purge

Tiny House Part 4: Under the Bed

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

One of my early tasks was to figure out how to deal with those things I could not let go of, but could store – things like Christmas decorations, out-of-season clothes, and photo albums.  As I said in a previous post, I refused to keep anything that has to be stored outside of my apartment. The obvious solution was to buy a new bed frame, one that would be high enough to hide several tubs.

After reading stats and reviews of an annoyingly long list of bed frames, I finally settled on my choice and added it to my Amazon “New Apartment” wishlist. Then I took careful note of the measurements, taped off a correctly-sized area of my floor (including marking where the center support leg would fall) and started playing a game of “fit the totes.” I marked the floor because I held off on purchasing the heavy frame until I was close to moving, and I had it delivered straight to the new place.

What you see in this photo is mostly empty totes, because I hadn’t decided what would need to go in them. There are also a couple of filled totes, some absolutely essential totes (think permanent records), and a footstool that I thought I might possibly need when getting into and out of bed. This collection of tubs became a vital work in progress and a site of multiple mini-purges so that what I thought I needed to hang onto could morph into what I really could keep.

For instance, I had too many framed photos and nowhere to put them. So I pulled all photos out of their frames and set the frames aside for donation. I also went through everything in my two-drawer filing cabinet and the permanent files tote and purged those areas yet again. Some records I passed along to whichever son they actually pertained to and others, after verifying that I didn’t really need them, I shredded.

Random note. The shredder is one of the absolute necessities that traveled with me. In my tiny abode, I can’t let papers pile up; I have to deal with them. So that shredder sits plugged in and ready to chomp as needed.

When the boys put my new bed frame together for me (easy peasy), and my daughter (I don’t do in-laws. I love the daughters my sons gave me!) crawled under to settle the tubs into place, everyone was joking about how I could lease a second space under there. And they’re right. I have a massive amount stored under my bed, including a few items (Like a massage mat) that sit on top of the boxes as well as a case of water that landed where the unneeded step stool had been.

Yes, even though I chose a bed with 16″ of clearance, I am still well able to get into it unassisted. Had I thought it through ahead of time, I’d have known that, but the extra space was a bonus!

So, under my bed, there is a full art/craft tub, a tub filled with blankets and other things, an ‘office/tool” tub, a tub of out of season clothes and another of jackets and wraps, one tub of scrapbooks and another crammed with photos (I hope to share with my sons and eventually eliminate one of those), a tub of permanently-filed records, a Christmas tub that may well lose some of its contents this holiday season… I’ve lost track. Is that It?

I’m not sure, but as I packed them I put large labels on the tops and on the sides so that I can find what I need relatively easily. I’ve already pulled out a few and done some rearranging as I recognized the need for more ready access to two or three in particular.

For the record, the bed frame I bought is the HAAGEEP 18 Inch Queen Bed Frame and it is every bit as good as I expected it to be. It’s sturdy and not noisy at all. Another huge plus is that the mattress fits inside it, which means I’m not dealing with a sliding mattress. That was a common complaint in the myriad of bed frame reviews I scoured. I had considered purchasing corner guards, because one reviewer said they kept hitting their legs on the corners, but I’ve not had that issue at all.

And thinking about this frame as I was first drafting this post made me realize something. I’m going to try to remember to share about all of the special things I have and love as I continue this series, so I decided to set up an Amazon Affiliate account in hopes of perhaps bringing in a little money on the side.

Does that sound grasping? I hope not. I’ve made no secret of the fact that, though I have a full-time job and am finally getting at least some widow’s benefits, I’m also saddled with a lot of debt that I want to pay off. My desire is to be financially free, and the regular money that’s coming in won’t make that happen fast enough. So, should you feel like offering your support by clicking a link and buying something I can personally attest to, I would be grateful. I have a lot of reviews on this site, recommendations for things I genuinely like; I plan to go back through them and add some links there as well.

Again, as I said above, it’s the HAAGEEP 18 Inch Queen Bed Frame and you can check it out by clicking HERE.

Holy cannoli!

