What’s the hardest thing about downsizing? Parting with the things we keep for both practical and sentimental reasons. Let’s face it, some things are REALLY hard to part with! My old cell phone, for instance, has no use whatsoever, except that it stores the text messages that my sister Ferne and I shared daily for the 3 years before she died. The memories stored there are priceless to me but meaningless to anyone else.