Downsizing: All the Dog Things

In our drastic downsizing effort, for our move into our Airstream Charlie, we realized taking account of everything every member of the family owns adds up to A LOT of STUFF. Our happy family is myself, my husband and our canine girls Patti and Penny. So two adult humans and two adorable pups. Two adults and no children so it can’t be that bad, right? But you know what? When trying to streamline our lives for tiny living we realized not only do we have to deal with all of our own stuff, we also have to deal with the dogs! Who knew how much stuff a couple of dogs could have (especially since as far as we know they don’t have their own line of credit opened at the pet store).

They have their own drawer in the kitchen which holds at last count: 3 different containers of treats, dental sticks (which we never remember to give them), heartworm medication, and calming gel (which we bought when Penny got re-spade but it never worked). They also have a giant basket full of toys in the living room with most of the toys missing limbs or heads. Both Patti and Penny have two beds each, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Both have a set of water and food bowls. Penny has a massive crate which she sleeps in at night. We keep a Costco-sized bag of dog food in the garage.  Lastly they have a section of the laundry room where we keep their leashes, brush, nail trimmers and doggie shampoo.

Now anyone who owns a dog can probably relate to the list above. And in truth in the house we are in now all the dog things don’t add up to much. But in our 200ft Airstream this is not going to work. So not only do we get to downsize our belongings, we also get to downsize our dogs! One set of bowls for food and water, one bag of treats, one bed each, … you get the idea. The big downsizing will be with the toys and this is going to be harder on me then them. Some of these old, pulled apart toys have memories associated with them for me. Not for the dogs obviously though I do say things like “ O but it’s Patti’s favorite.” Really the dogs need a couple of balls, a bone, a rope and a couple of stuffed toys. That’s it (even that’s a lot but we spoil them rotten).

We realized that when your family goes tiny every member of the family has to downsize…. including the pups. So in your downsizing effort don’t forget your pets! They are members of the family too and somehow seem to have more stuff than you might think.