Happy Yule to all!
Hubs and I have begun the process of DOWNSIZING!
(that's a little exclamation mark but it is full of big excitement)
Today we went through the bookshelves, getting rid of dvd jewelcases, donating books, and recycling magazines. After so many years of moving year after year sometimes with only a suitcase and a smile, it is amazing to see how much stuff we have collected.
We got the apartment a little over 3 years ago after putting everything we owned into a Subaru Outback. The car was packed with guitars, books, clothes, the dog, pictures, bedding, canvases, art supplies, and many little trinkets that hold some sentimental meaning. Moving now, all that same stuff is proving to be the only stuff I'm willing to keep.
Our motto for the move: Is it worth the weight?
Is the item worth -
- cleaning it
- packing it
- moving it
- unpacking it
- finding a space for it in our tiny little home?
If something is not worth all those things, I have to ask if someone else would value it more, and if so - out it goes! I like imaging someone walking into a Goodwill and finding a book, necklace, or shirt of mine and getting a big smile, falling in love, and enjoying that item for the rest of that item's life.
There are only two snags in this plan - the bathroom and the closet.
Oh the bathroom - how I love an organized makeup drawer - how I love using every last drop of shampoo from a bottle - how I enjoy stocking up on vitamins, hair treatments, face masks, and eye gels! Unfortunatly for me, the result of all this is that the bathroom is full of almost used up bottles, jars and jars of fish oil and Vitamin D, conditioners, little jars, packets, and glass vials.
I keep starting to work on it. It keep trying, but I'm not really getting anywhere. I can't give this stuff to Goodwill, and it is still usable - those vitamins are still good! *sigh*
The closet is HARD. I have a system of sorting clothes for the season and then wearing that seasons clothes pretty regularly. I can't go into my closet and see something I haven't worn in the past year. If I find something I don't like, or it is too worn, or it doesn't suit me any more - then I can get rid of it, but none of the clothes in my closet fit those categories!
Still, I have more clothes than can fit in the tiny house. Something must be done - but I have no idea what it is. :-(
On a happy note - the one thing I don't have to downsize is my collection of glasses, and my first order from Zenni Optical came in today!! I ordered three pairs of prescription glasses from
Zennioptical.com for my birthday. I was so nervous and thought maybe online glasses shopping would never work - but I adore all three pairs, they fit great, and the prescription is spot-on!
I had thought to use
Warby Parker because I know some people who have used it and gotten those thick-framed hipster glasses and they seem pretty happy with them. Warby had a clean website, easy to use searching, and nice frames - but none of them suited my taste.
If you like hipster square frames check them out, but if you enjoy cat-eye glasses, angles, and a variety of frame types Zenni may be a better bet.
Zenni had a bit of a confusing website. I kept losing my search if I hit the back button, and it was annoying to keep typing the same search terms. Eventually I found several styles I liked - a red framed squared cat-eye, a turtleshell wavy thick-frame cat-eye, and the awesomest clear pink jelly frames.
Using the prescription sheet from my last opticians visit I was able to easily enter my information, customize the lenses, and even put a purple tint on the pink frames to make them into a set of prescription sunglasses.
All in all - it was a pretty painless process and I got three sets of glasses I completely adore for under $100 total. I'm hooked!
All three fit nicely into a converted shadowbox that hangs in the bathroom as a glasses display case!
In case you are wondering- there are 5 pairs of regular glasses there (not counting the ones on my face while I took the photo), a pair of black sunglasses with rhinestones, and the new pink jelly sunglasses. I have two other pairs of regular glasses and one other set of sunglasses.
That's 8 sets of regular glasses and 3 set of sunglasses.
Some people collect figurines of little cats, I change my glasses everyday.
Also - more pictures of the house!
No more front door! (This will be replaced with a window and siding)
The benefits of proper measuring. We measured on the floor all the built in kitchen cabinets and, in order to set the counter height exactly for the over-the-counter garden window, we built one of the smallest cabinets. Look at how close we got with the cabinet to where we had marked "edge of cabinet" - spot on!!
Hello electrician!
Just a record of the dust. There is sooo much dust and woodchips!
