Costco...or what on earth was I thinking???

I don't know what possessed me, I truly don't. The lure of inexpensive meat that is not purchased at No Frills ? (because, ew, really, even our budget can do better than that). The feeling that I'd better use the d!@# membership since I'd purchased it, and wanted to get my money's worth? A deep seated (so deep that I didn't even know about it) desire for a 1/4lb. hot dog for 99 cents? Whatever it was I found myself crawling into the Costco parking lot in Upper Scarberia this past Sunday. Crawling because apparently 10,000 other Torontonians didn't have anything else to do on a Sunday either. From left turn lane to parking lot....20 minutes, with not even a hint of exaggeration. And the parking was not a pleasant Sunday drive either....it was me up against thousands of other drivers, all determined to spend lots of money on lots of REALLY BIG things.

Which brings me to the truly mystifying part of this trip. What was I, of all people, writer of a blog entitled Smaller is Better doing in a store that epitomizes the big box, that justifies the suburban monster home with its 1400 sq. ft. of storage? The last time we lived in a smaller home and I visited Costco it resulted in an elaborate weeks long project to convert an old closet into a spacious pantry (said project was completed by my lovely wife,  not me of course). Well in this house, that old closet has already been converted: into a laundry room on the main floor, and into a staircase leading to the attic on the 2nd floor. So what was I doing buying humongous 24 packs of toilet paper and kleenex??? To top it off, I was fighting off a cold or something at the time, so I entered the behemoth business in an already weakened state for extra danger and foolishness.

The good news: We don't have to buy meat or vitamin supplements for the next 6 months. The bad news: it will be longer than that before I recover from my Costco-induced trauma and set foot in the store again....though they did have some great deals on suitcases...and cameras...oh and I forgot to get the bread.....hmm...are you doing anything next weekend??

so about this smaller is better thing

I have been totally neglecting this blog, which I realize in large part is because I've been having a lot of trouble feeling the 'smaller is better' love. I mean, in theory I am all in favour of doing more with less, making do, having a smaller ecofootprint and all that. But the reality of a teeny tiny kitchen, one bathroom, a living room full of c@#$ and a bedroom full of s@#$ has been kicking my butt lately. And as a result, I do what I often do in these situations, start getting antsy, dreaming of something better, thinking of buying a bigger house (ha! not with this budget in this city) and thinking of all the things we could do to change the status quo. And frankly doing a lot more thinking than doing...as a result, here we are, almost two months later, and we still have a LOT to do. So I'm relaunching this blog as a way to inspire myself, motivate myself, and ask my readers to help motivate me too. We have decided we want to stay where we are for at least the next two years (breathe in, breathe out). So I am going to do it!! Not just make do, but make it fabulous. Not just do more with less, but do even more, with even less.

So what do we need to do to make this place work?
-deal with the mold problem that seems to keep on making us all sick and may be rotting our basement storage items.
-deal with the FREEZING cold living room...we have recently realized that the charming exposed brick wall is a bit more exposed than we might like, given that it is an EXTERIOR wall.
-deal with our bedroom which is awash in boxes and all the crap we can't find another spot to store.
-resolve the perennial parental dilemma: we have a playroom but the kids don't really play up there but we don't want to turn our living room into a playroom.
-maybe possibly figure out a better place to put overnight guests.
-rearrange our dining room space...we just can't seem to make it work.
-triple our kitchen storage without adding any new furniture.
-quadruple our living room storage without adding any new furniture.
Oh and, get rid of a LOT more stuff!!!

Wish me luck, and welcome to the ride!

unexpected gifts

our new, smaller home has brought with it a number of logistical challenges and minor and not so minor annoyances (freezing windows, quirky electrical, lack of fans in bathroom AND kitchen).

But it has also brought a number of little gifts. Gifts that at first masquerade as major annoyances.

Some of the unexpected gifts:

1. No dishwasher. For the first time in 8.5 years, we have no dishwasher. As we like to joke that our first dishwasher saved our marriage, this hardly seems like a gift. But it is...we are rediscovering the zen-like relaxation of doing the dishes by hand. And we are discovering that we have grown up a lot in the last 8.5 years--instead of arguing over who will do them and making large passive-aggressive piles of dirty dishes, we just get them done and move on.
   
2. No TV. We do have Netflix on our desktop so we are not completely screen free but the lack of tv means we have to be a lot more conscious about our viewing. No channel surfing, no turning on the tv just because. And as a result, more time spent reading, baking and doing all those wonderful TV free activities.
3. No need to drive the car everywhere. This is more obviously a gift, but we are all appreciating the ability to walk many more places we need to go and get lots more exercise along the way. We love not using our car every day!
4. One bedroom & two kids...we worried this would be a disaster, especially with our 5 yo who likes to have things exactly to her specifications and likes her space. But they seem to really enjoy sharing a room , lots of giggling, fort building and two sisters who are growing closer every day is the result!
   

What unexpected gifts have you received lately?

our new place

so a few people have been asking me about our new place.

