Get a Head Start on Downsizing

WHEN I retired as editor of this magazine, one of the things at the top of my to-do list was to clean out my closets and get rid of other assorted stuff that had accumulated over decades.

- JANET BODNAR

Now, eight years later, I have to admit that I've made only modest progress.

I've made at least one pass at all the closets, given away much of my work-era wardrobe and handed off to my now-grown kids all their old school papers. Yet somehow the closets are still full, the books seem to have regenerated on the shelves, and I don't even want to think about the pre-cell phone photographs. I'm not planning to move anytime soon, but I sought advice from downsizing specialists on how to get a head start on paring back my possessions.