döstädning

A few posts ago, I talked about finally downloading this book after reading an article about it last year.  It was a short book (71 pages and I can't believe what I paid for only 71 pages) but I'm not feeling that bad because, well.....it's a book.

These are the kinds of books that I pick up and put down regardless of how compelling they may be.  I like reading these in small doses and then apply what I learned to something.  I usually have two or three books in various stages of reading at one time anyway.

All that said, I really enjoyed reading this.  The author is witty and charming in her teaching and even though the title might be off putting, this is a great book for anyone over the age of 50 to read.

Even if you aren't over 50, there are lessons to be learned with what you accumulate over the years.

First thing, she advises is not to go through photographs and paper first.  Our photos are pretty much organized due to the fact that I scrapbook, and I already have two archival boxes that hold things like newspapers, magazines or ephemera of historical significance so her last step in döstädning, I'm already done with.  These boxes are labeled and organized neatly in a spare closet.

Here's my takeaways on the things that pertained to us:

• Clothing - Probably the easiest thing to tackle so the author suggests starting there.

I purged a great deal of professional clothes after I retired early from my government job, but I could still stand to part with some more things.  That goes for my husband too, especially now that his work attire is t-shirts and jeans.  We'll work on this step within the next month when we start to switch out some of our clothing from our master bedroom closet.  I've been donating our things to a couple places locally that provide clothing to disadvantaged men and women for job interviews.

Funny story in the book...the author received some help from another senior in her community in organizing the disorder of her computer files.  She said he looked at the screen and said: "This is like putting your toilet in the kitchen" 😀

• Do your döstädning while you can

The author makes a great point when she says "Aging is certainly not for weaklings.  That is why you should not wait too long to start your downsizing.  Sooner or later you will have your own infirmities, and then it is damn nice to be able to enjoy the things you can still mange to do without the burden of too many things to look after and too many messes to organize."

• Books - this one is tough for me.

The next time I tackle our books I'm going to take the author's advise and only keep books that I still haven't read or books that I keep returning to.   I shouldn't feel bad when I do purge our books because I donate them all to Planned Parenthood for them to sell at their twice yearly book sale that is a huge fund raiser for them and an event where I volunteer.

• Things, Things, and more Things - how I love my things

For me, what makes a home are things.  Things are pictures, framed photographs, mementos and any décor that makes you happy or tells a story.  I'm still working on reducing our things but as my style changes so do our things, except for the items that have special meaning.

I have actually made an appointment at a local home furniture and décor consignment store in early May and have already started getting things together to take.  I'm pretty jazzed that I'm getting rid of some things that have been hiding out in the basement and a couple closets and may even make some cash consigning them.

• Collections

Over our many years of marriage, we have collected things, both separately and together, but must say that we don't seem to have a problem getting rid of our collections when we tire of them.  At one time, we collected the cutest bubble fairies but sold them years later, my husband was into rocketry for a while but once he lost interest in the hobby, he sold what he had.  Other than a couple of Christmas collections and craft supplies, the only thing we collect currently is Rae Dunn pottery, it's cheap, we both like it and I can see us hanging on to it for a while.  As long as you are still enjoying whatever it is you collect, then now is not the time to get rid of it.

• In the Garden

This is where I need to concentrate this year.  My gardening area of our garage is out of hand and I need to make a serious purge.

• The Garage

If you are like us and live in a winter climate like we do, you'll know what a mess the garage can get over winter, so every spring we have to schedule a "garage clean up" day that usually takes us at least 4-6 hours.  This year my husband is being "encouraged" to take a hard look at what we have been hanging on to in his area of the garage while I'm going the same with my gardening supplies.

So, I'm hoping in the time between now while living in this home and when we finally make the decision to downsize our home, we'll "death clean" to where the next move will be easy and we won't be leaving a bunch of stuff that our son will need to deal with after we're gone.