meet kris: downsizing after decades
I want to introduce you to my friend and client, Kris Miner. I want to be Kris when I grow up. Her infectious enthusiasm for life and for people is so glorious, I just smile every time I know I’m on my way to see her. She has two amazingly successful kids, a huge group of friends, and a very kind husband. I was honored to help her in an effort to downsize in order to live a fabulous new life in Uptown Minneapolis. Here is her story!!
It happened over the course of many years, but somehow also in the blink of an eye: we were empty nesters.
We knew it was coming, of course - kids grow up and leave the nest - but we didn’t realize what a profound impact it would have on us when it finally happened. Everything felt strange: the dining room table without my daughter at her laptop, surrounded by books and snacks, the sport court oddly silent, without my son shooting free throw after free throw.
Suddenly the home that had been filled with energy, chaos and children felt sad, lonely and far too quiet. It was time for us to turn the page and lean into our next stage of life: URBAN HIPSTERS! Goodbye kids, HELLO UPTOWN!
Our excitement for our new urban life was dampened when we researched what it cost to live among all the lakes, restaurants and bike trails. Good lord, it was EXPENSIVE! We had a conversation about what we could sacrifice in order to make it work and it became apparent that we were willing to give up space in order to get the “everything at our fingertips” lifestyle we now craved.
This meant we had to endure one more stage of life before experiencing our dream destination - the dreaded DOWNSIZING. After living in our large suburban home for nearly two decades, this would be no small task: I needed the help of a professional. A friend recommended a local KonMari trained expert, Melissa Klug.
I decided to start small before taking on the more intimidating rooms of our home. We began with my closet. We took every last item out and piled it on my bed. My jaw dropped. HOW did I have so many CLOTHES? Seeing all of it at once is part of the process, Melissa explained. I can see why - the sight of that mountain made me determined to pare it down to a reasonable amount of items I truly loved, and most importantly, an collection of clothes that would take up only half of a closet I would soon share with my husband in our new apartment.
The wardrobe purge was equal parts horrifying, satisfying and freeing. I do believe I set a record for the most black yoga pants owned by a human being - Melissa was too polite to confirm. We sorted, sifted, tossed, donated consigned and saved EVERY piece of clothing I owned in one session, and I felt downright GIDDY when we were through.
We organized, folded, and hung the “keepers” in my closet that now felt incredibly large and bright. It was liberating, satisfying, and addicting. High off my feelings of accomplishment on the wardrobe front, I enlisted Melissa’s help to attack each room in the house, which we did over the course of a few weeks, each time emerging with bags of “toss,” “donate,” or “consign” which Melissa whisked away and dealt with out of sight (PRICELESS!)
I was left with a newly organized home, an incredible feeling of accomplishment, and growing excitement over how little we would need to pack when it came time to move. We returned to the apartment complex we hoped to move into when the home sold, and our excitement grew as we realized we would soon be able to fit into an apartment roughly a third the size of our current home thanks to Melissa’s help.
The decluttering of the home helped it look look spacious and large, and we were thrilled when it sold in just a few short weeks. Packing up the beloved possessions that had “made the cut” was a joy, and saved us hundreds on moving expenses in both the packing and unpacking stages. Without having any unwanted items to unpack and deal with, we were fully moved in to our new place quickly, allowing us time to savor our new surroundings.
I enlisted Melissa’s help once again to unpack, organize, and strategize how to maximize the space in our new apartment, and her advice was invaluable. We have begun our “urban hipster” phase in a well organized space that works well for us and easily holds everything we need. We have been thrilled with every step of our downsizing journey with Melissa, and can’t imagine how we would have made all of it happen without her knowledge, encouragement and support.
When we finished unpacking the final box, Melissa and I took a well earned break to toast our hard work. We sat on the rooftop deck, high above a sparkling lake dotted with sailboats, and lifted a glass to our accomplishments. Our celebratory toast marked the end of my transition from a suburbanite raising a family to being an urban hipster enjoying all that Uptown had to offer, and I could not have been more happy to have made the journey with my expert organizer and newfound friend, Melissa.