On downsizing, and my Achilles heel

 

Living room

 

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that we downsized a good bit when we bought our new house- quite a bit, actually.  While we certainly weren’t moving from a mansion, we did lose about 1000 square feet when we bought this house- about 1/3 of what we had.

So you’d think that I’d really run with the whole downsizing thing with this blog, right?  Maybe have “downsizing, design, DIY” as my tagline.  That has a nice catchy ring to it!

Well, the reason I haven’t is because of my Achilles heel, my nemesis, what gets me every.single.time.

Organization.

Mudroom

It’s just not my strong point.  (Really wanted to say “It’s just not my bag, man!” but W would die of maternal internet induced embarrassment.  Even though he wouldn’t read this blog with a 10 foot pole, lest he die of maternal internet induced embarrassment).

Are home bloggers allowed to say that out loud? The lack of organization thing, not the Austin Powers reference.

While other bloggers in my niche are giving away free printables on home organization (now, I can hear my readers stampeding away to another blog for free printables) 😉 I don’t even have a printer cartridge that isn’t dried up.

So I’d really feel like a fraud if I was advising people on how to manage a good downsizing adventure if I hadn’t even really managed mine that well yet because I hadn’t even gotten fully organized.

I thought we were organized, I really did.  I was congratulating myself on how much stuff we got rid of, telling everyone (bragging really) that even though we had downsized so much that we had a place for everything.  Ha! You know what happened?  Christmas and birthdays and other events that I didn’t have a plan for.

Then, organization paralysis set in, and I became overwhelmed with just the thought of trying to find a spot for everything in our much smaller home with only one closet to speak of- much less trying to organize everything.

And also, my natural tendency is to choose form over function.  Which doesn’t always work out well.  And I am living with 2 boys who really don’t care at all about organization, and I haven’t learned how to make it seamless  for them.

Kitchen

If you’re thinking about downsizing, it really has been overwhelming positive! Just, if you’re like me and not a naturally organized person, you need to have a good game plan for how to deal with your stuff going into it.

So, that’s why no “downsizing” as my tagline, because I’m still struggling #dramaqueen.  I’ll still post lots of stuff about downsizing, it will just be our real experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Authentic, you might even say 😉

P.S.  If you want some really good organizing printables (since you obviously won’t be getting them here ;-), Lauren at Bless’er House and Abby at Just a Girl and Her Blog have some great ones!)

Edit:  After almost 3 years of living here, I am getting better (not great, but better) at organization!  Browse by category (on your right on desktop, or below on mobile) to check out my organization posts.

Love this post?  Share the love, and Pin it below!