Where did all this stuff come from? We’ve got things in our kitchen cabinets (useful and otherwise!) that we forgot we ever had!
Unloading cabinets and drawers until the wee hours of the morning, literally everything from our kitchen is stacked temporarily in our (now full) dining room. The rest of the stuff is now beginning to spill out into the corridor and into the game room.
What an ordeal any remodel/renovation is …
I’m dumbfounded by the amount of “stuff” we’ve acquited over a relatively short period of time. I forgot about the mini-Cuisinart chopper, the extra sets of bar-b-que tongs, and those 12 exquisite crystal candle holders. We have a whole set of steak knives that would have come in handy on many an occasion (if we’d know they were there!). The bizarre collection of bottle tops, and lids for containers (where are the containers they go with?) and why were we saving them? … Nut-crackers, six colanders, pots and pans we never use, dishes we would (if they were within eyesight or reach) …. two blenders, a smoothie maker, a pasta machine, cast iron skillets. Those are some of the things that we’ll have to think about – where to put them if we decide to keep them.
Our recycle bins are full (dozens of cups from Cirque du Soleil), glasswear that’s miss-matched, chipped ceramics, mugs I detest. The boxes ready for donation pick-ups are full. And the piles of stuff to eventually go back in our new kitchen is overwhelmingly. We’re ‘trying’ to weed out … scale down … It’s only a matter of time … we will be empty nesters, looking to downsize. I’m not sure why we thought we “needed” such a big house, or how we acquired so much stuff …
We are definitely “grappling” with downsizing. But the thought of moving, packing and “change” itself is daunting! It’s easy to walk other people through the process of moving on… It’s another entirely when it’s our stuff to sort through, our life in topsy-turvey… our home (‘house’ sounds less personal, doesn’t it? ) to be downsizing from … as we ponder going ‘smaller’ and more ‘practical’.
Puts a whole new spin on selling real estate… getting rid of stuff we have (and forgot we had!)… thinking ahead toward downsizing… and moving on… as empty nesters. It gives me a fresh perspective – which is the ‘stuff’ I need to hold on to. – and the adventure begins!
It puts life in perspective … packing, boxing, scouring and scrubbing, feeling displaced and uprooted … and not being able to find a coffee cup or a spoon!
Realtors wonder why nerves are frazzled as their ‘peeps’ buy and sell … I can tell you… It doesn’t take very much to see why. Just packing and moving a single room reminds me CLEARLY of what an ordeal moving really is. Worth it in the end …
