Transformation Thursday - The Minimalist Daily Theme | A House of Collectibles

In May of last year, I shared with the Community in this post #KISS - My Aspiring Minimalist Journey: Following Through With Commitment to Simple Living my attempt to live a minimalist lifestyle. I finally grew weary of living with the clutter. The weight was beginning to engulf me.

"Simple living Commitment.
I realized after only a few months into my now leisure retirement lifestyle that I needed a change. Being away from all the clutter stress in my career minimized the effect it was having on my personal life.
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However, my personal life's clutter stared me down. I couldn't relax in my own home. Finding a quiet spot to read or participate in indoor exercise was impossible. I kept promising to do something about it.
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I wished to live a simple lifestyle. What was holding me back was the weight of all my activities I thought I required. I needed to take a serious look at what I was doing that counteracted my desire to live simple.
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If I'd realized this decades ago, I wouldn't be faced with my dilemma now...mustering the desire the energy to remove all excess.
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But I aspire to a Minimalist lifestyle. I just need to start my journey and follow through. Better late than never so that I can live out my remaining life simply."

In continuing my minimalist lifestyle journey, I wanted to share with you an update on my progress.

In addressing my update, I'm reminded that in the Minimalist's introductory post, Hive account@millycf1976 stated, "Minimalism is a principle/preference that's innate to some persons, or it's an appreciation/practice that's developed for others."

I readily admit that minimalism is not innate to me. I have learned to appreciate through decades of feeling overwhelmed that a change was needed in my life. From magazines, to collectible dolls, to Hot Wheels, to action figures, to sports cards, to hand blown glass, to figurines, to fine china, to coins, to books, I've kept company with them for over forty years.

I didn't start out that way. I certainly never intended to own a house of collectibles. Just like weight gain, it creeps up on you if you not paying close attention to what you're bringing inside.

I managed to carve out a decent living space for my family's needs. Once the children were grown and gone, I could breath easier. Voila, I had more space for my precious collectibles. Now that I look back on it, I hope it wasn't a subtle message to the children that their former rooms were not available to be occupied permanently again. That was, unless a catastrophic event occurred that necessitated their return.

They just grew until they mushroomed into a life of their own.

Now, I've become overrun with items in my home I deemed valuable from a personal perspective.

With the amount of souvenirs needing a loving home, I need to decide their fate. A daunting task, indeed.

My solution. Smart small. One room at a time. Then accumulate similar items stored in each room and centralize them into one space for evaluation.

That sounded plausible. Implementing is a whole other task.

It has taken me a year to first rearrange and locate these items. I received assistance when my attic could no longer hold the heavy boxes that had been stored for decades.

The bad news, replacement of the attic floor. The good news was that I located my Barbie Dolls. An added bonus, the cars weren't banged up from the fall. I can just imagine explaining to the insurance company how my cars collided with my collectibles!

DOLLS

I began collecting dolls in the late 70s. I stopped collecting about ten years ago. I no longer had available space. To store them, I purchased ten plastic containers to house my doll collection. The majority of my collectible dolls are Barbie Dolls. The manufacturers' boxed containers that house the dollars are large, bulky and sometimes oversized. Only a few can fit inside the plastic containers.

BOOKS

But my most favored passion is books. When I purchase a novel, I normally read it through two to three times within the first two months, just to be certain it is set in my mind.

Recently I read an article that shed some light on how to delicately and with a minimum amount of emotion detach yourself from your favorite books. I plan to use that advice in downsizing my collection.

CERAMICS and FIGURINES

My love of figurines and ceramics also began in the late 70s. A co-worker introduced me to a series of figures manufactured in the U.S. She gifted me a piece. I was hooked as a fan. The collection is called "All God's Children".

I also love to collect hand blown glass, fine china, snow globes, and coffee cups.

In the not-so-distant future, and I don't know how many more years, my children will shoulder the responsibility of taking care of their parents. This will probably mean relocating with them.

They have already given me fair warning that I must downsize. They have no room for my excess collectibles and will not indulge me on this issue.

A bit sad at hearing this news, I sighed, then contemplated a future without my collectibles. I love a challenge. Just like I acquired them, I can divest myself of them and locate another home where they will be welcomed with open arms.

The good thing is that I have stopped collecting.

The even better thing is...I know I can do this. I'm sorting it out now.