No one’s happy about losing 2 am on Sunday, but I have to admit, I’m happy about springing forward. You might call me a morning person, but I prefer to say I’m solar powered – when the sun’s up, I’m up, and when the sun’s down, well, I’m probably curled under the covers snoring while everyone else is headed out for their night on the town. If I could hibernate through the winter, I would, and then wake up to the beautiful light and warmth of spring!
Photo: KC Saling, 2011, at Monticello, VA
Springing forward also brings up talk of spring cleaning, which a lot of people don’t care for but which also gets me excited – because for me, it’s spring decluttering and there’s nothing quite as gratifying as being able to simplify your life {remember my pre-cruise spring cleaning purge from last year? it’s on again}. This year, it’s a necessity. We’ll be moving this summer from our New York house to the townhouse we own in Hawaii, and losing about 1000 square feet of living space {not to mention our full basement!}. We have got to get rid of some stuff.
I came across a great article in this month’s Martha Stewart Living magazine – Bea Johnson, who went from a 3000 square foot house to a 1400 square foot home, shares some of her philosophy on how to downsize and some techniques to try. She didn’t just downsize, she made a complete lifestyle change. Her family keeps only what they need, brings their own containers to the store, makes household sundries themselves, and lives so that they generate “only a couple of handfuls of trash each year,” according to Rory Evans’s interview with Bea. I’m a bit of a nut for green and sustainable living, so even though that sounds nearly impossible, I’m going to check out her book on the family’s transformation, Zero Waste Home, and her Zero Waste Home blog.
In the meantime, here are some of my tips and the things I’m considering as we start working to downsize our lives for the move to Hawaii this summer:
Today’s targeted room is the kitchen, so hopefully I can get in there and finish paring down all the items we don’t use and don’t need, and cross another goal off my 101 in 1001 challenge. Gradually, I hope to work my way through the whole house so that my husband and I can at least mark all the things we want to donate or sell and start planning just how much stuff we’re going to need to ship and store when we get to Hawaii. We’ve got a lot of moving pieces to keep track of this summer, since between here and Hawaii, I have school in Virginia, he’s heading to Florida, and we have a few trips – and a first anniversary!! – to work around! Amazing! But after we somehow managed to get moved into a new house and get married all at the same time last year, I think we can handle it 
