True to our word, we are digging in and making a terrible mess, sorting our stuff and getting rid of boxes and boxes of it. It is truly embarrassing that we have this much of everything — enough that we can “toss out” much more than many people ever have. To be fair, we have accumulated this over many years — 35 years of marriage and many more before that.
Here we go!
Last Thursday night, our dear friend and “son,” Haji Ussi, called to say that his mosque in Worcester, MA, was collecting clothes and shoes to send to Tanzania for the many, many refugees who are pouring into his country from places like Syria and Uganda, and “everywhere” as Haji said on the phone. The truck will be leaving Worcester on Sunday, he told us. He could drive up on Friday (the next day) after work and take some boxes back on Saturday morning, if we wanted to send some of the clothes we are sorting out.
We were delighted! A visit from Haji and a good reason to ramp up our sorting and downsizing. We could go to town, I thought. And we did. I filled three boxes of clothes and shoes. Paul was able to fill four boxes of clothes and shoes. Imagine! So many clothes sitting in our closets and drawers.
Haji came Friday evening. We had dinner and a lovely visit, and Saturday morning we were seven boxes of wearables lighter in our house! That’s a good start, we said to each other.
So, Saturday evening, Paul and I began sorting books. Paul had gotten a good head start the weekend before, but he has so many more books to go through, it will take him longer. I had already downsized most of my teaching books when I retired from Thetford Academy, and he had never sorted through his.
Today, Sunday the 9th of April (just to document it!), we are going through one book shelf at a time. We plan to move the books out this next week to Left Bank Books, the 5-College Book Sale and local libraries’ book sales.
Once these 10 boxes and some miscellaneous art prints are gone, we’ll have room to sort even more!
One of my friends said that our plan to take a year to go through all our stuff and truly downsize was much more time than we would ever need. Oh, no, I thought; it will take at least that much time — and maybe more!
It really is embarrassing. . . .
One response to “Downsizing #2”
You guys are doing great! I’ve given myself 5 years to get rid of stuff so we can downsize, and now I’m down to 4 more years, and I sometimes wonder if that is enough time! Good luck to you!