In an effort to save money, my fiancee and I recently downsized and moved into the most affordable apartment we could find. Before the move, we inhabited a circa-1920s home that measured about 1,600 square feet total. We now live in a 1940s-built apartment that’s roughly 750 square feet.

It’s a great deal: our monthly rent was reduced by about 40 percent and, thanks to the pinnacle of 1940s boiler technology, we’ll no longer have hefty gas bills in the winter. In fact, the only utility we pay now is electricity. The trade-offs are less space, no longer having a fenced-in yard for our dogs, paper-thin walls and competing for parking spaces. But, with less than six months to go before our October wedding, the savings are a godsend.

One of the biggest challenges for us was reducing the amount of clutter we've carried over the years before we moved in together. We both lived on our own for at least four years prior, accumulating more junk with each passing year. When we moved in together, we devoted an entire spare bedroom to only things we didn't need or use. So, over four weekends, my fiancee and I went on a clutter-reduction rampage. We moved through closets of clothes, blankets, documents, files and unmarked boxes full of assorted junk with a single principle: if it hasn’t been used in a year, get rid of it.

The result was at least four truckloads of stuff we no longer wanted or needed being taken to our local Goodwill. By the end of our month-long purge, we were on a first-name basis with the drop-off bay volunteer who helps unload donations. We’re also still cautious about frequenting the store as customers. For one, probably half the store is our stuff, and for two, we dread the possibility of repurchasing our forsaken junk.

I will say that living without the excess flotsam I carried with me for year after year is a wonderful feeling. Moving only a block away took a shorter amount of time and much less exertion. Our new apartment has more space than I ever imagined, despite being considerably smaller than our last. And everything just feels more organized and less cluttered — which reduces stress. A bonus for my fiancee, who loves to shop for anything that has to do with home decorating: she got to buy all new stuff for our new clean, uncluttered tiny apartment.