Help! I'm downsizing and don't know how to let go of fabric, books and canning jars! (2024)

I started “Swedish death cleaning” last year. I wrote about cleaning out my storage unit (untouched for a decade), going through outgrown clothes or clothes I don’t love. I even wrote about clearing out duplicative family history group sheets. All of that downsizing was relatively easy — it just took time and some focused attention.

As I’ve continued that process, and gotten a bit more serious about it, I’ve bumped up against things I have a real emotional attachment to: my voluminous fabric stash, my apocalypse-ready assortment of canning supplies (and experience) and my books. It’s painful to think about getting rid of the things I’ve grown so fond of. Things being the operative word. I didn’t say it was rational.

So, I used a lifeline. Or, more precisely, I asked for input on social media. I was not disappointed.

Fabric

Let’s start with the fabric. There was a time when I did quite a bit of sewing. I sewed reenactment clothing when we volunteered at This Is The Place Heritage Park and when my kids went on trek. I sewed matching Christmas dresses, and one year I even sewed matching Christmas vests for the boys. I then moved on to sewing Christmas jammie pants but even gave that up after one Christmas season when I sewed 35 pairs. But, just in case all clothing ceased to be shipped to stores and I needed to sew all of my family’s clothing for a year or more, I accumulated and stored (hoarded?) miles of fabric. I’ve admitted it needs to find a home (the first step!), but it needs to be a good home.

Here are some of the suggestions I received from my friends on social media: Eric said that he filled his car with fabric, took it to his local game store during a busy time and found many takers among the gamers who also cosplay, attend Renaissance fairs and the like. Brilliant.

There were several suggestions to find service organizations that need fabric. I donated all my fleece to Dolls of Hope, an organization that has distributed some 100,000 dolls and bears to children around the world. Other recommendations from my friends include Stitching Hearts Worldwide, Making Space Thrift, Joyful Welcome, Days for Girls, high schools and community theaters, donate to Deseret Industries, resell on Etsy or Poshmark or take advantage of “Buy Nothing” groups.

Canning supplies

I have been an avid canner for many years. It’s one way we supplemented our food budget with a large family. We grew as much as we could, and then bought additional produce, usually by the bushel. I’ve canned fruit, jams and jellies, vegetables, pickles, juices, and even meats. I received a Master Food Preserver certification through Utah State University. At my peak, I could have four canners going simultaneously on our outside cook stoves and go through five bushels of tomatoes or peaches in a single day. One summer, I and the kids canned, froze or otherwise preserved 1,000 jars of food. But those days are behind me.

In all honesty, I will be keeping some of my supplies, but I really don’t need a hundred dozen jars. Even if the apocalypse starts tomorrow. Suggestions from my friends ranged from “Keep them all!” to selling them on Facebook Marketplace or someplace similar, to donating them to thrift stores — and friends and family. I had several volunteers willing to take some off my hands. Done. It makes me feel better knowing they’re going to a good home.

Books

Finally, my books. My friends. Sigh. I rarely even read physical books anymore — I listen to them while I drive or do dishes or laundry or what-have-you. When I travel, I use a digital reader. And yet ... parting is such sweet sorrow.

Like my canning supplies, I won’t be getting rid of everything, but I do most definitely need to slim down my thousands of books accumulated over my adult lifetime. It’s hard to do, as my friend and mentor, Warner Woodworth, a retired professor, can attest. When he retired from teaching at BYU, he had 5,200 books, thinking he would use them all. Most of them have remained unopened, so recently, he, his son and grandson took around 3,400 to the local Deseret Industries.

Suggestions for downsizing books included donating to thrift stores, as mentioned above, donating to libraries, gifting them to friends and family who would enjoy them, donating via online groups, getting a bookseller to look at the books and buy the ones with any worth, or donating to a bookstore like Pioneer Book, where you can get store credit for yourself, or to donate to a local school’s “Battle of the Books.” (Although, if I were to use the store credit for myself, I just maintain the status quo.)

Other suggestions

Other more general suggestions included setting a goal to go through food storage once a year, with a calendar reminder, and going through closets, garage, storage shed and pantries quarterly with a goal of 20-25% reduction each time. Hold a yard sale, make Christmas gifts with fabric and canning jars, and eat my way through my remaining food storage.

There were also several commenters who shared that they either had to help clean out homes where people could not let go of anything, or who have already had their children tell them that they are not saving anything once Mom and Dad are gone.

I feel better saying goodbye to my things feeling like there really are people who might want them. I’ll let you know how it goes.