Downsizing... giving it away

HALLIE EPHRON: My husband was a collector. He couldn't throw away a pencil that had a few inches of lead left in it, and teabags had to be used at least twice. Stamps... uncancelled? I found caches of them that he'd soaked off envelopes stashed in mugs throughout the house.

Of course there were thousands of books picked up cheaply at yard sales and library book sales and even off the street.

Since he died, I've been slowly and lovingly working through his collections. Exhaling as I downsize.

Books first: I found an antiquarian bookseller (Ken Gloss who's on Antique's Roadshow!) who was interested in taking the books. AND carting them away. WITHOUT ME paying HIM. Win, win!

Here's *ONE OF MY* before and after bookcases.

BEFORE

AFTER (saved photo albums and bird books... the below cabinets are empty, too!)

For the rest, in the time of Covid, yard sales have pretty much dried up. My neighbors have taken to posting photos in a local Facebook group of whatever they're getting rid of, piling it on their front steps, and labeling it: FREE.

Jerry would have loved it... not for giving his treasures away, of course, but stopping every few blocks to see what he NEEDED that was being tossed. He would not have been onboard with my giving away 6 bookcases but I was thrilled to see them depart the premises.

Now I’m an old hand at giving things away on Facebook. In my travels, this posting cracked me up.

So in these unusual times, are you acquiring or downsizing? I do hope you're not dumping your giveaways on your neighbor's steps...  And how's it working out for you?

RHYS BOWEN: I would love to downsize and get rid of clutter but John is like Jerry, he clings onto STUFF! in the belief that it might come in useful done day.

A few years ago daughter Anne came to help purge the garage. It looked wonderful but now is back to nightmare.

I’ve done my own purging and got rid of so many books and clothes but John has 5 pairs of white tennis shoes he doesn’t wear but won’t toss! Uggghhh

This is why I enjoy our house in Arizona. We started from scratch. All new furniture and no clutter. The garage is pristine. Two cars. That’s it. I sent a picture to my son in law who replied,”Who are you and what have you done with my in-laws?”

HALLIE: I'm tempted to send you a picture of my garage but it's too horrifying. It's on my to-do list.

JENN McKINLAY: Declutter is my middle name! Okay, technically it’s Dee but so much more accurate if you add “clutter”, as in Deeclutter. LOL.

My parents were keepers, which is why I think I’m a pitcher. I remember their mail taking up our whole counter and spending an afternoon sorting it for them because it drove me batty.

My home aesthetic is “let’s make it look as if no one lives here”. My favorite hobby is loading up my truck and dropping off gently used things to the local thrift shop.

The problem - Hub is a collector. His weakness – books and guitars. Hard to argue with either of those.

Save me!!!

LUCY BURDETTE: I would say I fall in the middle, a little closer to hoarding than decluttering perhaps. If I was being honest!

When we arrive in Connecticut, I’m often on a tear. And this year we did take several boxes of books to the Scranton library friends donation box. I also tore through my closet and loaded up a huge bag of clothes that I felt certain I wouldn’t wear again.

That encouraged John to rip through his belongings too. But we still have too much stuff.

Probably as it gets closer to time to head south, I will go through the same drill. The problem is, if you have one experience in which you threw something out and you needed it later, that discourages you from clearing things out. For example, if I had gotten rid of this heavy bright sequined top, what in the world would I wear to the Motown party we are going to in July??

JULIA: Lucy, if you can replace something for $25, out it goes. Pretty sure you can get something Motown from Goodwill for a fiver.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Let's put it this way. If you find something, and you didn't even know it was there, how are you going to miss it? Old games with missing pieces, instructions to appliances you don't have any more. Do I need a breadmaker? Gone gone gone. It is so much fun. And there are things we have that don't seem like things, but they take up space. For instance, we just recycled one million brown paper bags. I kept 20. How many can anyone possibly need?

I think it was Hallie's wonderful pal (and now, mine, too) organizer Kathy Vines who showed me the way. She held up a brown handbag, one of maybe five brown handbags.Would you ever use this, she asked? Maybe, I said. Sure.  She then asked: Would it be your first choice? Hmm, I thought. Nope, not my first choice. She held it up again, and said--if you donated it, it would be someone's first choice. It would be a gift to them. 

I stopped in my tracks.TAKE ALL OF THEM, I said. I'd love to make people happy.  

I just gave a box of costume jewelry to a shelter, and they were thrilled. And I donated a lot clothes. And listen to this. A shelter volunteer called me to say one of her clients had a job interview, wearing clothes I donated, and got the job, and now says she's sure it was the suit.

Talk about donation incentive!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, I love that. "It would be someone's first choice." That helped me get rid of SO many of Ross's books - I'm never going to read the 600 page history of one ship of the line in the Napleonic wars - but somewhere out there is a man who will be THRILLED with this book. 

Right now, I'm - not downsizing, but repacking Youngest's stuff to make more space in "her" room - and I'm about to start the shoveling-out-the-remains part of the program for the Maine Millennial's room, now she's taken what she wants. Let's face it, when it's your stuff, it's potentially valuable treasure. When it's someone else's, it's junk.

Soon to be a guest/sewing room!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I did a huge clearing out of books in the spring. The shelves in my office are still full, but at least books aren't quadruple stacked now! I tackled clothes, too, but I still only wear a fraction of the stuff that's left. (Of course, barely leaving the house for two and a half years has something to do with that...)

I do like getting rid of stuff--a good thing, since Rick is a "saver." Most of his treasures are electronics and tools, and I have to admit that they do sometimes come in very handy. I needed an o-ring and some silicone grease yesterday for a fountain pen project. Did he have the exact thing? You bet. 

HANK: And lately I've also been thinking: if I die, someone is going to look at all this stuff and say--whoa. She was such a pack rat. That is so distressing, it makes me toss SO much stuff.  

Lucy, as for needing it later. Hmm. I wonder how much that REALLY happens? What do you all think?

HALLIE: An excellent question! And doesn't it seem that the minute you throw something away is just before you're going to need it?

How are things going in your household? Are you giving it away, selling it to the highest bidder, or hanging onto your lifetime's accumulation while someone else tries to loosen your grip?