Downsizing, royally

[brett]

Downsizing for us took about four passes over seven months. We had a drop dead date of when we had to be out of the house and the container taken away for storage.

We became more serious at each pass. One thing we learned is that fewer and fewer people want ‘big’ furniture. At the same time we realized that the eventual move to a smaller home would involve new, smaller furniture. With the exception of the TV of course.

We don’t miss our previous life or the clutter that surrounded us.

 

[unclemick]

Hmm - house on 12 foot pilings over Lake Pontchartrain. Katrina solved my moving and downsizing needs.

That said - it is amazing how 'stuff' reappears, shows up and fulls empty spaces.

We even had a farm action to clear out stuff two years ago. DW and brother grew up there.

heh heh heh - and yet the empty pole barns seem to be 'magically' accumulating 'stuff'. IMHO there is no cure. Perhaps a tiny house or apartment?

 

[ncbill]

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...

Yup, I ended up selling what the family didn't want of my recently-deceased relative's furniture for token amounts or paying to have it hauled to the dump.

The silver they were so proud of was given to their kids, but as mass-market, post-war sterling silverware it is worth no more than melt value, & silver is now less than 1/2 the price of when they had it all appraised several years ago.

 

[Midpack]

We spent the last 5 years decluttering and downsizing selling "stuff" on eBay, NextDoor, donating, giving away and just tossing in preparation for relocating. It was truly liberating!

We ended up buying a house that more than 50% bigger than we had.

But we don't regret getting rid of all that stuff, and we're very careful about adding anything we don't need now, so it was a good exercise. We were amazed going through it all, finding things we hadn't used in 20 years and too many things we said "huh, I didn't know we still had that..."

 

[Walt34]

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 have a similar issue with a bunch of general use tools, some for automotive, some for model-making (which are surprisingly often useful for fixing anything small or tiny, so I'll keep them) and some that I don't have a current use for, but I'm sure I will the week after I give them away.

I did give away the ignition timing light since I haven't owned a vehicle with a distributor since 1985, and a couple of years ago I gave away the drill press that I hadn't used for ten years. So I'm "sorta" working on it.

 

[Nords]

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.

Swedish Death Cleaning.

I had to clear out my Dad's apartment when he could no longer live independently with Alzheimer's. He had just begun hoarding, but it would've been bad enough without that. The experience darn near turned me into a minimalist.

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.

PBS's Antiques Roadshow!

To be fair: I have a surfboard problem, but pretty soon I'll add a fourth rack in the house and I'll be able to afford more of them...

 

[always_learning]

We are also in the middle of a major purge.

The attic is finally empty (other than the boxes for the TVs). I have made more trips to the thrift store than I care to count and there is still so much to go through. The garage is the area that I'm dreading the most.

However, when I look at where I am now compared to where I started, I am astounded at how far things have come.

What worked for me was to make several passes. I did a "Purge Round One" through the entire house. Once done with that, I went back and did a "Purge Round Two". When it's time to pack, there will be a "Purge Round Three". I found that method worked really well for me as there was stuff in every room/closet that was obvious I could get rid of, so I did. That helped me get a better look at the rest so when I went back for round two, I could decide on the 'iffy' things. It really made a difference and seemed to not be as overwhelming as a complete purge in one go.

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.

For those who have furniture to get rid of, check your area for furniture consignment stores. I've sold some things already and have more to go. The market for used furniture isn't great, but you'll get more money than you would at at yard sales/Facebook. Most of them take furniture, wall hangings, and lamps, and the best part is they'll pick up for a reasonable fee (usually deducted from your first sales check).

 

[momoftwo]

2000 to 800.

Gave away lots of furniture, nextdoor, out to curb to be scoffed up.

Our 800 sf home is 2BR, 1.5 bath. Perfect for DH and me.
Perfect for one adult child or one set of friends to stay a day or two.

Perfect view of lake from our back dining area and deck.

To be honest, we DO have a full usable basement, half finished. DH can retreat to his computer, countless musical instruments when we need some separate space.
Other half has washer/dryer, plenty of good dry storage.
My job now, newly retired, is to continue the decluttering of this area. After 3 months, it's probably half done.

VERY wonderful feeling to have lightened up our lives.

 

[meleana]

We just sold our 2600 square foot home two months ago and are currently renting a 900 square foot home temporarily until our 1100 square foot retirement cottage is finished being built.


I still get emotional about it as we had everything in that house. It was not cluttered and we are not hoarders yet it still was a big job getting rid of most everything.


I miss my home right now but once in our new home I am sure I will be happy. We will need a new mattress and a new TV (ours broke recently and we are using a small one until we move).


We gave our son all his stuff that was in our attic. He has yet to go through it. Not our problem.


I am sure he will one day appreciate we did this now when we pass on as he is an only child.

 

[RobbieB]

Don't have to worry about the downsizing thing, live in 1400 sq-ft. For 30 years now.

 

[RetMD21]

I don't disagree that storage units are generally a bad idea but buying a bigger than necessary house to store stuff could be worse. We are looking at moving fro the Midwest to the Southwest and going from a 1400 square foot basement to none. Somehow the basement filled up with stuff in the past 25 years.

 

[Sand101]

DW and I are finally moving to our apartment in Mallorca

I have nothing to add except for a deep seated jealousy for your new landing spot. What part of the island are you going to?

 

[Scarab]

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

This happens to me every single time I go through a purge.

 

[ckelly78z]

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.

My son is 20 years old, and is still in his bedroom for a few more months. Our attic access is through his room, so i'm not really sure what all awaits me when we start clearing out the walk in attic. My daughter, and then my son, have been loading it up for 25 years.

I have a feeling that many bags of clothes/toys will be donated from our purge, there may even be a few items that are saleable on FB marketplace.