Downsizing – Round 2

Earlier, first Quarter this year, the Can Opener resolved to downsize EVERYthing . Yep, that’s right. Everything.

I was skeptical but cheered him on from my usual kinetic perch on the comfiest sofa cushion. And he’s made some definite inroads on the paper stacks there’s no denying.

But now we approach the final and 4th Quarter of the year and it’s time to mark progress again. That is if I can find my First Mate under the boxes… Yes, Downsizing Round 2 has begun. 

The ultimate goal? 
To fit our entire life into 20 boxes or less. 

The chances of achieving this by year end?
Hmmm. 

Things that can get us closer to the ultimate goal?

1. Putting all our tunes on an online account and in a single hard drive as back up.
2. Kindle. Kindle. Kindle. Ideally the only paper books we’ll carry aboard will be reference texts. And a few literary wonders as back up. The Can Opener does love his books, so this will have real impact.
   
3. Our new scanner is our new best friend. Paper and documents. Photos. Sentiment. Scanning a life of photos into the computer and loading ’em online is a project in itself.

Have you ever downsized your life to fit in a boat – or any other similarly small living space? Japanese hotel room? Tent? Dorm room? Spaceship?
 
Got any great finetuning tips for managing seemingly endless amounts of stuff?

Any helpful hints gratefully received…

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Previously: Downsizing Everything

A Boat To Deliver

Here’s the catamaran that we’ll be delivering – a Lipari 40! Gleaming, just serviced and with new anti-fouling paint.

This is the life we’ve been dreaming of. The Can Opener and I get our own cabin in the bow of the starboard pontoon. 

I’m in such a good mood I didn’t even make the First Mate sleep on the floor. And I offered to share the closet with him despite his foul weather gear crunching up my cape and other important evening wear. 

Those closets aren’t so big.

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Leaving On A Jet Plane

We’re off!

We checked in, made it through security with the self-inflating life jacket and compressed gas cylinders for the First Mate without incident and settled quietly into our seats. (You call getting 3 air hostesses to run around finding a properly squishy pillow and special blankey for you ‘quietly settling in’?? They were delighted to assist, fair Can Opener. You’re just jealous that I got all the head pets from that curvy brunette for the rest of the flight…). 

We were on our way to Malaga, Spain to meet the rest of the delivery team and pick up the boat to deliver to Greece. 

A relaxing and uneventful flight. The Can Opener was kept busy feeding me the smoked salmon canapes in seven delicious arrangements I had him make last night. I chatted up the lovely and curvy brunette. 

Before we knew it, we had reached Malaga.

One short taxi ride later, we were at the marina and standing in front of our new home for the next 3 weeks, a gleaming 40 foot catamaran!

What excitement awaits us? What new learning? What varied and tasty cuisines? We will soon find out…

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Cruising Clothing Condensed

Steps in managing clothing inventory

How did this many pairs of jeans happen to the First Mate??
Short answer: Something about being a vegetarian (which he isn’t). The Can opener’s reply was a bit unclear and muffled through a mouthful of smoked mussels… 

In fact, I’m not convinced he really needs any clothes at all. 
I don’t. 

However, the Can Opener seems adamant. What perverse motivation ignites this bizarre drive to adorn remains a mystery. 

Modus Operandi

• toss contents of one drawer or closet onto bed each day
• sort into categories:
1. fat clothes
2. hate it
3. totally worn out and should be rags
4. totally worn out but are sentimental
5. okay but need repair
6. okay

• consolidate like items 
• toss each of #1~5 into their own box and then:
1. recycle
2. recycle
3. make ’em into rags
4. send this box up to the attic/loft (sentiment is important and if you give it away, you can’t get it back)
5. keep this box in a place that’ll get in yer way till all repairs are complete
6. put it back in the closet, drawer, whatever

Sound easy? Sure. Sort of. But once again, it took time. More time than we budgeted for.  

The Can Opener missed the Cameron Diaz movie we’d been looking forward to for days. (Those Charlie’s Angels give you a lot of insight in foreign negotiations. I haven’t let the First Mate downsize my wig collection yet – they will clearly be quite useful.)

Fortunately, I was able to report plot developments to him from the TV couch while he toiled on.

How are we doing?

Process ongoing.  

Next Steps

Open the next drawer (or closet) and repeat the process till we’re all done. 

We’ll be making an inventory list and figuring out what’s missing. It’ll be good reference for filling in the gaps and for ‘clothes provisioning’ a yacht later.

We’re on our way…

Got any great tips for managing way too many clothes that we should add to our system?

–Captain Cat


(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Downsizing 
Previously: Managing Food Inventory

Managing Food Inventory

First steps in provisioning and managing food inventory

How did this many bottles of beans and spices happen to us??
Short answer: An unspecified number of failed attempts by the Can Opener to become a vegetarian…

You don’t just buy the beans and rice, mate. To be a vegetarian, you have to eat them too.

Simultaneously, more than a few of our London friends evacuated to follow their next big dream job – leaving behind surprising amounts of dry goods in their wake. We became the beneficiaries of piles of duplicate bottles of spices and grains…

Yes, indeed. We are good for cinnamon, galangal, couscous and nampla for the foreseeable future.

Modus Operandi

A pretty simple process…

• consolidate like items
• toss/recycle a million glass bottles
• rank by expiry dates
• keep in handy cupboards the oldest of each to use up first (first in first out principle…)
• store back inventory in most difficult to reach cupboards
• and list what we have there

Sound easy? Sure. Sort of. But it took time. More time than we budgeted for. 

