You Do Not Need To Be Moving To Downsize or Declutter
Whenever I give a talk on downsizing and decluttering the first thing I emphasize to the audience that you do not need to be moving to downsize or declutter. This is the truth! Maybe, if we downsized and decluttered more frequently then the thought of moving would not be so stressful.
I use the KISS Theory– Keep It Simple Silly! Do not make this process more complicated and cumbersome than it needs to be. Start small, keep it simple, and just start!
Let’s get started with a closet – any closet! Here are four steps:
- Gather your material and allocate dedicated block of time for project. Materials that you will probably need are:
Trash bags, plastic bins, a labeler, and plastic or fabric storage bags or bins for shelves. - Getting started
- Set up trash bags and plastic bins.
- Empty everything from closet and vacuum
- Map closet so you know where things are going – Dresses, suits, blouses, etc.
- Start sorting the items, ask questions (answer honestly), and only handle the items once-be decisive and make the tough decisions.
- Yes or No questions – will you wear/use again, is it out of style, does it fit?
- If yes then decide if it goes back in closet or in a plastic bin for next season; if no, then it is either trash, donate, or possibly consignment.
- Once the decisions are made – act on them. Never wait, because then you change your mind or become distracted and the job is not finished. Do whatever you need to do that day, and then you are truly finished.
These are the same 4 steps you need to do for each and every item in the any closet you have. If there are any items not decided on ask the following questions:
- When was the last time you saw, used, or needed this item?
- Do you know what the item is?
- Does it belong to someone else?
If you don’t know the answer to these questions or others you might come up with, then you do not need the item, so either throw out or donate it.
At the end of your allotted time, you should have a clean, decluttered, and downsized closet. The KISS theory works every time. Never allow stress to be part of the process.
Save 12 In 2012
What's In Your Attic?
Attention Baby Boomers and Adult Children of seniors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island!
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Going On Vacation, Make Sure Your Home is Prepared!
If you are going on vacation make sure to prepare your home, because you never know what may happen while you are away. Even though you fully expect to return home in a few days or so, you never know what can happen. You could be in an accident, became ill, or worse; then people will enter your home to get important information and items for you.
Would you be embarrassed to have family, friends, or neighbors rummaging around your home and looking through your belongings?
I am working with a client who a year ago left to spend the holidays with family in the mid west and has not returned home. Her parents got sick and then the client became deathly ill and can not return to her ‘doll house’ she loves so much.
Throughout the year, she has depended on friends and neighbors to care for the house and send her items that she needed. Realizing that this cannot continue indefinitely and is looking to sell and move permanently. To do this she needs to remember all the items she has and decide whether to move or dispose of the items. This is hard enough when you are on site to visually see and touch the items to make your decisions, but to do this from a distance and not be feeling well makes it much more difficult.
There are strategies that we can all take advantage of with modern technology to inventory our homes, and store this inventory virtually ’in the cloud’ to be accessed by you or your representatives (if need be) when the time comes. This would make this particular situation easier and less stressful. In future blogs I will talk more about this process and why it is so important to have this information available.
Now That The Funeral Is Over, Now What?
The funeral is over and finally the last person has left the house, the last of the food stored in the refrigerator, and everyone sits down around the dining room table and looked at each other and said, “Now what?”
For the past several days, actually several months, this family the moment on the moment and that was just dealing with todays problems, situations, and concerns. With the death of their parent their primary focus then shifted to just getting through the funeral.
This family has several Now What questions to deal with immediately, because there is a surviving parent that has some concerns and issues that need consideration. So before all the family members start to scatter back to their ‘normal’ life; work, family, soccer games, PTA, etc., it is time to focus on the ‘Now What?’ questions.
Everyone needs some down time, particularly after what they have dealt with, but first question and most pressing one now is: Can Mom (or Dad) stay in the family home alone, or would it be better for her to go home with someone? Once decided then you can move on from their. Whether Mom stays at home or temporarily goes with one of the children the rest of the Now What’s will wait for another day.
What Your Mom is Not Telling You About Your Father.
When we live busy lives with spouse and children to care for we are often caught not spending enough time with our aging parents. If we are fortunate enough to live close to them, we might drop over quickly to see if they need something but often than not we will phone to check in.
The phone call is quick and expediant. A quick hello, how are you, the kids are fine, and then you say goodbye because you need to get dinner or something. Mom said everything is fine, so you take her at her word. Even if you stop by periodically you run in for a few minutes, chat about the weather and things, then you are off again.
