<p>^^^ Thanks, but I have a thousand books of my own. Every once in a while I’ll pull one out I haven’t read in 10 or 15 years and read it again. 
</p>
<p>I am running out of shelf pace though. Time to move! Or time for a bonfire. ;)</p>
<p>^Time for an e-reader. I don’t buy nearly as many books since I got my Kindle. It’s nice to be able to carry your entire book collection on a small device. :)</p>
<p>I can sooooo relate to this thread. I really would love to sell at least part of our business. Feeling completely overwhelmed by everything and honestly worried about my husband’s well being. It is just too much . We are also stuck with our former home that we have used as a rental property. I’m tired of that burden …literally cannot find any qualified tenants these days and some of them are downright scary.</p>
<p>^ I have a Kindle, and if there was a way to get all my books onto it without having to buy them all again (assuming I even could buy them all again), I would chuck them all in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>I will be 50 in January. I dream of the day when I don’t have to answer anyone’s questions. I had an elderly uncle who used to say, “I wished everyone would just leave me alone!” I so get that now.</p>
<p>Dinosaur alert: I love my books. I love seeing shelves of them. I love the feel of pages. I love the covers. </p>
<p>I also love my CD and records.</p>
<p>Clearly, I need tangible evidence of the stuff I love most. I’ve given up trying to be different. That’s just how i’ll always be.</p>
<p>My feelings exactly–so sick of the big house, big bills, big STUFF! I just dropped off my nephew at his house–1400 square feet - 3 bedrooms—I am so there. Just find it for me on one floor with a nice view and I am out of here!</p>
<p>I got rid of half my books two months ago(sold about 250 of them to a local used book store and the rest to the library sale)
I did it after an old college friend asked : “What are these, your” knowledge trophies?" "</p>
<p>I am determined to pass on the rest to someone who can enjoy them.</p>
<p>However, I am having a tough time ridding myself of over 700 lps.</p>
<p>OP here. This has been so fun and reaffirming to read through all of your posts. Most of my friends look at me like I’m crazy when I talk about my downsizing fantasy. Apparently I’m not alone. It will be fun to restart this thread in a couple of years to see what all of us have done. I think there’s something almost of Zen like when it comes to living simply; I’m ready to experience it.</p>
<p>H and I ended up trying out a smaller place when he got a new job three hours away from our home. Rather than totally relocate at this point in our lives, since we are near retirement (60 now), we decided to purchase a small condo as a *pied a terre *during the week. </p>
<p>I insisted that our new place be in a real sidewalk walking town – walk to library, parks, shopping, etc.</p>
<p>We got a lovely and beautifully located, but small (724 sq. ft.) one bedroom across from a town park with a pond. We can easily walk to the train, shops, movie house, restaurants, etc. The town is delightful and offers everything. We love it.</p>
<p>H is there during the week and usually returns to our main home on weekends. I generally go with him to the alternate site on Sundays, and come back to our main home on Wednesdays. </p>
<p>But we have tried spending a few weekends at the little place and have very much enjoyed them, so plan to do that more. </p>
<p>Main home is on an acre of land and needs a lot of upkeep – gardens, tree trimming, lawn, leaves, roof, etc.</p>
<p>Condo is beautifully renovated by previous owner and a minimalist and turn key operation. I find myself feeling really good walking in there – and discouraged by all that confronts me when I am at the main house.</p>
<p>Of course, I do realize that part of the reason the condo can be minimalist is because we have most of our “stuff” (clutter) in the main place. But seeing how nice it is to be streamlined has made me resolve to make our main place more like our condo. I try to get a bag to Goodwill regularly and have zero interest in shopping. If I don’t have it I probably don’t need it. </p>
<p>Both H and I make a point of leaving no clutter in the condo. We have piles of stuff in the main house. When we were first married we had no clutter in a small apartment. Makes me realize that we tend to fill spaces but can live with much less. </p>
<p>I have enjoyed reading this thread.</p>
<p>“ZERO INTEREST IN SHOPPING” That’s the secret. I only shop when I REALLY need something and I no longer consider shopping trips as a form of entertainment. When I am out and about and feel tempted by yet another “thingy”, I imagine that item sitting on a shelf in the closet and it no longer tempts me.</p>
<p>I encourage people to get rid of the big house when the kids go away to college. When we finally sold the family home we grew up in, I was left to the job of getting rid of all Mom’s stuff. While she was definitely a hoarder, a good amount of the bigger stuff was furniture and stuff left there by my siblings. There was even furniture left there by nephews’ college friends who didn’t want to transport it back home. I filled up a storage unit with sentimental furniture, as well as the college student’s furniture, as it will save me buying my son furniture when he finally moves on his own. The rest of it went to a dumpster that I paid a lot of money to have brought and hauled away. Occasionally, one of the silbings will say, What happened to such and such? I just say, I don’t know. If they really wanted it, they could have helped me clean out the house and taken it then. </p>
<p>When we bought our house, it was immediately filled up with castoffs from the inlaws and other relatives. We bought hardly any furniture ourselves. </p>
<p>I think this is why I do not have a real sense of my house being mine. It’s not something I designed or decorated or furnished myself. It’s more been a large storage unit that I just happen to eat, sleep and take a shower in.</p>
<p>did it after an old college friend asked : “What are these, your” knowledge trophies?"</p>
<p>:)
I like books, but I know that I am not going to reread most of them ( & the ones I keep, I know that when I read them- they will be brand new to me!)</p>
<p>I also would rather have the space- we have a small house & while I admit I am keeping " a few" of the magazines and books that I had when the kids were little- perhaps for grandkids & I am keeping about half of their paperbacks from grade school ( packed away in a closet), I mostly read on my iphone or laptop. ( thinking of getting H a kindle for Fathers Day cause I noticed he has the font size so large on his ipod touch , he can barely get one run-on sentence in.)</p>
<p>I would love to get rid of half our stuff- we have lived here since 1983 & I live in horror to think what the kids would have to deal with if something happened to us.
