Why I'm Downsizing Two Houses

In the previous post I forgot to mention why I'm downsizing two houses at once. The reason is we're moving into Mom's. We will be living in the basement with a bedroom, living room, bathroom and a huge laundry room that we're hoping to divide to provide us with a kitchen. There is already a stove in there that Mom uses for making family dinners. So we will only need a refrigerator and since our stove has seen better days, we won't be taking it. We will also sell our washer and dryer that is old. Mom's is only a few years old.

It's been most difficult getting Mom to part with any of her hoard. Her house is not dirty but she has stacks of fabric as described in the last post. She was brought up during the depression and saves everything, as she was taught to. String, plastic bags and everything else that she might need is saved. I have talked her into parting with some of the stuff.

The thing that really scares me is that Mom hoards food. Her freezer is full to the brim and much of it is freezer burned. She cooks that and eats it and this frightens me. Who knows how long it's been there? I told her I was cleaning it and the freezer in the refrigerator out when I got moved in and she was a little put-out. I explained that she couldn't eat this stuff and she told me she's been doing it for year. I explained that I'm not having people say that I lived there and she ate food that wasn't healthy. She stopped arguing at that point. Between us we can manage just fine financially by sharing costs.

The other reason we are moving in with Mom is because she is getting really forgetful. Twice lately she's had a fire on the stove and I found out when we were discussing bills and how we would split the cost that she's been paying two companies for her hot water tank. I'm not sure how that happened, nor do we know how long she's been doing that. I'm wondering what else she is paying that she shouldn't be. Time will tell.

It's not going to be easy living with Mom. Since her last stroke she has changed. Always the easy going person, she has become assertive and stubborn. This isn't the Mom I've always known and it will be a challenge for me as well as for hubby.

Another thing I dislike about the move is that we're moving from a really green area with a park across the street, a creek and lots of animals and birds. Mom's is in the north end of the city and is supposed to be the better part of town, yet there is no green space near her and all you see when you look out the window is buildings. Not my choice but sometimes in life we have to accept change that we don't like. This will be quite an adventure.

Today I will be stripping wallpaper at Mom's. I wish you were here, Pea, to lend me a hand. LOL I've rented a steamer though, so it shouldn't be too bad. I will try to remember my camera and tell you all about it.

Downsizing Two Houses

Downsizing one house isn't bad enough but right now we are downsizing two. I have my own to do, since we will be moving after 20 years and I also have Mom's to help with. Mom and her friend have been working at it but hubby, Brandon and I got more done yesterday than they have in a week. Mom tries to pour over every tiny bit of paper that she finds. I've told her that she just doesn't have time. She had a box of receipts from 1990.

I don't like to rush her, but time is of the essence. Mom is a kind of hoarder. Some of the boxes have not been unpacked since she moved there 18 years ago. She just bought more stuff and piled it in one of the bedrooms in the basement.

Mom mostly hoards fabric. That room is 12 x 12 and it was piled to the ceiling and out to the door with fabric. Many boxes said, "Do Not Touch." There were pieces of fabric in some of those boxes that have been there for almost 50 years. I couldn't believe it when I found pieces of fabric that she'd used for my dresses when I was a child.

Good thing that all of this vintage fabric is in excellent condition. I've washed some of it, pressed it and listed it in my Etsy shop. I have shipped some as far away as Japan and have had inquiries from Spain and Singapore.

Please wish me luck in getting all of this done by the time we are supposed to move, which is approximately mid-September to the first of October.

Update on Brandon

Just letting everyone know that Brandon is healing nicely and still taking his antibiotics. He is back to normal and says it no longer hurts at all. It was a little sensitive for a few days. And life goes on... Just seemed very odd that something like that could happen. I've never heard of such a thing before.

Happy Sunday. Enjoy!!!