On a whim, I checked to see if Amazon carries my mattress, which I love, and they do! Ok, so my Nectar mattress is several years old. That means they’re not going to have the exact same one. But let me tell you, if I were in the market for a new mattress I would get another Nectar! They’re awesome and come with the best warranty I’ve ever seen in a mattress. It came in a box, delivered right to my front door. I opened it, rolled it out, let it pop up, and put it on my bed. It’s not too heavy and, though I’m sensitive to odors, I was able to sleep on it the very first night with no issues at all. So no, no offensive off gassing in my experience. Literally the only thing we dealt with was my husband thinking it was too firm. I emailed the company asking for suggestions for ways I could make it softer, because no, I had no desire to return it, and they shipped me a mattress topper, a good one, at no extra charge. Again, that was years ago and I can’t guarantee they would do the same thing today, but that’s some serious customer service!

The mattress I’m linking to is probably the upgrade for mine. You can check it out RIGHT HERE.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Tiny House Part 3: The Purge

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

I entitled this “The Purge,” but the purge actually happened in waves.

I’d already gotten rid of much of the junk my hoarder husband had insisted on keeping, and passed several of his things along to kids and grandkids, but in March I began the first true purge. There was a charity auction coming up and, even though I knew I would still be living in the apartment for another 5ish months, I pulled out everything that I 1) knew I could live without, 2) felt would bring at least something at an auction, 3) had confirmed that my kids wouldn’t want, and 4) couldn’t possibly take in the move, and I donated it all to the auction. I knew I still had a lot to let go of, including some things I really wanted to hang onto, but this move forward felt like an enormous success! It also helped raise hundreds of dollars.

The second wave of the purge happened as our floor plan was refined. There were some things that were non-negotiable. I had a queen mattress and, though I knew I’d be buying a new frame for it, I was not willing to drop down to a smaller bed. I also had a good-sized desk my son had just given me that I was determined to keep on the grounds that I needed it and it would serve as both work space and dining table. These two things were worked into the floor plan with about an inch to spare and determined the length of the bathroom (Which is the perfect size, by the way!) I was also set on keeping my lingerie chest, which provides an amazing amount of drawer space for its footprint.

With these things in mind, it was time to get real about what I needed, wanted, and couldn’t keep no matter what. The furniture that hadn’t gone in the auction was either given away or promised to others. The massive artwork that I felt would be completely out of scale for such a small space was also handed off to some who could appreciate it. I knew I would have limited closet space, so I hard purged my closet, getting rid of anything other than special occasion dresses that I hadn’t worn in the past year. I then pulled my out-of-season clothes and packed them away; I’ll explain that later. Then I measured what I had left. I was shooting for 3 linear feet of current hanging clothing. A lot hit the floor. I sent bags of clothes out the door.

I dealt with other things in similar manner, and worked towards actually living in that apartment the way I would end up living here. By that, I mean I figured out how I would store my shoes, I kept clothing in a small area, I rearranged my lingerie chest to accommodate my new lifestyle… In other words, I did my best to start tiny home living while still in the apartment.

The third wave of purging happened in those last few weeks. I’d hung onto some things just because, but in those final weeks I was giving away, throwing away, and donating things left and right. I knew I wouldn’t be doing much more than microwaving over here, so the only baking dishes I kept were two that will fit in my microwave. It and my electric kettle are my cooking team. Oh, and the toaster I just bought because I’ve been wanting peanut butter toast and hot Pop Tarts.

One of the most challenging parts of the purge was my book collection. If it weren’t for my kindle and my ability to store hundreds of books there, I would be in serious trouble. The book purge, itself, was actually a multi-step process as I slowly peeled my fingers off the spines of some of my long-time favorites.

I should mention that I’d been offered the option of storing some things elsewhere in the building, but I’d refused. I came into this journey determined to REALLY live in my tiny house. And truly, as I’ve lived here for the past several weeks, I’ve still found myself purging. Only when I got in here did I realize things like the fact that I had a ridiculous number of washcloths for one person – that’s actually what I passed along most recently. There have been several times when I’ve left things on my sister’s bar and texted to let her know they were there if she wanted them.

I’m still settling in, still finding the best way to have things stored, arranged, and used. I’ve gotten rid of things, purchased a few (very few) things, and tweaked left and right. Most excitingly, I had a friend who specializes in reimagining spaces come in and help me get out of the box. She made many suggestions that I was delighted to act on; created new storage solutions, decor, and art for me; and restaged the place. I love it even more today than I did before she came here last.

And so we’ve set the stage for the rest of my story. As we walk through this series, I’ll share things I’ve learned, specifics about choices that were made, and lots of photos showing how I live in my tiny dream home.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C