<p>I am indeed really, really spent. It is difficult to sleep. Dealing with the stuff and the house has taken over our lives and continues to do so. Looks like we are going to get 5% less than we expected but the punch list to list is not so bad:
Masonry repair on front stoop
Power wash side of house
Replace vanity/sink
Some additional painting, maybe 1-2 days
Get a PODS or local storage and move out a goodly load of stuff.</p>
<p>None of it will make much difference later on if the house sells quickly. I had it in my mind that the house would be listed in the Spring and we would be out by the end of the Summer. Now I wonder if we will be out by December.</p>
<p>It is consuming. Very much so. I hear you. I hope you’ll be resting a bit better once this next set of tasks is done, and the house is ready. You can have a date night and take emom for a glass of wine in the rv :)</p>
<p>It would take a couple of bottles of wine to take the edge off the stress. Had to give up that approach years ago. I do keep hoping we can reach the point where we can take some vacation time away from the house and stuff. Another option would be to take another vacation across country and relook at our relocation options. Emom wanted to wait, travel and then decide later on. I think it would be lots easier just to relocate, get settled and then travel.</p>
<p>edad, were you planning on listing and selling at the same price? Would you have listed at the price you originally had in mind, then settled for an offer 5% less? Maybe the real estate agent suggested a 5% reduction, and now you have a better chance to sell quicker at asking price. I’m trying to look on the bright side. I’m not in real estate, but whenever I watch HGTV, they always indicate you’re better off with a more realistic price that attracts lots of potential buyers, than a higher price, which attracts fewer lookers, and low-ball offers.</p>
<p>I don’t know you, but I sure wish you the best. You may not be in the mood for suggestions, but if you were, I’d suggest that instead of decluttering your house this morning, I would take a couple of hours to declutter your mind. Take a cold drink, sit in the back yard, and focus on the important things: think about how well your daughter is doing, focus on your grandchild’s smile. There are lots of different types of vacations.</p>
<p>If we were friends, I’d give your arm a squeeze. Take care.</p>
<p>For those of you who generate lots of clutter, I have an additional consideration - the cost of storing and moving the stuff. With minimal furniture and lots already gone, we will still need a good sized storage area. We are trying to decide on a 10x10x25 storage area for about $350/month or PODS. The storage area is less than 2 miles from the house but we would still need to hire help to move the bigger items. PODS can be delivered ($100 each for drop off and pickup) and the cost is higher at about $475/month for 2 8x8x16 PODS. When we move, it is going to be right at $10,000 to have both PODS moved across country. It could be cheaper to use the local storage but when the time comes, everything would need to be reorganized and moved into a truck or POD. If the stuff is already in PODS, the move could be arranged while we are on the road. Anyway there are a lot of options, but the costs for a year of storage and then a cross country move are pretty high. I figure each bankers box of stuff will cost about $30. A couch, large chest of drawers or similar item will be around $600-800. These costs make it seem much better to get rid of the stuff. For most items it is going to be cheaper to throw or give away the stuff and then replace it with new later on.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions on the sale price of the house. We had an evaluation a few months ago and have looked at comps and talked with 2 realtors. Trying to hold out for top dollar is not likely to work. Lenders are also looking very carefully at appaisals and are very conservative. We would have been much better off if we sold a year or two ago. In fact I could have retired and been better off financially. Waiting to see any substantial improvement is not feasible. Clearly the economy and real estate markets will be depressed for many years.</p>
<p>Edad–you have already affected my life :). AFter reading this thread, and having an unexpectedly empty evening yesterday, I spent hours sorting and shredding boxes of paper which were in my closet, or on and around my desk, which is in our bedroom. We can barely move in there. I’m determined not to move anything up to the already over-cluttered attic. </p>
