Downsizing, royally

[BigNick]

DW and I are finally moving to our apartment in Mallorca from our rented home in France. (We owned our house until 2006, but moved closer to town when our kids were 17 and 15 as the taxi service thing was getting ridiculous, and it made sense to rent at that point.)

Oh my word, what a lot of crap we are throwing out. Our apartment is fully equipped (we bought it empty but have completely furnished it over the past two years), so we will only move a couple of pieces of furniture and a few items of sentimental value; probably less than 200 cubic feet. Everything else is going. Our couches and beds are 20+ years old and going to goodwill or the dump (both of whom collect bulky items for free). Bookshelves, books, and so many clothes (especially DW's; she had a need-to-be-smart job).

This has mostly been a pragmatic decision, but also, when the time comes we don't want our kids to have to clear out a whole house full of stuff. It's a hassle anyway, and when it's your parents' stuff it's even worse. In fact when we pass on, they will probably keep the apartment for vacations anyway, so they may only have to clear out a couple of closets worth of clothes. (Or we might move back to France in a few years, if we get that long.)

If there is a point to this post, it's to say, consider emptying the garage and those boxes of crap that you're never going to open again, before someone else has to do it for you. Otherwise, thanks for letting me babble.

 

[Gumby]

Thanks for the reminder. Now that we've retired, I may finally venture up into the attic to clear it out. Since we bought the house 27 years ago, stuff has only gone in there, never out. Among other things, there are Navy uniforms up there that I have not worn in over 33 years.

 

[CaliKid]

We try to re-look at things every year or two. Why did we save that? The answer changes and the longer stuff sits, totally unused, the more obvious the choice is to get rid of it. Truly a great feeling to drop a load off at the thrift store or the dump!

 

[brett]

We found downsizing incredibly liberating.

We downsized from a 4/5 bedroom 3700 sq foot home into an 8X8X16 container prior to selling our home and traveling.

Anything that did not fit into that container was not kept. The only exception were some valuables in a bank safe deposit box and some private papers that my son kept for us.

When we unpacked that container a year or so later to move into a rented condo we found ourselves still giving away things, wondering why on earth we had kept this or that.

The process changed how we live and how much value we place on experiences and people over possessions. We have not missed a thing. Not once has either of us said we wished we had kept this or that. The opposite is true.

The best thing we did was retire early. The second best was to sell our home and downsize.

 

[Spock]

While I'm not a "hoarder", I do tend to stock pile things.
We've moved over a dozen times... including 3 cross country moves... so I've kept most all the moving boxes and packing paper... because I might need it again.


Then there are all the "work" boxes. Boxes (and boxes) of books, tech manuals, etc. that were to help me get my next job or keep the one I had. Since I am involuntarily retired early, I'm having a real hard time throwing this stuff away. But at the same time, nobody uses reference manuals/books any more its all on Google (I swear being a better engineer is more about being a better googler/knowing what to look up than knowledge firmly embedded in the brain). Also the books are in near new condition (Unix, fundamental networking, scripting hasn't changed in decades)... it would be a wasteful shame to throw it out, but there isn't any market for it either.



electronics/laptops: stuff I could use in tinker projects if I ever stop staring at the internet long enough to do tinker projects.


Clothes: "if I lose the weight the Dr wants me to those will fit again".


"My next move is going to start with a can of gas and a match..."

 

[W2R]

If there is a point to this post, it's to say, consider emptying the garage and those boxes of crap that you're never going to open again, before someone else has to do it for you. Otherwise, thanks for letting me babble.

My dear Frank has been downsizing considerably, and he is quite a "packrat" by nature so I am impressed! He has made several trips to Goodwill this month, and just yesterday threw out a large box full of old ham radio magazines - - something I thought he would never do in a million years. But he can access them through an online service so he decided that was good enough.

I plan to follow his lead and start getting rid of stuff, but so far have done nothing but muse about it. I did get rid of over half of my stuff when I moved here four years ago, so my garage has very little in it except for the car. There are a few tools for yardwork, which I need to get rid of since I don't do yardwork any more. Still, the garage may look great but somehow stuff keeps piling up in the house.

Overall, we just don't feel the need for so much stuff any more as we grow older. Plus, like you, we don't want to leave a gigantic mess when we are no longer here. Another factor is falls; at 71 I feel that I am already at an age where I need to be very careful to avoid falls, and being clumsy, I just can't have stuff all over the place to trip over.

