Change - less is more

Imagine having to get rid of everything you own.  That's what it means to move from a house to a boat.  During this transition to minimalist living, I learned a thing or two about downsizing.

The process officially kicked off when our house was sold after listing for only a day.  At that moment, there's a real deadline and we needed to move quickly. Where am I going put everything?  What to keep?  What to bring?

At first, we looked to store the furniture we've collected and love over the years.  However, with the buyers accepting our offer on the furniture that meant we didn't have to rent a storage space anymore.  That was a great relief!  We really hope they love the pieces as much as we do. 

Now that all the big items were taken care of, sorting the rest should be easy right?  Umm, not really.  The reality struck when we realize EVERYTHING needed to fit in 3 bags weighing 20 kg/44 lbs each and 1/3 of a single garage for storage.  From then on, every day after work and weekend was about sorting closets of clothes, deciding what household items stay, packing tubs to give away, and boxing all the essentials and documents etc.  That felt like forever, but it was about two and a half weeks and we finally had to leave our West Seattle home.

While it was a super exhausting process, when we finally moved into our apartment, it was quite liberating.  Everything seemed a little simpler, easier perhaps.  It's pretty neat I have to say.

If you ever want to give this a try for your house, closet or garage,  here's what I've learned that might help...

• Once again, I learned the power of a deadline, and leverage a date you can't move.  So it doesn't drag on. 
• Establish a goal for how much you want to minimize. Ours was 3 bags in 60kg total!
• If you ponder about an item, it's out.   Decide fast, you won't regret much. 
• Unless there's a compelling reason to store, stay with 2 categories:  keep or give away.  Or the stored items will never be looked at again.

Maybe this is not for everyone, and maybe having less will become more in other ways.  We will see!

-bella
​
ps, can't believe it's been 3 months and going!