With the average house size in Hong Kong being 45 m2 / 484 ft2 and Australia being 214 m2 / 2,303 ft2, it meant considerable downsizing when we moved. We intended to stay for a couple of years so stored things in our attic space in Australia while it was rented out.

I’ve moved five times in Hong Kong with the last two being solo relocations into considerably smaller spaces. Our first place had three bedrooms and a large yard (by HK standards) and was quite spacious. The next two were mirror images as they were next door to each other – we didn’t venture far on that move!

Moving solo to HK Island, with all the furniture of the last two places, meant I took a place considerably larger than what one person really needs. I was in no state of mind at that time to be working out what I actually wanted to keep so I decided to temporarily keep it all and sort it out later. Expensive exercise but somethings shouldn’t be rushed.

That particular place advertised as three bedrooms. It was more like one bedroom with three walk-in wardrobes (including the helper’s room). One bedroom was so small that if the sofa bed was out, the door couldn’t be opened. Or the cupboards. And the bed could be climbed into from the doorway only. You get the idea.

Over two years, a lot of stuff left that place. Clothes, furniture, a bicycle and hardest of all, books. I had come to HK with no books yet managed to accumulate three bookshelves worth plus what I had on my kindle.

As space cleared, I felt increasingly lighter. There was something about having all this spare room that felt really relaxing and peaceful. I continued by allocating a box to put one thing in per day and when it was full, I donated it. I’m surprised to say, I’m still not short of things to discard.

Through this exercise, we sold our house in Australia. Each trip back prior to selling, I had been going into the attic and putting piles together to either take back to HK or donate. Thankfully my Best Woman was there to give me moral support, drive to the Salvos and also take some of the items! It was tough, mainly because it represented all of what we had accumulated over a long period of time, the future we were going to have together was no more, we had saved hard for some of these items and I could easily remember how and when we obtained it all.

It’s interesting what we saved when we thought we were going to be back soon. Some of it was temporarily missed, but not much and not for long. A lot no longer belongs to either of us now. Again, the hardest thing to part with were books. It became easier when I realised what I could get on my kindle so I only kept those that I really did read again rather than those that I kept for no apparent reason.

It had me thinking about why I had kept them for so long in the first place. Particularly the ones that I only read once. I decided it’s a status / image thing. I identify as being a reader so I should have books. It is not logical, purposeful or practical so most now belong to other people. Again, it felt quite freeing and I like the idea that someone else is now able to benefit from these books.

It backfired somewhat last weekend when I donated a pile of books to a secondhand bookshop. I came back with three books. At least that’s less than what I donated. Two of them will end up back there but one is staying with me for quite some time. It’s about the House of Faberge and until I manage to see a few of the eggs, it will remain with me.

Now I want to get rid of all my paper. I’ve decided to scan and have borrowed a friend’s scanner. I sorted through my utility room where I had kept a few unpacked boxes knowing that they contained a mix of books and paper (they were out of sight for a while but no longer! Such an easy way to procrastinate when things aren’t continuously visible). These were then piled on my dining table, ready for me to begin. They sat there for a few weeks. I added to the piles as I found other items for scanning around the place. The piles continued to grow for a further few weeks. They were reorganised a couple of times. Then it became too much. It looks messy and was driving me crazy.

The never-before-used-scanner was unpacked, set up and software installed on my laptop. It didn’t work. Over two hours I tried various things and could manage to have it print and photocopy, but not scan.

My piles have temporarily stopped multiplying however, they are not yet shrinking either.

Lucky I have a work offsite this week and will avoid seeing the piles.

I will be sorting that out this weekend.

Time to feel free again.


* Thanks to The Soup Dragons (for their cover version and The Rolling Stones for the original) title to this post