Background
I have always lived in large spaces. When I was in college, my apartments ranged from 1 to 3 bedrooms depending on what time of my life you were looking at. When I moved from Houston to Columbus, I lived in a 1-bedroom apartment for part of it before renting a 3-bedroom house.
Fast forward to 2013 when my career brought me to Chicago. I moved into a spacious, 2-bedroom, 1600 square foot condo in Roscoe Village. It was a great space and I loved it, but the only downside was my commute to work every day. I had to take a bus to the train, then the train into downtown, and then walk from the train station for about 10 minutes to the hospital. When you added it all up, my commute was anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour (each way) depending on how public transportation was that day. Needless to say, it was time for a change.
The Junk
I decided on a studio apartment that was less than 5 minutes (walking distance) away from the hospital. It was a high-rise and the views from the apartment were spectacular. The one small catch: 543 square feet. In essence, I was cutting my living space by 67%. It didn't seem like a big deal until I started to evaluate my belongings and make decisions on what was staying and what had to go.
I started to feel overwhelmed by the task of deciding what to keep vs. throw away, so I had to come up with ground rules:
Lessons Learned
I was actually able to downsize quite a bit and get rid of the junk I had been holding onto for years. Before this, I would have never called myself a "hoarder," but this definitely opened my eyes to how much junk I was keeping. I did learn quite a few things along the way:
Setting up for the future
I realized that I needed a system for the future. I didn't end up with all of this junk overnight, but somehow I let it happen. So, in my new apartment I set up three "junk" boxes:
Every weekend I now spend about 30 minutes looking at any junk I have on my coffee table, in a corner of my bedroom, or in that storage closet (yes, I do have a storage closet in my new space). I apply the same rules above, and things go in the "throw away" box. If, for some strange reason, I think I will use something within a month, I put it in the "maybe" box. If I do end up using it within a month, it gets moved to the "keep" box. If I don't use it within a month, it moves to the "throw away" box. I've been doing this for about 3 weeks now, and in about 1 week I'm going to see how much junk I managed to put in these boxes.
Conclusion (and my apartment views!)
All in all, this was a lesson for me about my propensity to hoard junk. I can't hold onto this stuff and expect to live in the city... it's just too expensive to have that much space for everything. Plus, I definitely feel like I cleansed my soul and am starting with a clean slate. I did give myself leeway with the rules (sorry, not throwing away my vintage video games... too important), but in general I stuck to it. And I have a system to maintain it all. It does feel nice to come home to a minimalist apartment. Hopefully, there's something in here you can apply to your life to get rid of some "junk" in whatever form it exists.
Plus, look at these views from my window!
I have always lived in large spaces. When I was in college, my apartments ranged from 1 to 3 bedrooms depending on what time of my life you were looking at. When I moved from Houston to Columbus, I lived in a 1-bedroom apartment for part of it before renting a 3-bedroom house.
Fast forward to 2013 when my career brought me to Chicago. I moved into a spacious, 2-bedroom, 1600 square foot condo in Roscoe Village. It was a great space and I loved it, but the only downside was my commute to work every day. I had to take a bus to the train, then the train into downtown, and then walk from the train station for about 10 minutes to the hospital. When you added it all up, my commute was anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour (each way) depending on how public transportation was that day. Needless to say, it was time for a change.
The Junk
I decided on a studio apartment that was less than 5 minutes (walking distance) away from the hospital. It was a high-rise and the views from the apartment were spectacular. The one small catch: 543 square feet. In essence, I was cutting my living space by 67%. It didn't seem like a big deal until I started to evaluate my belongings and make decisions on what was staying and what had to go.
I started to feel overwhelmed by the task of deciding what to keep vs. throw away, so I had to come up with ground rules:
- Has this been used within the last year? If yes, then keep. If no, then...
- Is this something you can buy again? If yes, then throw away. If no, then...
- Does it have sentimental value? If no, then throw away. If yes, then...
- Can it be digitized? If yes, then digitize and throw away. If no, then keep.
Lessons Learned
I was actually able to downsize quite a bit and get rid of the junk I had been holding onto for years. Before this, I would have never called myself a "hoarder," but this definitely opened my eyes to how much junk I was keeping. I did learn quite a few things along the way:
- You can hire people to come into your house and haul away the junk. Do a google search for services in your area. They end up donating what they can to local charities, churches, etc and safely dispose of the rest
- Save receipts for anything you donate to charity and write them off on your taxes
- Digitize: I didn't need 90% of the receipts I was keeping. Or the photos. Scan what you need, then throw it away
- Your memories aren't physical objects. They are in your mind. I really didn't need to hold onto that Christmas card from 2005 from my aunt.
- Old magazines: I probably wasn't going to read them again. Either recycle, give to a doctor's office, or give to a library. If there's an article you really liked, see if it's online or clip it and keep a binder with your favorite clippings.
- Coins. I had this tupperware full of coins, and while I was depositing a check at my bank, I asked the teller if she had a coin sorter. She did, so I brought my coins back for her. There was $127 in there! WTH.
Setting up for the future
I realized that I needed a system for the future. I didn't end up with all of this junk overnight, but somehow I let it happen. So, in my new apartment I set up three "junk" boxes:
Every weekend I now spend about 30 minutes looking at any junk I have on my coffee table, in a corner of my bedroom, or in that storage closet (yes, I do have a storage closet in my new space). I apply the same rules above, and things go in the "throw away" box. If, for some strange reason, I think I will use something within a month, I put it in the "maybe" box. If I do end up using it within a month, it gets moved to the "keep" box. If I don't use it within a month, it moves to the "throw away" box. I've been doing this for about 3 weeks now, and in about 1 week I'm going to see how much junk I managed to put in these boxes.
Conclusion (and my apartment views!)
All in all, this was a lesson for me about my propensity to hoard junk. I can't hold onto this stuff and expect to live in the city... it's just too expensive to have that much space for everything. Plus, I definitely feel like I cleansed my soul and am starting with a clean slate. I did give myself leeway with the rules (sorry, not throwing away my vintage video games... too important), but in general I stuck to it. And I have a system to maintain it all. It does feel nice to come home to a minimalist apartment. Hopefully, there's something in here you can apply to your life to get rid of some "junk" in whatever form it exists.
Plus, look at these views from my window!