Some great things about it:

-It is not as small as I feared
-our bedroom is huge, and our king size bed fits in easily
-the attic playroom is delightful and features a secret floorboard for hiding cool things (hopefully nothing valuable...)
-the kitchen is workable, especially with the generous loan of a lovely butcher block topped island from some great friends!
-there is LOTS of storage space in the basement.
-the bathroom is freshly redone.
-we back on to a pretty ravine with a train track running through it. The girls, especially our youngest, LOVE watching the trains go by. Which they do at roughly 10 min. intervals during rush hour.
-wonderful neighbourhood & dream location!

Some not so great things about the place:

-it is FREEZING...windows need replacing, some spots need caulking. Overall I feel like wrapping the whole place in shrink wrap for the winter. I shudder to think of our heating bill. Actually I just shudder.
-the kitchen counters were designed at a time when the height of the average Torontonian was about 5'
-the fridge light is broken & hence is always off.
-the window in the playroom is lexan, not glass, and half of it is an air conditioner. I'm sure that's great in the summer....
-we're right beside a train track, and the whole house rattles each time one goes by.
-it's an older home, hence it does not have enough plugs. And about half of these plugs don't work. And when my LW (*lovely wife) tried to change an ancient fuse, sparks flew. We are calling an electrician.
-the previous tenants had 3 large hairy dogs. The place was not properly cleaned after they left. The dogs scratched up the floors and either the dogs or the tenants punched a hole in the bedroom wall.
-someone painted the lovely exposed brick wall in the living room white. I mean really??!!

Overall, I'm feeling conflicted on the whole home ownership thing. After owning our own place for 7 years, it's kind of nice to look around and think that all the maintenance on this place is NOT my responsibility. But I also love this little place and kinda wish it was ours so we could take it in hand & whip it into shape...if we ever got around to it!

So far, I have been here for 8 days, and I have not, I repeat NOT gone to IKEA. Aren't you impressed?

taking the smaller the better to the extreme!

Not a real post, but a friend linked me to this incredible website of a house designer who designs truly tiny homes, anywhere from 89 to 800+ sq. ft.


Now there's some inspiration!

Panic! *Breathe* Panic!

okaaaaaaaaaay.
So I talked to my wonderful dad on Sunday, just back from painting the girls' bedroom and playroom at the new house. He also took photos of the whole place and measured the rooms and the windows, so we can think about curtains n' stuff.
He was fulsome in his compliments about the new place, how cozy it is, how much character it has etc. And tried to be very reassuring in describing how 'big' some of the rooms were. But while he was talking, my internal dialogue was drowning out his soft, encouraging voice. Something like this:

Him:
'The kitchen is nice, it has new laminate flooring, and I like that you have an eating nook/counter for the kids to use. There's not a lot of cupboard space though, and I don't think you will be able to fit your table in it."

Me, in my head: 'aaaaaaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee small kitchen small kitchen small kitchen I hate small kitchens I am too messy for small kitchens aaiiiiiiiiieeeeee. How am I going to pare down my kitchen I am attached to every piece of enormous equipment, I LOVE it all'

Me, out loud: "mmm...well, maybe we can store some stuff down in the basement that we don't use regularly...and we can put the freezer down there too. We can put the table in the dining room space too."

*********************************************************
Him: 'Your bedroom is really quite big and has a nice window."

Me, out loud: "Do you think there's any chance to get our king size bed in there? We have a very tall 5 yo with pokey elbows who usually climbs into bed with us, and I don't want to give up the King."

Me, in my head: "Aaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee we can't go back to our Queen, I'll never sleep again, we gotta get this kid out of our bed, maybe by some miracle she'll start sleeping through the night right after we move to a new city aaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee"

Did I mention anxiety runs in my family? This was slightly edited for dramatic effect, but it isn't that far from reality, and certainly adds fuel to my decluttering fire.

I tend to think I manage anxiety better than some other members of family of origin, though it certainly rears its ugly head periodically, and this is one of those times! Not at all surprising given we are trying to uproot ourselves, move two kids and downsize dramatically in the space of 6 weeks. I guess that would make anyone, anxious, but I know that I also have the weight of multiple generations of anxious adults behind me. Not to mention the weight of the anxious, highly sensitive 5 yo lying on my arm, holding onto my leg....or you get the idea!
************************************************************************

And now, for extra panic...
We (foolishly, crazily) wisely took the advice of real estate agent on Monday who strongly encouraged us to put the house up for sale sooner rather than later. Basically we don't want it sitting empty for too long, and in our local tepid real estate market, it can take a few weeks. \
So we blithely signed on the dotted line... he would take pictures, put up the sign and it would begin showing the following...Monday.
So now we have hmm, well 4 days and 4 nights to get the house ready to go on the market. I think it's time to stop decluttering and time to start throwing things in boxes and bags, throwing them in the POD and making our very lived in home look staged.
(hahahaahaahahahahaahahahaahahahahahaahaha --hysteria tinged laughter because this is both funny and likely impossible)