Unfortunately, that is life these days. However you might be missing some vital signals and warning signs that unless you see first hand and ask the questions you will never know. Why? Because Mom, doesn’t want to bother you, and your Father told her not to tell you. Whatever it is, is their little secret. This happens quite frequently.
As the folks age and continue to live alone and are independent, we become comfortable not having to worry about them. It is important that we periodically take some quality time with your parents to see how they are actually doing. Develop a base line measure of their life, activities, and physical abilities. Then as time proceeds do it again, just to stay tuned in to the subtle changes that may be occurring.
Life is funny, we think we will have the folks forever, then without warning — or was there some warnings and signs — they are old and sick. We didn’t see it coming.
Fix Your Own House First!
This morning I checked the front page of the local paper and the headline above the fold said: “Cleaning up the game, Senators seeking tobacco ban for Series”. This associate press article went on to talk about how say that several senators sent a letter to the players union to ban chewing tobaccos at games and on camera.
Yes, chewing tobacco is a disgusting, dirty, and potentially unhealthy habit. However I feel that these and all other lawmakers, have far more important issues on their agenda’s that they need to deal with first. They cannot get members of their party or the other party to agree on some very important issues like health care, economy, budget, and spending limits to mention a few. Why do they feel that they can convince the NBA players union to do anything voluntarily.
The old saying about people in glass houses should not throw stones, is something the US Senate should bear in mind. Clean up and finish your own pending business before you start something you cannot finish. When I hear that social security recipients will receive a raise (first time in a few years) but the cost of medicare and supplemental insurance coverage is going up something is wrong with this picture.
I want my senators to focus on the real issues that are affect me and my neighbors and let the baseball commissioner and players union focus and clean up their own house.
Just my opinion, another frustrated taxpayer looking for my elected representatives to do the job they are elected to do.
Good Old DAZE
Over the past few months I have worked on creating the family tree and it is like working on a very large and complex jigsaw puzzle. It is amazing what we think we know about our family and their families only to find out that we have very little knowledge at all.
In the good of days, it was not polite to air your family’s dirty linen for all to see, so unless you knew for sure your family was rich, socially acceptable, educated, etc., people often chose not to discuss family history.
With the aid of todays computer and internet access, families can find a tons of information on-line. There are many popular websites to aid us in this quest. However, the best source of information is by learning and speaking with our older relatives and their friends.
It is amazing at how much I really do not know about my ancestors, and how very little my grandparents and parents did not share with us. I am finding that great-grandparents divorced and remarried and had a slew of children from the second marriage. My Grandmother never divulged these ‘secrets’ there were on a need to know basis, and no one needed to know.
So my advice to everyone is to try to document what you know about the family history. Gather the photo’s, memorabilia, and important documents in one central file and write your recollections.
This is important information for the family and it will make it easier to compile into a concise and exact history of the family. It is a great starting place for us as well as for future generations to continue.
Time To Put Them Away!
- Time to put you away!
I am so glad that this weekend I was able to pull my flip-flops out for one last time this year!
Next Chapter
Two years ago I helped a family move their Mom from the family home out-of-state, to a very lovely Assisted Living. They wanted to have their Mother living closer to them because health issues were causing more and more of a problems. Mom and I hit it off great, and we had several nice moments during our time together.
Fast forward to two years, and I received a call from the same family and things are not going well. Mom is having increasing amounts of issues and they are having to move her again, to a completely new and different environment.
I am happy that they thought of me to help them begin this next chapter in their Mother’s life. I am sad that in just two years she declined so much, but I know that I am helping the family cope with the stress as they move into what could be the last chapter.
Quiet Progress
I met with a client the other day, she felt like she would never be ready to move by the end of the month. Then she started telling me what she had all ready started and finished. It was huge!
This small petite woman, realized that she needed to start doing something to make this move happen. In her own quiet way, she allocated a few hours throughout the day to sort through dresser drawers. Throwing out items too worn and unserviceable, collecting all good and usable items for donation, and neatly putting the keepers back in the drawer. That is huge, and I told her so!
She did the same type of thing in the kitchen and bathrooms. So when it came down to really getting serious about downsizing for the move, she have very quietly made progress toward her goal.
It is amazing what progress you can make with just an hour or two a day! Try it, you will be very pleased with your results.
