Decluttering for Jaimes.

Let's get right into it.

If you want to move to another country, start downsizing and decluttering now. Like right now. If you haven't Marie Kondo-ed, then get that audiobook and experience the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, because...I should have. LOL. I mean, I listened to the book like 5 years before the move, but no one ever wanted to Konmari with me. (I honestly don't know if I'm using any of these terms correctly, but we move - literally.) Had I followed the Konmari method, I would have saved myself a lot of stress. If you're unfamiliar, the Konmari method is basically a simple and effective way to declutter your space. I wouldn't consider myself a hoarder by any means, but there are some things I have a hard time getting rid of and being under the pressure of the move made it even harder.

As I discuss in the video below (SURPRISE! 🥳), the key to effective downsizing is to start early and go little by little. I don't even mean room by room, because that's still too overwhelming. I mean, drawer by drawer, nightstand by nightstand.

I wanted to document what the decluttering process was like for me, because it wasn't easy, and I think it's very relatable. Some people may be lucky enough to be able to store some items at the "family home base", but since MY house was the "family home base", we didn't have that luxury, and we knew we didn't want to pay for storage space...because...why? If it's in storage, we won't be using it, so do we really need it? You know what I mean?

Soooo, in our case, we had to go item by item. A box of mementos? Go through it to make sure items in there are still special to you. Your pen collection? Do you REALLY need all of them? Unfortunately, we did eventually have to get a storage space, but only because there was a gap between when we sold our house and when we could ship our stuff (more on that in future blogs). The goal is/was to ship as little as possible because transatlantic shipping is EXPENSIVE, and nothing hurts more than paying for a bunch of stuff you don't need...which we still ended up doing.

Anywho, sit back and enjoy this glimpse into my decluttering struggle. Shout out to my amazing daughter Annecy for helping me edit this video because at some point technology has started moving faster than I can. [Fun Fact: part of the reason for my blogging absence was that I was avoiding editing and posting this video. I'm usually a keep-to-the-shadows, work-in-the-background kind of person, and being so public is very much out of character for me, and a little overwhelming. However, I just KNOW sharing our experience will be helpful to someone. Each one teach one. 💜]

Catch you in the next post where we'll be reliving my yard sale and FB marketplace experience! Thanks for reading/watching!

Note: My sisters wanted me to tell you guys that their house is now the "family home base". There was also no enthusiasm in their voice when they said that. 🙂