By Shari Snyder, Hill Country Tiny Houses

SO you want to downsize?  

Maybe you want to “go tiny” or maybe you just want to clear some space in your head and enjoy a simple life with less stress.  I like to say, “Downsizing is the art of reducing clutter in your environment to enhance your performance mentally, emotionally and physically.”

The most important thing is to get a clear handle on WHY you’re doing this.  Focusing on the joys and benefits will keep you true to the end of the task.  Will the tradeoff be worth it?  Will the peace of mind you gain be worth saying goodbye to some old memories and possibly some things that feel like “friends” to you like old books?  This is an emotional game and to win, you must be ready to take this leap. Take time to overcome your fears to get where you want to be.  

Shrink your “todo” list, NOT your free time! 

One of our clients relates the story about the day she decided to “go tiny” after her husband had been on board for a while.  One Saturday morning, at breakfast, they went over the ‘to do’ list for the day.  So much was related to the 3,000 square foot house they lived in with their 2 small boys.  The wife said, “All I want to do is take the boys to the zoo today.”  to which her husband replied, “If we lived in a tiny house, that would be the only thing on this ‘to do’ list today.”  Will the joy of more time doing what you love and with whom you love be your motivation?

Reduce your stuff to reduce your stress

Another client we interviewed on WHY they want to go tiny replied, “So we won’t keep collecting more stuff”.  They recognized that stuff was not making their life better or their family stronger and their solution was to downsize from a 4 bedroom 3 bath house to a 394 sq ft tiny house.  Will the joy of less stress motivate you to get rid of your stuff?

Does this bring me Joy?

The best advice I got when I decided to go tiny was:  “Don’t ask yourself: ‘Can I live without this?’  Instead, Ask:  ’Do I need this to live?’”  

In each room of my 2200 sq ft house, if I did not need the item to live, my next question was: “Does this item bring bring me joy?”  If yes, then I put it in a separate area for the next few weeks.  I worked on one room at a time.  After I packed up the rest of that room, I took it to the salvation army (I’m opposed to Goodwill where only 10% of my donations help the needy).  I reserved only the most valuable items to sell.  When I left the salvation army, I felt loads lighter and the reward motivated me to want to do it again and again.  I became addicted to downsizing.  I repeated this process in each room twice in about 6 months.  I ended up with 5 boxes/separated spaces:

1.  Storage

2.  Give away 

3.  Sell

4.  “Brings me joy” 

5.  Tiny house (These items usually stayed right in that room til I moved) 

I also liked the idea of my “give away” boxes staying in the garage for 2-3 months just in case I found I missed that item in my every day routines. In the end, I sorted through the boxes one last time before I made a final decision to keep or give away including my “brings me joy” box.

It’s also important to set up boundaries to protect yourself from ending up at this same place 12 months from now. If you’re not downsizing your home, how will you ensure you keep the clutter out?

1. Must change your buying habits. To do this, you have to change your mindset.

2. Ask yourself before a purchase, “How will this

own your stuff or your stuff owns you

less stress

more space in your head