From The Washington Post, November 14, 2019: A family is downsizing after living in their
home for 45 years. They decided to throw
a party and encourage their guests to take an item or ten from their home. Is this the beginning of a downsizing party phenomena?
From the pictures in the article, it looked like the couple
had many keepsakes, souvenirs from years of travel, and political memorabilia. Included in the giveaway were plant cuttings
and books. It also appeared they had
lots of friends who had children and grandchildren who needed things.
The
author likened the party to the Swedish practice of “death cleaning” which I
have written about.
Reminds me of the clothing swap that was the rage years ago
where a group of women would bring clothes they no longer wanted to a
designated location and swap with their friends. A clothing party! Nowadays, there are
websites where you can sell your clothes or buy used clothes.
Since I am in smaller quarters, I have to carefully decide
if I have space when I am considering a purchase- clothing, shoes, canned goods,
health and beauty items, and even refrigerated items.
Think about this when making a purchase. Is it a need or a want? No easy answers.
Let me know your thoughts.
I love this idea, and a variation comes to mind: An estate or garage sale with no price tags. Or, mine your contacts for a way to get that unused stuff into the hands of people who are just setting up housekeeping, like homeless folks just moving into housing, students, abused women being rehoused, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we have not yet downsized, I have been determined for ages not to let volume increase. I hit "no net gain" on book purchases at least forty years ago. So, if I buy something new that's not a replacement for something broken or worn out, I have to consider what I'm going to donate to the Salvation Army, the library resale shop, or whatever.