Trying our best to downsize

Trying our best to downsize
                        

Most of us are totally unaware of how much “stuff” has accumulated in our houses. Then one day we realize every nook and cranny in our abodes is occupied with something. It’s amazing how things we don’t want or need take up residence in our places until every inch of space is occupied.

When we first move into a house, we arrange all our furniture and other things in a neat and functional way. We may have to adjust things a bit, but by and large we decorate our houses to suit our needs and tastes. That works for a while, but because our lives are in a constant state of change, our houses reflect those changes.

For instance, we found a box filled with our high school and college yearbooks. We hadn’t seen those books for years, so of course, we had to sit down and look through every one of them. That afternoon was spent engrossed in that part of our history, and by the time we were finished reminiscing, the day was about over. We put the books back in their box and spent time trying to decide what to do with that stack of memorabilia. Keep or toss? We hadn’t looked at them in years, our children weren’t interested and that box filled up space. We kept them, of course. Tossing is difficult.

Next we found several boxes of our wedding china, which had never been used. Because they can’t go in the microwave or dishwasher, we opted to find a new home for them. That proved to be an exercise in futility. No one wants fragile china in this day and age including our children. We even tried unsuccessfully to donate them to a worthy cause. So toss or keep? You guessed it: back into that poor overstuffed closet they went to fill up space.

Our downsizing efforts have so far yielded us not one square inch of usable space. We have had to accept our poor house will continue to be over-stuffed, eventually bulging at her beams.

At some point our children will have to deal with the “toss or keep” dilemma, not us. For that, we are so very thankful.


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