Blog #slow downsizing

To honor family members, I create memory collages using images that capture aspects of their lives. This process allows me to let go of some of the actual items that inspired my art.

Are you someone who saves the programs from various plays, concerts, and exhibits you attend? With live events on hold, I decided to tackle my own large collection.

Do you have remnants of old, unfinished projects that it feels like a crime to throw away? Here's my list and my ensuing downsizing trial for each project.

Letters and other correspondence from friends and family are one of the hardest sets of items to part with when downsizing but a good task to tackle when you have time on your hands, as during this pandemic lock-down.

Take a kinder, gentler approach to downsizing during this time of crisis. This post offers some simple suggestions that will still allow you to see progress.

Do you clip newspaper and magazine articles and recipes? Do you ever refer to these items? I share examples from my own clipping habit and how I'm training myself to think in a new way.

Paper items I've saved are my biggest downsizing challenge: information records, reference materials, and the hardest of all, souvenirs--from childhood on. I assess each area's current status, my emotional attachment, and proposed actions.

It's the story behind each object that provides its worth. I write about preserving these stories in "My Life in...(name type of object)."

Each year of my slow downsizing journey I look back to see what I learned that I can share with others.

In my annual or semi-annual wardrobe purge, I have some criteria to make quick decisions about what to keep and what to consign or donate. But it's not always easy.

Figuring out what to do with my mother's collection of girdles is a stumper for this slow downsizer.

I follow Marie Kondo's advice and imagine what I would keep that sparks joy.