Learning how to emotionally let go as you downsize.

As we downsize in prep to live tiny, I will confess, I have a problem with wanting to hold onto WAY too many “things”. I have a tendency to create emotional attachments for several reasons, and I’m slowly (or not so slowly) working through my bonds on things and making the hard decisions.

Letting go of something that costs a lot of money.

Have you ever been here? I am with a few things: our bed, our two La-Z-Boy recliners, and our dinning room table. These items tug at my frugal heartstrings. I don’t want to let them go because I never want to spend that type of money on those items again.

We could store them, but that’s just more money being spent. These are not items that are going to increase in value. I know this, I understand this, and I realize logically that we should sell them. I still have a really hard time pulling the trigger.

I’ve decided that for me, I need to let them go all at the same time. I was going to sell them one at a time as we started downsizing (plus the $ that we got from them would be nice NOW), but being so attached to them, I think that seeing them all go at once will keep me focused on the goal of tiny living.

Letting go of things that someone I love gave me.

Maybe it’s a hand me down. Maybe it’s a small gift. Regardless, it is always something that someone said “this reminds me of X” or “X would love this!” and because of the thoughts & love behind it… I struggle to let it go.

My rule here? Find someone that would equally enjoy/love the thing. Make sure that if you do decide to let it go, it’s going to go somewhere worthwhile.

These are items I would never donate or sell. I can’t bring myself to it. Plus, by giving away I am able to keep my emotional bond for the item through someone else.

Letting go of things that someone I love gave my children.

Same rules apply here, except I have no problem gifting to someone who is gifting to someone else. I might not be able to see the item cared for and loved, but I was so thankful to be gifted several items for both of my children that knowing items are going to someone in need makes me happy.

I gain a different type of emotion, and I truly enjoy it.

Letting go of things from my childhood / teens.

This one is pretty dang easy – I take a lot of pictures (or scan items) and organize them in an online Dropbox account.

There are few things that I have opted to keep (yearbooks, a baby cradle made just for me, my high school ring, baby blankets, some artwork, a journal, etc), but those are few and far between. Everything else had a picture taken, and then was lovingly let go.

Being okay with keeping.

We are working hard to downsize, and maybe you are too. That said, be okay with keeping some things! You can and will find the room. It’s A-O-Kay if you want to have a storage unit. I’ll be honest, we have one. It’s small, but it’s just the right size for some of the overflow of things that are just a bit too big for the fifth wheel.

This allows me to keep books that I love, a few toys that are too large (not fifth wheel friendly) for Harrison to have NOW but when we go “big” again, they will still be age appropriate and he will be so excited to have them.

Every month or so I add a little to storage, and I get rid of a little in storage. It’s all about balance. <3