Toronto Star – Realism Needed in Move
September 28, 2024
The Toronto Star Saturday, June 8, 2002
Realism Needed in Move
By: Sheila Kieran
Gerry DiLeo isn’t as sure as I was, in a recent column, that “people will be surprised at how much they can bring with them” when they move into a condo.
As vice-president of The Rental Lifestyle Group, Gerry warns downsizers
that they must be prepared to divest themselves of familiar, even
much-loved, items. Fortunately, he has ideas about the best way of doing that. He suggests, first, comparing actual room layouts and sizes of the new place with those in the old (remembering to include the locker when judging storage capacity).
Take a photo of the rooms in the house, both as souvenirs and as reminders of decorating touches you especially liked.
Then categorize belongings under three headings: “the must-haves”, the
“needed” (you can’t leave pots and pans behind) and, last, the “would be nice to keep”.
The next step: decide who’s going to get what. (I like the idea of not
making people wait to enjoy goods for which there’s no longer room. As a result, some of the most treasured art work I owned — Iskowitz, not
Rembrandt, to be sure — is hanging now in the home of another family member.)
If, once the goodies have been distributed, you find there are things you still want to keep — room or no room in your new home — put there in storage until you either find a place for them, or become detached enough to let them go.
When deciding to contribute goods to charities, make sure they’re in
reasonable shape (agencies are not meant to operate as garbage dumps):
clothing clean and mended, for example. A contents sale can be arranged by the burgeoning number of people in the field, who will attempt to get you the best possible price, from which a commission will be deducted. While there’s help available on the Internet, the best way to ensure a comfortable apartment is to hire a professional designer, even if it’s for just a consultation.
On a more personal note: make sure you understand that you own things.
Don’t allow them to own you. The next time I move — and I’m sure there’ll be a next time — I will try and keep that in mind when it comes to the books. I belong to the “well, you never know when you’ll need it” school of throwing out things. Which, of course, means that hardly anything get thrown out.
It is certainly true that the 1970s Chatelaine cookbook came in handy when I was searching for recipes for a dinner honouring Doris Anderson,
Chatelaine’s most famous and influential editor. But even I know that there are no differences between the two copies I own of “Across the Table”, by the Star’s former restaurant critic, Cynthia Wine. And does anyone really NEED three copies of “Emma”?
Despite the many advantages — reduced expenses, less maintenance, more
leisure time — this business of downsizing is more than an event. It’s a process and, like all life processes, it takes time and may even cause some discomfort alone the way. As Gerry DiLeo points out, “going from big to small can be a high-stress activity and, as psychologists can confirm, moving can often be traumatic”.
The “Downsizing” column is meant to help ease the burden.