At the end of 2014 and while it's truly been one of the best decisions we ever made, here we are well into 2018 and we are still trying to make room for shit.

We went from a 2500 square foot two story home with an additional 800 square feet of finished basement with TONS of storage, a two car garage, big deck and outdoor living space, pool and a shed to our little 1600 square foot bungalow.....single car garage, no shed, teeny tiny deck, 400 square foot of finished basement with (thankfully) a huge unfinished space. Of course we got rid of a TON of stuff before we moved, Kijiji. Varage Sale, Facebook Groups and yard sales were the most effective tools we used. And the guys at the local dump became my friends, some days high-fiving me when I showed up with another load of garage or recycling, I still think about them from time to time :)

Ok, so finally you think you are ready, you've gotten rid of everything you won't need, the movers come and load the truck and you get to your new house. The unloading begins and within the first hour you're like OMG OMG OMG where are we gonna put all this stuff? It was one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life!!! BUT not much deters me so we rolled up our sleeves, made a plan and in the course of two days I sold more furniture pieces, we unpacked boxes and filled the storage room with others. We got our little bungalow set up and started making it our forever home., it was DIY central here for 2 years straight! And everyday I went through a few more bins and three and a half years later i'm still finding stuff to get rid of! Anyone who knows me, knows I can sell anything online, like any single thing!!!! It's how I bought (and still buy) new stuff for the house, I only spend money that i've made selling stuff we no longer need or use. It's my thrifting game!

In 2015 we (hubby) built a shed, had a stamped concrete patio poured (that is going to be a feature here later this month) and my husbands biggest challenge has been the single car garage. Not for parking, for his tools and other crap that guys have to have in their garage, you know what I mean! He's been slowly setting himself up with a little workroom in the unfinished part of the basement with a work bench and some shelves and storage, his goal is to have it totally organized before we start our weekends up north next month. We'll see how that goes!

Last year we helped my mother-in-law downsize from a three level townhouse to a small condo. It was the best thing she ever did as she was waiting for a hip replacement. But the process was, I believe, harder for her then it was for us. My dear sweet father-n-law passed away in 2010 so that townhouse was filled with so many memories for her. Her wee dog Maggie also crossed the rainbow bridge a few years after so that house was filled with those memories too. She loved her neighbourhood and her neighbours and got to know them all well over the years because she never missed walking her dog three times a day. But the upkeep of this house was too much for her, the yard work, the snow removal in the winter, all the stairs inside became a challenge. She had a very hard time parting with things as well, a harder time then we had I think because her memories were much more precious of a love that was lost.

Thank god I am never one to give up and we eventually got there! We sold and donated around 60% of her things before she moved and went through the EXACT same thing on moving day that we did, wondering where the hell we were gonna put everything the movers kept unloading!! We got rid of probably another 1/3 of her things after that and could probably still get rid of a few odds and ends but she'll do it, in good time, enjoying the memories along the way.

I guess the morale of the story is downsizing is HARD, even though you know it's the right thing to, it's hard to leave the house you raised your kids in and made so many great memories in. It's hard to part with special pieces of furniture and knick knacks that were given to you by special friends and family members. But at the end of the day you need to remind yourself it is all just STUFF, the house is just a house, it was made a HOME by you and your family and the things you did there and the memories you made, all things you can take with you wherever you go.

I feel like we could open a business now 'SAVAGE IS THE NAME, DOWNSIZING IS OUR GAME"!! Although I think hubbys words this time last year were something like "I am never effing moving us or anyone else again"....but then every now and then I show him a little fixer upper for sale on MLS and say "should we?" and he just smiles :)

Michele xo

PS....

Need tips or tricks for getting organized after a move or need help organizing for a move? Hit me up, i'm your girl!