So far we are nowhere near the point where we would feel like we can't take care of our homes and need to move to studio apartments or assisted living. But when that happens, it will be much more difficult (physically!) to downsize than it is now. As a last resort, when I get to that age I would have an estate sale I suppose.

 

[braumeister]

Whenever this topic comes up, I have to smile at myself.

When I went on active duty, I packed up a box, not too much bigger than a shoebox, with my fly tying stuff. That box accompanied me through all my many, many moves and was still untouched when I retired from the military, more than 20 years later.

Over the next 20 years it remained untouched, until I finally decided to get back into fly fishing, and just about everything in it was still useful to me. So it's not always a bad thing to hold onto some stuff.

 

[aja8888]

I have a garage full of automotive tools and power tools. Plus, I have two air compressors and a bunch of automotive painting gear. I don't know what I am going to do with all this stuff when I decide I have had enough of restoring old cars and fixing just about everything that breaks around here.

I did give a large, 6' tall tool box full of sockets and other hand tools to a local sheriff who has befriended our ROMEO group last year, but that was just mostly the duplicates I had collected over the years.

No one in the family is "handy" so these tools will probably get sold via Craigslist someday.

 

[Souschef]

We downsized from two 1800 sq ft homes to our 1400 sq ft home. DW lived in her place for about 30 years, so she had quite a bit of stuff to get rid of.
I had less, some I sold, some I gave away, and some donated to Goodwill.
DW brought with her some plastic tubs of stuff that have sat unopened in our shed for the 12 years we have been here. I have decided to pick my battles and not say anything

 

[Moemg]

We are in the process of downsizing . It seems to take forever but it is getting done .Our goal is to move into our last house next year .

 

[W2R]

We are in the process of downsizing . It seems to take forever but it is getting done .Our goal is to move into our last house next year .

How exciting to be moving next year!! I hope you two find a terrific house and I wish the best for you in this move.

 

[Jerry1]

DW and I moved out of our previous house which we raised the daughters and lived there 26 years. The house was about the same size but I went from having a basement (about 1200 sqft) and a three car garage to a house on a slab and a two car garage. It was a massive task to downsize but it was worth it. We resisted the urge to get a storage unit but it did take us awhile to get at least one car in the garage. Storage units make no sense in most cases. Let’s say they cost $100/month. Of course that’s $1,200 per year. Unless what you’re putting in there is prized or otherwise worth $1,200+, there’s no point in doing it.

Since we moved, the purge continues. For us, especially DW, it’s very hard to part with stuff but it gets easier the more we do it. Like most, many donations and a few Craigslisted. Then this year, we move her mother into assisted living and had to get rid of her belongings from a house she lived in over 50 years. Thankfully the house was fairly small, but it still took most of the summer. In the final push before closing on her moms house, another batch of stuff ended up in our garage. We had that cleared out in about a month. It seems like a never ending stream of stuff.

We’ve been trying to get our daughter on board with purging. She can hardly walk through her basement. As many have said, one of our main incentives for our purging, is that we don’t want to leave the burden to our two daughters. I think we’ll get there. It’s actually getting better. It really takes the mindset of, if you’re not going to use it, get rid of it. Even if you make some mistakes and regret getting rid of a few things, it will be outweighed by how good you feel about the decluttered life you lead going forward. We’re about three quarters down the path and it’s already a good feeling.

For those that don’t have something to force the downsizing, like moving into a smaller place, I encourage you to just get started. It’s amazing how much stuff is tucked away in a house if you’re a keeper of the stuff (hoarder).

 

[BigNick]

Storage units make no sense in most cases.

Round here, 100 sq ft of storage unit floor space in a metal warehouse on the edge of town costs not much less than 100 sq ft of studio apartment floor space in an average neighbourhood. I suspect a lot of people are either making irrational decisions, or have dead bodies to get rid of.

 

[REWahoo]

I have a garage full of automotive tools and power tools. Plus, I have two air compressors and a bunch of automotive painting gear. I don't know what I am going to do with all this stuff when I decide I have had enough of restoring old cars and fixing just about everything that breaks around here.

I did give a large, 6' tall tool box full of sockets and other hand tools to a local sheriff who has befriended our ROMEO group last year, but that was just mostly the duplicates I had collected over the years.

No one in the family is "handy" so these tools will probably get sold via Craigslist someday.

