The big downsizing!

Most people go through several phases in their lives, either in relation to moving, self-realisation, break-ups or simply just a desire for change. There are countless reasons why a major life change takes place, and for me it was a change in work situation in addition to a break-up, which in turn led to poorer finances. It resulted in me having to change almost every part of my life – and I couldn’t afford to live in my big house anymore!

OMG, WHAT TO DO??

From being a maximalist/ materialist and having “everything”, to suddenly losing ground completely, there was a lot of change that happened! And as you can read more about in the post “How my dream of a tiny house started“, I found minimalism and tiny house in this dire situation – and it was like heavensent!

My home had to be either sold or rented out and when the choice fell on renting out, the next step was to move, and the packing up was a rare eye-opener.

When going from 230 crammed square meters (2475 sq ft) to 30 minimalist ones (320 sq ft), a heroic and purposeful effort is required. But how easy is it really to downsize for a die-hard maximalist who has just come out as a minimalist?

And where does one even begin?

FUN FACT:
In the average American home there are 300 000 things.

I started writing a list about why I wanted to downsize.

By becoming a minimalist, this CAN (and most likely will) happen:

• Less clutter
• Surrounded only by things that matter
• Harmony
• Easy to clean
• Easy to keep clean
• Better overview
• Better economy by not buying so much stuff
• More time to do what I really want
• Less worries

And that gave me alot of motivation to get going!

And then I watched tons and tons on YouTube about how to downsize, how to live simply and minimalistically and I completed the series “Marie Kondo – Tidying Up” on Netflix in one day (read: night)!

Her philosophy is to use your emotions when getting rid of things. The principle is that you should pick up an item you own (for example a sweater) and observe what the item makes you feel. If there is joy and good feelings (a “spark” is what she calls it), you should keep it, but if you get bad feelings, a bad conscience or simply don’t feel anything, then you should say thank you for the time you have had together and put it nicely in a box so that it can be donated or thrown away.

FIRST CATEGORY:

CLOTHES

Marie Kondo says that you have to start out simple. Things with affectional value must be done at the end when you have built some momentum around getting rid of things.

Since we are starting with clothes, you should start by collecting all the clothes you have, absolutely everything, and throw them on the bed. Set out three boxes:

• Keep
• Donate
• Recycle

…also try to find out why you want to go through this process.

Then it’s time to start lifting up one garment at a time and start feeling. If it is difficult to feel anything, you can lift up a garment that you KNOW gives you pleasure. Your favorite pants or sweater or whatever it is, just to get that good feeling. Because that is the feeling you will be searching for in everything you touch and hold.

Kondo also has her own way of folding clothes so that they stand in the drawer instead of lying down, and I have now used that method for a couple of years and could not have had it any other way now. Count edge and full overview!

After I had spent a whole day going through all the clothes, I continued the next day with:

JACKETS, SHOES, BAGS AND PURSES

Tried to make much of the sorting a breeze. Always took before- and after-pictures, and tried to agree with myself what of this I REALLY need in my life.

It was actually really fun! Got a good overview, found out that I have far too much, and felt which jackets and shoes I would be happy to wear. The rest will be donated!

HATS AND GLOVES

I wear a hat and mittens from autumn until well into spring, but do I really need 23 hats and 10 pairs of gloves? I had some scarves too, but I donated them all. I only use buffs.

Tough with buff – and that’s no bluff!

But when it was time for

TOOLS

..I had to get a little creative. Considering that I had 16 square meters of crammed tool storage, a huge assessment had to be made of what should be included in my new, minimalist life.

And again: How many tools do I really need..?

Lots of tools everywhere!

How I did it was like this:

I decided that ONE IKEA Ivar bookcase with tools could come with me, so I did just that: I set up ONE bookcase and went into the shed and got the MOST IMPORTANT thing.

After that, I picked up what was second most important, and most important after that etc etc, and adjusted the shelves so that there would be room for as much as possible until the bookcase was full!

Like this:

It gets so messy when you clean properly!

But finally, when I was finished with the tools there were only a few categories left:

GUITAR GEAR

Do I really need 70 guitar picks?

I just love playing the guitar and I can play for hours! And I also updated the binder with new songs, so it was a music-filled evening after this!

