Double items

Ever since we've downsized from a terraced house to a bungalow/apartment kind of house, a lot of things have changed. Obviously it's always a big change to make a move to another country, but the fact that we downsized defenitely changed many aspects of our lives - and I don't mean in a negative way. Apparently, for some reason, it's not really acceptable to live in a small house, and I'm yet to understand why. Probably people view big houses as a status symbol and it's something to be ashamed of when you can't meet that standard, but I personally couldn't care more about other people's opinions about where and how I live. It's hard to imagine that there are actually people who care about that that much. Perhaps there are people who really thrive in a big house, and don't live in a house for the wrong reasons such as status, but personally I'm glad we downsized. I love living in smaller places, and always have. I have vivid memories of me as a very young girl asking my mum as to why we didn't move to a flat- we were living in a very big house/mansion at the time. 

Since we moved abroad we couldn't take most of our belongings with us. Well technically we could, but that would have cost so much money that it wasn't quite worth it, especially given the fact that most of our stuff we bought was very cheap, like thrifted or bought at a dollar  store kind of shop, some belongings were even free. We did take some things with us though, but it was very minimal compared with what we had. To pare belongings that had sentimental values was a bit tough, I must admit, but overall it was a good fresh start to have much less. What stands out mostly is probably the fact that right now, we don't have multiple floors here. As with everything, multiple floor buildings have pros and cons, but when it comes to having stuff and especially trying to minimalize your stuff, I'd say there's a lot of cons to having a multiple floor house. Why? Well, because let's face it... People tend to be forgetful and lazy at times. So the items cluttered on the stairs, intended for the next person to bring upstairs, usually never reached their end destination- unless the stairs became too cluttered OR someone started to complain about it (just forget about minimalism for a second- this can be quite unsafe, especially in case of an unexpected fall or fire!). And usually people don't like to move items from upstairs downstairs (and vice versa) all day long. For this reason, we had a lot of double items. Still not quite as much as some others do (I remember my grandmother having two vacuum cleaners, for example), but still a lot of more "double stuff" than we do have now. To mention a few: toys, cleaning supplies/wipes, books, and so much more. 

Having multiple floors aside, I did have too much double items anyway. I was a bit obsessed with having "spare items", and still am at times, although not as obsessed as I used to be. For example, I had two ladles in the kitchen, and actually remember to consider even buying a third one! Even though washing up that used ladle to use for something different is just a matter of a few seconds probably. It's just a matter of habit. People have double items because they're just so used to it. The same with chopping boards- I used to have three, then when we moved, it was "just" two. But then I switched to a wooden chopping board and bought one, and tried to make do with that one for as long as I could. And guess what- i'm yet to miss my spare chopping board! Some friends suggested that I'd get another one- one said "just in case", the other claimed that it was "essential to have more than one". Although I do a lot of from scratch cooking and with no such thing as pre cut vegetables here, I cut all my vegetables, I still wonder how "essential" that really is. And this goes for so many things I once had double; or even triple... The thing is, double items can be quite convenient, but I learned to actually consciously decide whether I should have doubles of certain items. Double items can trap one into being a lot more messy- you have a few of them anyway, so it doesn't matter if it ends up in a pile of stuff, or you can wash up all those double/triple items "later". And yes, it's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I'm talking from experience now! 

So have I become more organized after minimizing certain objects? Not necessarily, not in every aspect anyhow. But there's certainly some improvements, which I'm actually quite proud of. Unfortunately I'm not the neatest person by nature, and it takes some effort to actually get myself to decluttering, so avoiding clutter altogether is of course the best option. But having less double items has made my life a bit easier for sure- not to mention it's way more cost effective.