I've also collected a far larger than needed assortment of tools over the years. I refer to them as "dead men tools" as I inherited many of them from my deceased dad, FIL and brother.

 

[aja8888]

I've also collected a far larger than needed assortment of tools over the years. I refer to them as "dead men tools" as I inherited many of them from my deceased dad, FIL and brother.

What are your plans for eventual disposal? I have no plan at this time, but I need to think it out.

 

[dtbach]

I'd downsize, but it always seems that as soon as I throw something out, I end up needed it a month later. . . .

 

[dvalley]

What are your plans for eventual disposal? I have no plan at this time, but I need to think it out.

Likewise, I probably have $20k-30k in tools (automotive, machining, welding, some woodworking etc). You can either donate them to a local trade school or if you wish to pass on the proceeds someday after we're gone then I'd probably make a list of the tools with their fair market value so they don't get sold for $.05 on the dollar. A lot of my electronics tools (snapon scanners etc) will probably be $0 worth if I live another 30 yrs (i'm 45) because by then cars will be completely different

 

[Bamaman]

Tools are something you really don't need to get rid of. While you might not use them all the time, you will use'em enough to keep. I've got a full cabinet shop.

We are in the process of moving from our 5200 square foot house into a 3900 square foot house with triple car garage. I've been moving boxes for 6 weeks 65 miles one way. Next comes the furniture.

Our problem is that we inherited furniture from my parents' two houses and my aunt that took up six single car garages, Their furniture is 1940's fine furniture of much better quality than what we had. But really, who needs 5 couches, 6 full bedroom suites, 3 dining room sets, 3 sets of china, massive amounts of crystal and silver items of all kind. Used family furniture and "stuff" just pulls nothing on eBay or Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.

My triple car garage is already full, and something's got to give. But when we get all that beautiful furniture in place, the house will be nice. And to think 2 houses ago, my wife said she was never moving again.

 

[Music Lover]

I just completed a reno that turned my 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house into a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom. In addition my girlfriend is moving in and her daughter will be using the other bedroom. So not only have I lost the "spare" room that was used for storage, we both now have to purge to make room for 2 households of things.

 

[davebarnes]

I do not understand this inability to get rid of stuff.
Just freecycle it. Curb or alley. Gone.

 

[Ronstar]

I do not understand this inability to get rid of stuff.
Just freecycle it. Curb or alley. Gone.

Just dont take a break raking leaves and leave the rake in your freecycle spot. I took a little break and left my rake leaning against a tree out at the street. Following days of leaving stuff marked free out there. Came back from my break and found that my rake had been taken.

 

[pacergal]

We have a continuous purge here, at least 1-2 trips to Goodwill monthly, even if its just a grocery bag or two. I try to go through my kitchen cabinets every year; if I haven't used it--out it goes.
We did call 1-800-got junk last spring with a bunch of furniture and kitchen stuff. I have no wish to try and sell anything. And we are not allowed to "free cycle" on the curb in our neighborhood--you get a nice note from the city!

 

[Gumby]

We have a continuous purge here, at least 1-2 trips to Goodwill monthly, even if its just a grocery bag or two. I try to go through my kitchen cabinets every year; if I haven't used it--out it goes.
We did call 1-800-got junk last spring with a bunch of furniture and kitchen stuff. I have no wish to try and sell anything. And we are not allowed to "free cycle" on the curb in our neighborhood--you get a nice note from the city!

We have "big trash day" twice a year in my city. We put stuff out to the curb 4 or 5 days early and it is usually all gone before the city truck comes around for pickup.

 

[Ronstar]

We are on a continuous purge also. Started in April when we sold our Arizona snowbird condo. We cleared out the 1350sf condo in less than a week. Furniture to a consignment store, remainder to Goodwill, bulk garbage pickup, and took a pickup truck load back to primary home in Illinois.

Then started purging the Illinois place. Clearing out seldom used stuff through a garage sale, garbage pickup, Goodwill and giving things away.

Looking forward to downsizing to a smaller home within a couple of years. From approx 3800 sf now to around 2000 sf in a new place. We’ll be purging a lot before the move. Plan is to not take any current furniture to the new place.

 

[JDARNELL]

Went from 4400 to 1177. Purged purged purged. Still have to much stuff. We did it over 9 months in waves one room
At a time. I estimate an easy 30% reduction could still be accomplished.