THE DIVESTING SIDE OF DOWNSIZING

BY MARIA SCRIVANI

Diana Augspurger has felt the pain of downsizing both through her own experience and the experiences of countless clients. As founder and CEO of Creative Storage in Buffalo, she’s spent decades helping people pare down and she’s developed some strategy along the way.

Augspurger is well aware of the emotion and guilt that trap people in a crazy cycle of clutter. When her mother, legendary Buffalo interior decorator Florence Cooper, died, Augspurger was faced with the task of disposing of her extensive furnishings and possessions, including eleven sets of china. The items all had value, not the least of which was sentimental, but Augspurger knew she couldn’t keep them all. What she did is something she now suggests to clients: “I created a digital library of my mother’s possessions by photographing them. They were things I did not want to forget.”

It isn’t always that easy, of course. “It’s hard for people to get rid of things like their grandmother’s chair,” Augspurger maintains. “It’s like saying goodbye all over again.” But what happens when you don’t have room for the chair, or it doesn’t match your décor? Bad feelings can lead to a lot of clutter but, according to Augspurger, there is a way to minimize both. Here are her best tips:

1) Look on the bright side. “People tend to look at the negatives of downsizing, focusing on losing something,” says Augspurger, who says people of a certain age bracket tend to see downsizing as the next step before the last step. “Try a positive outlook. A lot of the big responsibilities of your life, like putting kids through college, are behind you. You can focus again on being yourself.” And with less stuff.

2) Let others appreciate the items. Some folks keep extra furniture in storage for the day their grown kids might need it. Some hold onto one of the many dolls in Mom’s collection and give the rest away. After sheltering it in her Buffalo home for years, Augspurger finally shipped off her sister’s favorite— and big—stuffed animal to the sibling’s West Coast home and told her to do with it what she would. Vintage collectibles might be of interest to local history museums. Suggets Augspurger: “It’s easier to say goodbye to something when you know it’s going to someone who will use it, enjoy it, and take care of it.”

3) Take advantage of modern disbursement solutions. No one needs to have a cupboard full of mismatched plastic containers and lids wasting valuable kitchen space; that’s what recycle bins are for. Consider eBay or amazon. com as sales outlets for other stuff—books, toys, dishes—that accumulate in our homes. “It takes a little energy,” says Augspurger. “Enlist your kids to help you if your computer skills are minimal. If that doesn’t work, give items to charity; let them reap the benefit, and you take the tax write-off.”

4) Be creative. The evergrowing organizing industry is full of clutter-reducing solutions, but sometimes just thinking about what you really need and want can help you come up with your own ideas. Augspurger says her particular problem was magazines, but now she stores them in binders designated for garden, house, and projects, with specific articles in clear protectors, a solution that enabled her to get rid of the magazines, but not the information she wanted to save.

4) Cultivate habits to break the clutter cycle. “I am too tired at the end of the day to sort through my mail immediately, but I do have a place to put it all near the door so I can tackle it later,” shares Augspurger, who says having a collection point will keep things from spreading all over the kitchen. Try to shop out of need, not want. Buy items that are multi-purpose, such as generic candles as opposed to holiday-specific ones. “There is this feeling of complete and total freedom when you’ve made the tough decisions and lightened the burden,” says Augspurger. “It is so energizing!” FY