Downsizing: the last spring cleaning

June 14, 2006

By TINA HITTENBERGER

Spring cleaning is a job few people en-joy. But getting rid of things you no longer need or want can be liberating. It doesn't have to be overwhelming and you don't have to do it all at once -- or alone. Here's how to tackle the job with a minimum of fuss and emotional strain.

Get ready

Walk through each room in your house with paper and pen.

List what you want to take. List and what (and to whom) you want to give things away.

Take stock of supplies (cleaning, packing, storing). Store them together.

Schedule a time for your favorite charity organization to pick up items you want to give away. Even if you don't think you have items to give away, schedule it.

Get set

Start thinking empty. If the concept is good enough for enlightened Zen philosophers it can work wonders on Western minds.

Empty the top shelves (If things are on the top shelves, you haven't been using them).

Empty all the bottom shelves.

Empty cabinets and storage cupboards (games, gifts and gift wrap, linens, old medicine, old camera or sports equipment). Be tough. Be brave.

It goes

Begin to give away books. The library and schools will take books.

Practice decluttering for 10 minutes every day -- pick a time and set the timer.

Be ruthless with things like gift boxes, grocery sacks, old magazines and catalogues and craft materials you've saved but haven't used.

Set aside a specific time to work on your project.

Try decluttering one day and having the charity pick up on the next day.

The brown bag technique

Brown bags are cheap, sturdy and you can carry them when they are full.

When working on papers or photo albums sit with three grocery bags at your feet.

The first one is "throw away."

The second one is "save".

The third is "maybe."

The next day, put the "throw away" by the back door.

Remember, do not look into it again or let anyone else look at it. It goes.

Then look over the "maybe" bag, put half of that stuff into a "throw-away bag" and put it by the back door.

Put the precious bag of "save" stuff on the floor of that closet whose bottom shelf you have already cleared.

The box technique

Get a dozen of those moving or storage boxes that come folded flat.

As you begin to fill them with the "save" stuff, put a name on it (preferably one of your children or one of your friends).

The next time your friend or child stops by put the box by the front door for them to take with them.

Hurray! It's gone and you have made someone feel like its Christmas.

You might even add some rolled up gift wrap into their box!

Keys to success

It does not matter if you use a bag or a box. When they are full, get them out of the house!

Don't be distracted. If you find a magazine you've been looking for under a bed, don't stop and read it.

Team up. Recruit your family or find another person in the same boat. Get together and roll up your shirtsleeves. You'll find you'll keep focused and your energy will last longer.

A word about giving things away

Unlike victims of tsunamis, fires and floods, people who have the opportunity to give something can experience joy rather than loss.

As you face downsizing, this is a good time to communicate openly with your children and relatives about letting them have the things you cannot take. What a wonderful feeling to know that your large table which belonged to your grandmother will be used by another generation.

You can consider hiring a professional organizer. Sometimes it's easier for an outsider to sift through personal items rather than children.

Local organizations such as Petaluma People Services, Hospice of Petaluma, the Veterans Administration and United Cerebral Palsy of the Bay Area have the capacity to collect and pass on your possessions to their "new" home.

Call each agency directly for instructions on how you can donate your contribution. Their clients will be grateful and you will have space, freedom and a tax deduction. What a good deal.

(Tina Hittenberger is a board member of the Petalu-ma People Services Center and a seniors real estate specialist with Coldwell Banker.)