The Can Opener missed the first two scenes of the Bruce Lee movie we’d been looking forward to all week.

Fortunately, I was able to carry on supervising him from the TV couch while he finished up.

How are we doing?

Done. 

Next Steps
Now that we know what we have, we can eat down the insane amounts of stores we’re sitting on.

We could have made it through the winter under 2 metres of snow and no hope of exiting the windows! Not that that’ll ever happen. What with the daffodils pushing up in January and all this year…

The Can Opener should be able to munch through even this gargantuan stockpile by the end of the year. And so he will. Neither of us believe in waste.

We’ll be maintaining the inventory lists and noting what and how much we eat this year. It’ll be good reference for provisioning a yacht later.

We’re on our way…

Have you ever maintained food stock inventories? On land or at sea?
Got any great finetuning tips for managing food that we should add into our system?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Downsizing
Next: Cruising Clothing Condensed
Previously: Downsizing Books – Can It Be Done?

Downsizing Books – Can It Be Done?

What are we doing?

Here‘s the decision tree I‘m training the Can Opener to use on his books…

1. Has the Can Opener read the book?

• If, yes… 
• is it sentimental?
• childhood book
• gift
• favourite book
• or actually written by a friend? 
• Or is it a reference text?
• sailing
• finance
• language text or dictionary
• travel guide
• …

• Sentiment and reference, he can keep.
• All else gets donated to the library (or if they won’t take it, the local youth hostel).

2. Has the Can Opener EVER read the book?

• If not read… — whaaaaaattt???? Why has my hard earned catfood been spent on this??!!!
• Will he ever read this?
• If yes, then go to 1.
• If no, then it gets donated. End of story.

Progress
You‘d think I‘d asked the Can Opener to put wax on his legs and then rip it off before he went cycling again. 


But despite all the yelping and anguish, we are making progress.


And it feels good to donate to the library. Our local biblio-rama is desperately in need of more business tomes and books of every kind.


I even plan to donate my beloved Encyclopedia of Feline Karate Bo, by Sensei Hiro Nekko. I‘ve already learned all the foundation moves anyway and am working on the ‘Intermediate‘ sequel.




It‘s aaaaall got to fit in a boat that‘s 30 feet or less. We’re on our way…

–Captain Cat


(transcribed by the Can Opener)


Downsizing
Next: Managing Food Inventory
Previously: Downsizing Papers That Breed

Downsizing Papers That Breed

Okay. This is the beginning of a loooong project…

There are two things at work here 
…that have caused the Can Opener’s current amazing-amounts-of-paper situation. 

One is that if you put two pieces of paper together on a desk – they breed at a speed that makes the Creationist version of evolution (it aaaaall happened in only 7 days…) look like an action movie slowed down to near standstill.

The other thing is that the Can Opener hasn’t changed continents in about a decade. And he is, in fact, a pretty thorough records-keeper (a legacy from his dark years as a Wharton-trained financial analyst). Hence there hasn’t been a paper purge in about a decade… It’s pretty daunting.

The only way to approach it all is with the sausage technique. Divide and conquer. One bitty stack at a time.


So how are we doing? 

1. I’ve got the Can Opener’s stacks of unfiled stuff on the desk halfway sorted. Yes, that’s right. Half-way. Every second paper is a ‘to do’ in itself…
2. And after all those papers are into binders or in the garbage, then I’ll (ruthlessly) prune the binders again.
3. The surviving binders (a box or two?) get stuffed in the attic for now.

And in other paper-based news?
The Can Opener has already done a first purge on his books. He’s attaches a fair bit of sentiment to some of them so this requires deliberation. Sometimes more than this cat has patience for. 

Books in my view are just platforms for snoozing upon and so one book is very much like another. I take this gooeyness as some tolerably less dangerous evidence of the Can Opener’s insanity and so grant him some indulgence here.

But he has managed to drag a stack of business texts over to the local library to donate and there are a couple more piles waiting to go. The Red Tabby Yacht Club library will likely get a tome or two as well.

The paper photos of decades are going to get i) scanned, ii) organised and iii) backed up online. Something that should have been done long ago.

We’re taking our time but keeping a steady pace. I’ve given us till the end of the year to get it done.

We’re on our way…

–Captain Cat


(transcribed by the Can Opener)


Downsizing
Next: Downsizing Books
Previously: Downsizing Everything




 

Downsizing Everything

Somehow over the long years the Can Opener has accumulated insane amounts of stuff. And it’s gotta go.

It’s mostly books, clothes, CDs, sports equipment and a few sticks of furniture. 

And paper records – records that stretch from here to forever: taxes, bank statements, photos, more photos… The kind of stuff that takes forever to go through, page by page.

Over the next year I will be (ruthlessly) paring all this down… until it’s reduced enough to fit inside a 30 foot boat.

The amazing thing about minimising everything you own is that after it’s gone, you can’t even remember what you had. (Yeah Furrball, if it’s my stuff, you aren’t going to notice that it’s gone. No point in asking if I get any say in this?… Thought not.)

Of course, I am perfectly positioned to pare down the Can Opener’s stuff. It’s always easier to organise someone else’s.

I will, however, also be organising my own assortment of things. Because I’m that dedicated.

I plan for a lazarette or two as shrines to the necessaries – my regal trappings, the smoked oyster collection, my colour-coded frillies… A few banks of my favourite snoozing books. The collapsible karate/yoga platform. There will only be room for basics. 

We’re on our way…

–Captain Cat


(transcribed by the Can Opener)


Downsizing
Next: Downsizing Paper