We knew it was coming, we didn’t know this fast! We had to downsize and move in THREE WEEKS!
Here was the plan: My daughter, Michelle, and her family were moving back to Florida and planned to buy our house. We knew about when they were coming. My last day to work was June 30th. Then we get word that they would be here July 22nd. Yikes! That gave us about three weeks to downsize plan, box up and move into Ruff Road! Now I’ve watched many downsizing videos, but none of them started with the amount of stuff that we’ve accumulated after six children, several grandchildren, parents passing, and 34 years! We are not hoarders by no means but we did have…stuff! Lots of it!
3 Step Purge System for Over Thinkers
Here is my system for purging which I affectionately call the 3 Step Purge System for Over Thinkers. It is a multi-step process which probably goes against what the experts would say, but it worked for me. Let’s start with clothes. I worked in the professional world and had a walk in closet full of professional clothes, which will no longer be required in my retirement life.
Step 1: I ask myself: Do I love it? Yes or no? If NO-Box up to donate. If YES- Then it was hung up to keep. Of course, there is not much room in an RV so I knew that there would be a second purging.
Step 2: After a day or two, I returned to my YES clothes and I repeated the process. Do I love it? I found that I was able to let go of a little more this second round. It became easier.
Step 3: This was the final round. Do I love it? Yes or no? To my surprise I was able to let go of a few more. I did add favorites to a box for my family. Even though I counted this my final round, as I packed to take my clothes out to Ruff Road, I purged even more.
Bottom line: My clothes fit into the space I planned for them. I still have variety in my wardrobe. My purging system worked for me. Some may be able to do this in one round or even two. This worked for me. For the overthinkers of the world, the three step purge system is recommended.
Sorting to Start
Our home had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, dining room, living room, and two porches. Our brother in law was staying with us when this grand purge began so that was one room that he took care of, thankfully. How do you take all of the items, the books, the paintings, the décor, the STUFF and make a plan?
My plan started with sorting. I began to gather all like items in the living room. All of the children’s books go here. All of the photography equipment goes there. All of the fishing décor goes over there. Everything in the house was sorted, which began emptying out rooms. Of course, during this sorting process I was also following my PURGING process. We began posting items that we could sell on Facebook Marketplace. One half of our living room became our selling warehouse. That worked out well and one by one many items were sold. The rest was boxed for a giant yard sale. Anything we wanted to keep with us was considered carefully, space is a premium in an RV. Keepers were boxed up to be taken to Ruff Road.
Oh and the photos! Scanning for four days straight!
So one of the bedrooms had become a scanning station for photos. We took down all picture frames and removed the pictures as part of our sorting process. All boxes of photos and photo albums were sent to this room and there is ALOT! I fancy myself an amateur photographer so just add that to the many family pics. I stood in that room for four days, morning to late at night, scanning and there are still boxes and tubs left to do. I finally had to just stop so I could get the sorting and purging done.
When downsizing, scanning your photos and digitizing your home movies are the two most time consuming things you will do. There is no fast way to do this unless you pay to have it done. That wasn’t an option for me. Later on, after the move, I ordered an Elgato to digitize the home movies we had on hand. I am sentimental and I love seeing my parents and brother again in the movies. It’s always fun to see the kids when they were little. If any of you have suggestions on how to get all of this done quicker, please comment and share!
How I stayed sane during this time? I kept a running TO DO LIST.
Each day I had a TO DO list to keep us on track. We’d follow the list, adjusting as needed. I used a regular spiral notebook to keep my list in. I’d designate if it was Gary or me, cross off completed items and carry over what didn’t get done. We had a general timeline of what we wanted done by when so that’s how we prioritized the list. This was essential to us being ready to leave our house July 22nd. Anyone downsizing or planning a move, it is amazing what you can get done when you plan it out on paper and look at it every day.
How did we do? Did we meet our deadline of July 22nd?
Why yes, we did- well the majority! We spent our first full time night in Ruff Road, with pups, the night of July 22nd. We handed our house over to our daughter that night and haven’t looked back. We had sorted, boxed, donated and purged. We only had a few items left in the office, and closet shelves that I weeded out the following weeks. We had moved all of the things we were keeping into Ruff Road. This took several hauls and I organized and put it away each trip to make room for the next haul. Honestly, I am amazed at what we put in here and I was able to put it away neatly.
Ah, so now we could sit back, sip our coffee and relax in the comfort of our new home. We still had some selling to do and sheds to work on, but the biggest job was done.
Downsizing Reflections…
Downsizing is what it’s cracked up to be. It is freeing to rid yourself of “stuff”. This realization began as I had to go in and clean out my mom’s house after she passed. She, like many who grew up during the depression years, kept everything. She lived with me her last few years but didn’t want us to do anything with her “stuff”. I discovered that all of that “stuff” had deteriorated, molded, it was of no value to anyone. And then, I felt the overwhelming burden of all of this stuff. It opened my eyes that at the end of the day, our stuff will not stay new, will get eaten and chewed on by bugs, will fade, will deteriorate. It weighs us down. You feel lighter inside with each letting go. Have any of you gone through a downsizing process? What system worked for you? Comment and share. 🙂