Peter Walsh - Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life

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Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

2017 by Peter Walsh

Simultaneously published in hardcover by Pan Macmillan Australia

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Book design by Christina Gaugler

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN-13: 9781623367794 hardcover
ISBN-13: 9781623367800 e-book

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To my family and friends, who taught me when somethings important enough to hold on to... and when I need to let it go.

Welcome to an experience that could be one of the most rewarding times of your life.

Dont believe me? I understand. Youve probably gotten the impression that downsizing should be a fear-inducing task. Honestly, how could it not be?

As you travel through life, you encounter milestones that require you to comb through the stuff youve gathered: relocating to a new city; getting married and combining homes with another person; hitting tough times that send you into a smaller home; kids growing up and leaving the family home empty (and unnecessarily large); or the death of a spouse or parent.

When you downsize for these changes, youre likely to confront some of lifes deepest questions. Thats one reason why the process is so often painful. Downsizing requires us to confront our insecurities, our relationships, and our own mortality. The stuff you sift through has the power to evoke deep emotions and memories, which can easily derail you.

Downsizing can require you to shrink a houseful of possessions so theyll fit into a new space that may be much smaller than what you have now. Many of these possessions are things you really, really like. Theyre probably things you couldnt possibly live without! To make the mission even more challenging, youre likely working on an uncomfortably tight deadline.

Sound familiar?

Or maybe youre facing another common type of downsizing scenario: the task of wading through a lifetime of items that belonged to someone else, like your parents, grandparents, or other loved ones. Their home contains stuff that might be important to you... but you probably have even less time to manage this kind of downsizing.

Sound familiar?

While standing on the brink of a downsizing project, you might be terrified that youll make a bad decision, throw out the wrong thing, alienate your family, infuriate your parents, or just disappear into an abyss of clutter and never be seen or heard from again!

Sound familiar?

It does to me. The challenge of downsizing the possessions in a homewhether their own or someone elsespetrifies many people. I know this well, because Ive helped thousands deal with the clutter in their homes. Thousands more have asked for guidance on what to keep and what to let go while moving or downsizing. Ive also had to downsize under trying circumstances that faced my own family.

My mother cared for my father for years during his long illness. Four years after he passed away, her failing health brought her to an assisted living facility. Old age and steadily advancing dementia made her last few years difficult, and then, hard as it was to believe, she was gone, too.

My younger sister, Julie, and I stood outside the facility on a chilly Australian day just after her passing. We were there to clean out her room. Of the few possessions Mum still owned, we donated most to a local charity. The rest fit into the two boxes Julie and I clutched in the cold.

She turned to me and asked, Mum lived for 92 years, and here each of us is carrying a cardboard box. Is this the sum of her life?

Those boxes held the last few treasures that were important to my mother, Kath, at the very end of her exceptional life. Growing up in a poor farming family, she didnt complete the 8th grade. Instead, she left home at 14 and traveled hundreds of miles across Australia to train as a nurse. A few years later, caring for wounded soldiers would be her contribution during World War II.

By the time she was 34, she had 5 children under the age of 7 and would go on to add 2 more kids to our family. My siblings raised 12 children of their own, who all became successful, well-educated professionals.

My sister and I kept only our mothers hairbrush, rosary beads, photos, and notes she had jotted down about her family to jog her memory.

That was it. These few things were the last of the mementos that could represent our mother. All the other objects that she had touched and used during her life had been distributed long ago.

I finally found the words to respond to Julies question. Mums life was not about the stuff, I said. What made her life shine had nothing to do with any of the objects she owned. Whether she held on to it for a minute or 90 years, her stuff was ultimately finite and temporary.

The intangible things Mum left behindher laugh, her wicked sense of humor, and her wise advicewill live on. In the following days and months, my siblings and I would take great joy in understanding her legacy: her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Amazing stories from old friends at the funeral service. A flood of wonderful cards and condolences. And quiet snippets of conversation that revealed so much about the goodness and kindness of the amazing woman who was my mother.

Earlier, when we were downsizing my parents home, one of the few things I kept was a green glass pie plate she used for making desserts when we were children. Our now-scattered family once gathered around this plate. Our mothers hands held this plate. Her serving spoon left a few scratches on its surface as she fed us and adored us.

This object is so much more than a plate. For me, its a truly treasured possession.

Im telling you this so that you dont think my advice for downsizing will be simply to discard everything! The amount I kept worked for me, and Ill help you find the amount that works for you.

I know why so many people think downsizing is scary. But I can promise you that if you do it correctly, the process wont live up to the disruptive, divisive, and stressful reputation its gotten.

Many people, feeling overwhelmed, have come to me looking for a system that solves their downsizing dilemma.

Here it is.

The Let It Go way of downsizing makes the process logical, manageable, and as swift as possible. This method provides solutions to the pressure and turmoil you may feel when you trim down your belongings or your loved ones.