Rowayton Couple Cuts the Clutter and Moves On

As veterans of nine moves in their 33-year marriage, Chip and Shirley Nichols know what it takes to pack up a home and move into new digs. Or they thought they did until their most recent move from a large home in Darien to a cottage rental in Rowayton.

Chip’s advice to anyone downsizing is “start culling early. And hire a third party, someone you know and trust, to help.” With years of accumulated belongings that had to be drastically reduced to fit into the new home, the Nichols found their stress level rising to dangerous levels. “Women have trouble parting with their stuff,” says Chip. “Men, in general, don’t.”

Shirley is still mystified as to how they collected so much. “We started off with a stereo, books on shelves made from bricks and planks of wood, and a mattress,” she remembers. When they returned to the U.S. from London 10 years ago they had an entire shipping container. “I had all the boxes of kids’ memorabilia. The boxes went with us to England and came back again. I never even looked in them,” she says. Shirley calls it memory clutter. During this latest move she finally realized that her three boys, all grown men now, had no interest in the macaroni collages they’d made in nursery school. “I threw out all the toys even the Legos.” Chip wants to know about the plastic dinosaurs. “I kept those,” Shirley says, “and our favorite children’s books.”

Chip credits the rapid advance in technology with helping him fill the Dumpster. “So much of what you might keep is obsolete,” he says, listing videos, cassettes, vinyl records and reference books as examples of what he tossed. Shirley has sorted through the family photos and is having them scanned. “All the photos that were in frames are now in a nice album,” she adds. What else did she toss? “Clothes! I realized that I tend to wear the same things all the time, so I got rid of the rest,” she says. “Oh, and the linen closet. I culled that.”

The Nichols are starting to recover from the trauma of moving. “I’m never moving again,” says Chip, “but if I do I’m going to avoid moving during the holidays or in a snowstorm!”

Got any war stories you'd like to share about moving? Drop me a line below or at fpearson@mainstreetconnect.us

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