linens, etc). I truly can’t think of anything we sold or left behind that I wish we had here.
This is the last post for Week Three. Tomorrow: Money, Money, Money.
This was so fun to read because it’s exactly what we’ve just done! Five years ago we left Canada for New Zealand, where we lived fairly minimally on second-hand furniture. This month we’ve again relocated, but this time to Northern California, with our two little kids in tow. We sold or gave away almost everything (only bringing only a fraction of our 2.5 and 1 year olds toys and books). It just wasn’t worth the high cost of shipping and I loved the purging process. Interestingly, my 2.5yr old did find it a bit difficult to say goodbye to everything in the only house she’s ever known… but of course she has adapted amazingly well. Now that we’re in CA, we will be replacing some things (like a mattress, cot, and couch) and some of our things that were in our parents’ basements in Canada will be shipped down. As hard as it is to start over in new places, it is definitely a wonderful experience in terms of minimizing.
In August, we packed and moved to CA, big job opportunity, with four kids in tow, and about 25 boxes full of stuff, was mailed via USPS. Each kid had a carry on, I had a carry on and then I had two big suitcases checked in the airplane too. I got rid of everything we had, we gave away plates, furniture, bunk beds, and everything that didn’t fit in those boxes. I, … we did’t miss a thing. I got everything new again, but way less stuff. Fast forward to end of Sept, job went very sour, and we missed NJ, we came back, in less that three days flat I packed my kiddos, my life and started again here with very little. All that truly matters is some clothes on your suitcase, some toys, or form of entertaiment and emotional stuff that you can’t part with ( like pictures for me, or some sentimental things the kids have) the rest comes and goes. I learned that I was able to move in basically less than two months twice two different states with four kids. I feel very confident now that belongings do not tie us down.
Such good advice! I loved the last post on pretending your selling your house–so good!–and I am going to bookmark this one away in my archives as well. I just moved across the country and we sold most of what we owned to do it. We’re in a house that is bigger than our last and yet I find myself not wanting much more than we had before: the open space is just lovely! It’s that minimalist spirit 🙂
These recent posts have really helped me. “Stage” your own home, pretend to move overseas, etc. Sometimes I ask myself – if there was a fire, and you had five minutes – what would I grab? What would I be grateful it’s gone, what would I weep over if it were truly gone?…
I live in a studio apartment. Wish I could send before and after pictures. I’m still cleaning out and as I get to the final stage – it’s the “good stuff” that is left and now that I’ve lived with less clutter, seeing what is “the good stuff” has changed to “do I really need / want” it? I’ve learned to live in the present, what my life is at this moment, not for what I hope my life will be tomorrow…and all the stuff I purchased and saved for “tomorrow’s plan”.
Still to do this year: photo albums and boxes of loose photos to have scanned and put onto the computer, and many cookbooks that I will type out the favourite recipes to keep and then give away the physical books. My favourite books can be repurchased in digital form…but only when I plan to actually reread them.
I was so organized with my clutter. The contents of each box, plus it’s location in my basement storage locker – were all on a spreadsheet, each box was numbered. All I had to do was look up the item I needed and knew exactly where it could be found…then realized it was at the bottom of the third row in the storage locker of bins piled three deep up to the ceiling. Hum??? I decided I didn’t really need to go through the trouble to dig it out. So why was I saving it? (It also helped that the computer crashed without a backup and I lost the organized spreadsheet.) I learned!
Isn’t it interesting how the desire to own fewer things leads you to contemplating the bigger picture? That’s been the greatest gift for us. We’re not perfect and we still make mistakes but putting a harsh eye on what we own has lead to bigger discussions and changes to how we live.
Yes! So well stated.
Carrying the weight of stuff really clouds your outlook . We all know the stress of clutter, even when out of sight. But it wasn’t until the clutter, well most of it, was gone did I realize the strangle hold it held on me. I look back and see how much of “life” / time was spent on clutter, rather than living.
Thank you Rachel for your blog and helping so many of us see through beyond the stuff.
We live a huge rambling farmhouse with lots of outbuildings and places to hide stuff. We started the journey purely with the desire to get rid of stuff. Actually to be honest I started the journey purely with the desire to get rid of stuff. Everybody else watched with wry amusement.
But like a snowball I gradually brought the rest of the family on board. And then we decided that if we were going to move (which we would have to some day, this place is far too big for the pair of pensioners we would one day become and our children are already starting to move out) then now was as good a time as any.
There is nothing my husband likes more than a good pre-move clearout. He is on board big time! Auctions have been divided into high end items and antiques, and house clearance type. Charity shop, book charity and the skip have all been heavily used and that is all in the past two weeks. I have been doing this for six months, but bring a move into the equation and the speed ratchets up exponentionally.
We were lucky, our house sold quickly but our new house a few states away wasn’t finished being built. We thought about transporting everything, storing everything, the cost and trouble of it. We decided to Craigslist most of it and put the things we were on the fence about in his mother’s basement while we took our favorite things to an apartment to wait it out. Well, turns out a harmless basement flood compliments of Irene took our clutter for us and left their basement and things unharmed. We moved into our new place completely clutter free. It felt amazing and freeing.
I struggle now to add warmth to the place. It’s just so easy to clean how it is. lol
We plan on moving within the next 2 years to get into a better school district. My daughter will be ready for school by then. I am not looking forward to staging our home so we can sell it. It’s a mess!
Funny, I’ve been doing sort of an inventory lately and also used the pretend-I-move-overseas-game to think a bit more. However, this game is only partly applicable, as I wouldn’t ship lots of the things I own, but would replace quite a few at the new place nonetheless. (e.g. cutlery) So I’m trying to figure out now what I would take with me on a not-quite-so-far move instead. I find the idea interesting to pack imaginary (or maybe in part even real) “themed” boxes. Like, I own quite some “stashs” of things that are related to some kind of hobby. To sum them up is quite eye-opening, as I know I wouldn’t want to move more than two large moving boxes of stuff that is solely there for the purpose of keeping me from getting bored. I read only one book at a time, knit only one scarf, etc. etc. It feels kind of ridiculous to ship entire carloads full just of stuff for little princess not to feel bored for even a second. I also include purely decorative or sentimental items in that count that don’t have any practical use, as they’re “hobby” in my opinion, too.
I think, I’ll get rid of quite a few things in the next days…
I’m going to do an inventory of my/our stuff this year…I think I will end up getting rid of stuff rather than listing it, or realising that I have have duplicates once have finished listing!
I think we could move with one bag and a small handluggage each. However, we have a dining table w chairs and a couple of old (over 100-year-old), but practical, inherited pieces of furnitures that we would not want to part, no matter where we would move to. And there are the books…. 🙂