LAPTOPS AND CHARGERS AND WIRES (OH MY!)

In the boxes I had a keyboard with that old-fashioned round plug (remember? One for the keyboard and one for the mouse, and I think one was green and the other purple), lots of scart cables (must NOT be mixed with starter cables), all kinds of USB cables and all of wires to connect sound and image since the 1970s..

Charging cables in all shapes and I doubt that I have the gadgets that these chargers are supposed to charge anymore. In addition to a bunch of old laptops. Glad to see they still worked!

But anyways: Two large boxes became one small one! Yay!

JEWELRY

I wear little jewelry. It’s usually just a chain necklace and a rainbow bracelet around the wrist, but I had to keep some things.

Some jewelery is from when I was born, and some I got from my mother and my loved one ❤️ I got the jewelery box itself when I was 10 years old and I had saved up rings from when I had been to the dentist as a child.. Omg, time to let go bye!!

But also a coulpe of super cute rings from my first boyfriend when I was 7. He had to lick the top of my ear in “truth or dare” in the playhouse and that (obviously! Duuh) made us boyfriend and girlfriend and the next day he had been to the mall with his mother and bought me two little rings. Keeping!

GAMES, CANDLES AND SCHOOL STUFF

School stuff from the first grade in elementary school until I left the third grade in high school. I had all the backpacks and all the pencil cases, all the school books and all the notebooks. All tests, projects, exams and every paper we got from school.

Even my message book (where I, myself, have signed like my parents and written “Irene has a stomach ache today and can’t go swimming” to avoid swimming. Ugh, swimming in gym class was the worst!

It was a bit of a journey through time to go through all the school stuff. A bit of a headache afterwards and had to close my eyes and play some guitar to zoom out. But so worth it!

SENTIMENTALS

Now we have come to the last and most difficult category and I can feel my emotions rumbling a bit, because I find it sooo hard to let go of things that mean anything to me. What I knew, thankfully, was that I didn’t HAVE to get rid of a single thing! But then I remembered why I wanted this, and then it was much easier. I saved everything that was really important, and the rest ended up in the trash.

I also just took a picture of some of the things as a memory, because not all things need to be in physical form to be remembered.

Do you remember any of these things?

PS. I save all my cell phones. I have almost every one I’ve ever had, but I’ve also given some away to friends who’ve lost theirs.

FUN FACT:
American houses have tripled in size the last 50 years and the tiny house movement started as a protest against the enlarging of houses and sky-rocketing housing prices.

Now we have reached the last part of the downsizing process, and what remains now is to get rid of everything we have sorted out! Some things can be sold, some can be given away and the rest recycled.

It feels so incredibly good to get rid of it all, get it out of the house and either give it to others or recycle it. You get a better overview of what you have and more ownership of the things you are left with. Perhaps you will find some things you thought you had lost?

I actually sold quite a few things in this process. Lots of camera equipment, geek stuff, furniture, drums and tools. It felt really good!

And I have to say that one thing that also happened was that I felt like I got so hooked on getting rid of stuff that I had to Google it to see if this is a thing. And then I found several vloggers on YouTube who say exactly the same thing. A lady who went from maximalist to minimalist could wake up at 3 a.m. and walk around the house to see if there was anything else she could get rid of. This is quite extreme, but I understand her very well!

This whole process meant that I got rid of about 80% of all my possessions. I moved to Søgne for a few months before I finally took the plunge and moved to Oslo. All the time in Søgne I was still sorting and throwing things away, and when I moved to Oslo I got rid of even more.

I have never had so few things before, but also never felt so rich and content before either. I am surrounded by things that I love and that have a real meaning to me. I still have half an eye with me that looks for things to get rid of, and that means that at least I don’t accumulate things that are just nonsense. All purchases are carefully thought out and it has been good for both my small apartment and my wallet.

When my tiny house is finished in March/April, there will be another super round of selling furniture, donating and throwing away, and I’m really looking forward to that!

It’s going to be sooo nice and harmonious in the little house ❤️ I’m so looking forward to it!

Have you been through a similar downsizing process? How was it and what was the most difficult? And tell me: How did you feel afterwards? ❤️

Would love to hear from you!

Thank you so much for reading ❤️

🌈Irene

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