We donated some furniture that didn’t sell on Craig’s list to a charity called a Wider Circle. They give it to active duty military families. I’m sure there are lots of worthy charities near you that would appreciate anything you need to let go of.
Thanks everyone
My kids are 27 and 31. They love a hike from here…and have taken what they say they want. This means…I should only keep what I need and want when we downsize…and that is what will happen.
Can’t edit…they LIVE a hike from here!
I live in a city - when I was getting rid of things I’d put it in the alley behind our house - then put a notice on Craigs List and Nextdoor.com. Everything would disappear that very same day.
For the past year or so, since D graduated high school, we’ve been on a little bit of a purge figuring we’d move/downsize in the next in the next few years. It’s a lot easier to do it in little bites; once or twice a month we’ll pick a room or even just a closet and try to de-clutter. We’ve probably tossed a good 20-30 garbage bags full of stuff so far and it doesn’t even feel like we’ve made a dent!
I find myself making 3-4 passes on things. Stuff that I initially want to keep I eventually come around on and later toss. Sentimental stuff is like that, it takes a little while to accept the loss! Start slow and small and give yourself time to adjust mentally and you’ll find yourself picking up speed and getting more “heartless” about getting rid of stuff as you go along.
This is why we started the process over a year ago. It helped me gradually adapt to the idea that I would be getting rid of sentimental stuff. It gave me practice at doing it. Even the talking about it can be part of that process of letting go as long as you eventually start doing it.
S1 and S2 didn’t realize how long it would take them to go through their old bedrooms to decide what to keep and what to toss. Fortunately, they’ll be visiting again before we decide to move so they can go through more stuff.
DH will need to do 3-4 passes on things. He’s much more likely to want to keep things, so I’m hoping I can get him to reconsider on subsequent passes.
Last year, I gave away a bed using Craigslist. It was taken by a woman who had been homeless and had just gotten an apartment. Downsizing this way feels so good!
We radically downsized last year, from a 2850 s.f. home with a 3 car garage that we lived in for 15 years to a 1350 s.f. condo with underground parking and a small storage space. Initially, we paid for two additional offsite storage units filled with stuff I couldn’t bear to part with, but in December we cleaned out those units and ended up keeping very few of the items. Things that I really loved but that didn’t work in the new place I set aside and invited my girlfriends to take, so I can visit or borrow as needed. Pretty much everything else was donated to local charities. It has been an awesome move for us, and there is really nothing that I miss. But, as someone mentioned above, it did take several passes before I was able to make the deep cuts.
westcoastmomof2, you’ve done exactly what DH and I would like to do very soon.
Our 3600 SF house has served us well but its time to downsize soon. I would love a condo in an urnad area so I can walk to shops, easy mass transit, etc. Our youngest will be in high school next year and her older siblings are now off on their own. As for going through our stuff, we are on the call list of a local charity. When they call, I usually have 2-3 bags or boxes of items to donate. If I don’t,
I sweep the closets and storage to find things!
One of the strategies that I have found helpful is instead of looking at it as what to get rid of, look at it as what to keep. Example - clothes. I asked myself to pick out my favorites - that I like and wear. Once I did that, it was easier to deal with/donate the remainder. Did the same with books - picked out my favorites that I enjoy rereading. The remainder gets donated. It feels more positive this way as I am embracing the items I value first, and then focusing on what remains.
One thing I do is ask myself “can someone else use this?”. The answer is almost always yes.
OK…I did something today that I think might be helpful. Someone upstream suggested pulling the little plaques off of the trophies. So I did that. Then I had small brass framed picture frames. I put the plaques in a piece of white card stock…and framed them. Tada…one frame instead of a bunch of trophies.
I am not one to talk, because we still have a big house filled with tons of junk we don’t need, but when we moved from NJ to NC we paid for the move ourselves, and 44 cents per pound was a great incentive to evaluate every item’s “worth” to us. A pair of old loudspeakers - much sentimental value - but worth an additional $25? They went on Craigslist, joined by a few other things, but most of it went to charity shops (similar to Goodwill) and we also made many productive trips to the town dump. Our mover’s bill was almost 1000 pounds under the initial estimate after our weight reducing efforts. But as I said, we still have far too much junk.
We have had floors refinished and interior rooms painted. All required moving everything OUT of the living spaces. Each time…we have moved less back in. Right now we are on the tail end of the interior painting…and hoping to get at least 10 more boxes of stuff OUT.
Best thing that happened to me (looking back, not at the time!) was agreeing to have the interior painters paint the inside of the closets. My dad had unexpected surgery a few weeks before the painting, and the closet cleanout was under severe time pressure in the last few days before the painters arrived – but it got done!
I am highly invested in my furniture. Much of it is family furniture. Other items are things that I got on the cheap, but that have a wonderful “story” behind them. For example, I have three very nice 4’x6’ quarter-sawn bookcases that were made at the Ohio penitentiary and were pulled out of the Ohio State business/journalism school that I bought off of eBay. They still have the old brass identification tags that school furniture used to have. I just never want to part with them. I only paid $300 each for them.
My hope is that some of this furniture will some day make it into our childrens’ homes. I cannot imagine that they would not want it. I currently have an old Victrola sitting in storage. My mother made a point of giving it to me after she became ill because she knew I would take care of it, but I have no place to put it. I feel a little guilty about this, and need to stick the thing somewhere.
At any rate, don’t throw away any family furniture. It really can’t be replaced.
Your children may very well disappoint you in that front…
I am so glad I moved to a two bedroom condo from a single family home.
The conveniences I have living in such a central location I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Living in small home forces me to constantly clean out closets and limit purchases.
If I resolve to live compactly this place can be very spacious. Multipurpose furniture is a space saver and living without all the clutter gives me a peace of mind. Having to spend less time maintaining a small home gives me more time to do things I really enjoy. Honestly the more simpler I make my life the happier I am. It is so nice to know where everything is.