Of course it is mostly H’s stuff. 
He has a backpack for instance that he " rescued" from a garage sale. It is an external frame backpack that looks like it has been through a fire. He has never used it & he has had it for 30 years. </p>
<p>I like my stuff but I also could get along with much less, but when I clear out a shelf he comes and puts something on it!</p>
<p>^^^So true! Except whenever I clear off a shelf, I dump something else on it.</p>
<p>As an empty nester, husband has been wanting to hit roadside flea markets. Everytime we drive past one on the way to visit family or pick up son from college, he says, One day, I want to come here and hit that place.</p>
<p>And each time, I say a silent prayer, Please, God, let that never happen.</p>
<p>Sounds like our family and (me) would push many “stuff” buttons. I was a military brat until I had kids and then we moved almost as much. No permanent homes, no home town, no roots, just on to the next adventure.</p>
<p>Once all 5 kiddos were in high school we all decided having a “centralized location” to return to would be nice. So we packed up, moved from Northen CA to a sleepy rural southern small town and made a “forever” home. Its been almost 8 years and I still love it. Kiddos have completed undergrad and are off to grad school, all local now after having gone far, far away for undergrad, they have all come home for the most part.</p>
<p>I do have a ton of “stuff” they all manage to store but I recall a time where I had no room for even the things they needed daily. Most of their childhood items are scarce and what they did all have fit into 2 or 3 boxes for all 5. So 5 kiddos after 27 years fitting into such small packages made them all sad. They have made up for it and yet they can still manage to put many of their things into just a few boxes.</p>
<p>Son was gone for spring break and had a med school interview (needed to take suit/tie/dress shoes), was gone 10 days and managed to fit into a small carryon/doubles as backpack and laptop bag. Says he travels light, actually all 5 do even the girls. That part has not changed.</p>
<p>But with a “home” they have managed to accumulate stuff in the last 8 years and I am more than happy to hold it for them. I have slowly with the help of ebay, slowly acquired back what others get rid of when they are “decluttering”.</p>
<p>The books each learned to read on that where only in the library before, a favorite toy, and some other keepsakes that they did not get to keep. They laugh and say it goes in my “grandbaby” bucket for the future.</p>
<p>This is the longest any of us have lived anywhere. So yes mowing the lawn in this heat and humidity is a bear but afterwards I get to sit on “my” front porch and watch it grow all over again. Told the kittens we will be here til I can’t be here no more!</p>
<p>Kat
ps ever see the movie “Doc Hollywood”? This is my Grady.</p>
<p>A friend and I were looking at storage sheds as an option, until we realized that our back-yards would slowly fill up with storage sheds.</p>
<p>I really hear you, on this thread. When I looked around the house a year or two ago, I realized that what I really wanted for Christmas was “less.” However, we are not quite ready to invest the time in clearing things. D suggests that we move to a new house, while keeping our current house for “storage.” (This is a joke! But not such a funny one!)</p>
<p>^^^So true, quantum. With the housing market as it is, I sometimes think it would be cheaper for us to buy a new house, move in with just the necessities, and take everything out of storage and put it into this already cluttered house. Only problem is, no one would be able to walk in the door at that point, and we’d never be able to sell it!</p>
<p>The house has seemed way too big since D has been at school. When S goes, H and I will really be rattling around in too much space.</p>
<p>My (not so) secret internet surfing involves looking at apartment/condo floor plans and photos. I can dream.</p>
<p>Quant - There’s a house for sale nearby that might be the solution for your “stuff” issue: 52 rooms (averaging 1,000 sq.ft. each), 20 bedrooms, 25 baths … and 17 acres of surrounding property (in case you need to build some external storage structures).</p>
<p>[50</a> Cent’s Giant Connecticut Mansion For Sale: Pics, Videos, Links, News](<a href=“http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/50-cents-giant-connecticut-mansion-for-sale]50”>http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/50-cents-giant-connecticut-mansion-for-sale)</p>