Downdowndown-sizing

let the packing commence!

OK, there are some folks out there that have down-sized much more than we have. That being said, I still think that we can be considered in the running for some sort of award (as long as it does not take up any space) for doing our part to lesson our "foot prints" on this planet (and hopefully some of our debt as well)!
Last September (2013), after we had recieved a "nudge" (actually, it was more of a gentle boot) to vacate our Lake Oswego rental, we decided that it was as good as time as any to simplify our lives and our monthly bills. We had one month to find a new rental, one that accepts pets as well, and sift through our five year accumulation of stuff . Hoo-rah for Craigslist!!
We found a 408 sq ft studio in the way cool NW Portland. Some serious sorting of our, what we thought we had to live with, stuff commenced. We were aware that we would be squeezing two adults one dog and one cat into the studio, as well as host an occasional grand-munchkin slumber-jam. Our Lake Oswego rental had a bedroom, a bathroom, a laundry room (with my brand new washer/dryer front loading machines) a faerie room, a meditation room, an office, a living room, a breakfast nook, a plant sunroom entry way, a reading nook inbetween the meditation and faerie room a full size basement where we kept a drum set and our art easels...1300+ sq feet. AND we were there for almost five years. You get the picture...LOTS of stuff to consolidate and fit in a one closet 408 sq ft studio.

tip of the mountain of STUFF!

books

It was a bit difficult to begin with. Actually, it was tougher than "a bit". Choosing one spatula to keep, not three. One mixing bowl. Six dinner plates, not twelve, you get the picture. And our books!!! We LOVE our books! How does one decide which to keep and which have to go? Zoey the kat had to give up two of her favorite perches and get used to the fact that there was "no place to hide" in our new digs.
http://youtu.be/fhcflDSUMvc
Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
Well we DID get quite a bit of our "dood-le-doos sorted. Some of them got sold, some donated, some given away to happy friends who of course always said..."if you ever want it back..." And now eight months after THE MOVE we are going through even more totes!! These last few are going to a pain in the hiney. LOTS of loose photos, picture albums and even more CD's than photos! I plan on picking out just my favorite songs from all of those CD's and copying them to my iTunes, if I didn't keep going down memory lane whilst doing these tasks I would get them done straight away!
And on that note I will sign off and contemplate how badly I want to reclaim some of our space back and get busy.

BEFORE...

bed (with CTP's toys) is in middle of studio

AFTER....

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