<p>We will be able to avoid the outside storage issue (which I had no idea was so expensive–what a lucrative business to get into!), thankfully. But we’ll never sell this house as it is, and I do NOT want to move this stuff when we finally permanently move to the other house.</p>
<p>Side issue–it was fascinating to go through old checks and see what we paid for back then. I had forgotten how huge my H’s school loans were. And even though we were fairly broke, the checks for kid stuff–Little League, school book club, Girl/Cub Scout stuff, Y programs, instrument rentals, etc. were endless. </p>
<p>It was a good reminder that life can be much cheaper now, if we want it to be.</p>
<p>I just went through the process of clearing out and selling my parents’ house - and it was 6 hrs away. House closed 2 weeks ago and I feel such a weight has been lifted from me! So much work! Luckily the house closed after 4 months on the mkt.</p>
<p>But I am now on the decluttering kick at my house. Once you start getting rid of things it’s almost addictive. I have TONS of old paperwork to go through- that has always been my downfall.</p>
<p>Missypie, I hate to tell you this, but I tired to donate hardsided luggage to Goodwill and they would not take it. They said no one buys it! My packrat brother decided to take it home.</p>
<p>No charity wants that old blue Samsonite and you will never use it for travel. We have had charities reject upholstered furniture, shelving units, filing cabinets, and lots of other items. Plus we have to stack up the stuff in the front hallway and wait for them to come. Often they do not come on the scheduled day. I would just as soon haul it all to the garbage immediately. Donate some money to charity if you feel guilty. Unfortunately my wife is emotionally attached to the stuff and needs to ease it out the door by finding a home for it.</p>
<p>I’ve been to lots of antique malls - I do see my parent’s old hard sided luggage (from the late 50s/early 60s) - some folks decorate with that - but right, in my lifetime no one will ever want the old blue stuff from a more recent era. Then there are the things like our first (HUGE) video camera from 1990 - it’s even in the original box! Next to the original cheap kitchen faucet…yes, I’m sure that some day I’ll say, “Honey, I’m so sick of the nice, expensive faucet; let’s put the cheap ugly one back on.”</p>
<p>Eadad, sometimes when we had to lower a house-selling price to attract a bigger market, my H justified it to himself by doing the math on the taxes and maintenance we’d pay if the house DIDN"t sell for another 6 months. That $ amount helped close the gap in his mind and soothed the pain of lowering the selling price for a faster sell.</p>
<p>Sure, everyone remembers “I bought it for X and sold it for X-plus” and they want to feel happiest about the size of the “plus.” We even got a few sales to happen just by telling another buyer to do that calculation on what he’s losing by holding onto HIS house at highest price for another X months…property taxes, routine maintenance, unexpected new repairs do add up. We learned to swallow our pride about the sale price and get happy about speed-of-sale.</p>
<p>missypie, we also have our first videocam, purchased in 1986. Not only that, it was our last videocam. Our love of filming our precious baby/toddler died out along with my permed curly hairdo. We raised our kids without videocams and were more in the moment, although I can see I may live to regret not getting a few more events on film before we lost our filming bug. Second baby barely got photographed on film at all. </p>
<p>I need to figure out how to get this stuff off of videotapes and those 8 something tapes…where should I go, what should I do? Aren’t DVDs almost obsolete for transferring these old tapes? </p>
<p>The fact that some of you here still have fondue pots slays me…We went to a Fondue only restaurant experience in Atlanta last year, and it was so silly and cumbersome…but I recall being very entranced with the whole fondue thing. </p>
<p>Brown was the Color of the moment when I got married. I am not sure who wants my All Brown Dishes and basement stashed Decor…earthy tones, Earth Day,( brown lipstick–which I no longer have! was a special note I recall Tom Wolfe nailing as a period note tidbit in his novel on the 80s) I am boxing up my Brown dishes in the basement in case my son needs some for his first apt but in my heart, I can see that he can buy quite a lot at Target that is better looking for not much coin! </p>
<p>anyone else catching on that our hand me downs will not be wanted by our children? I think I am going to sell a few things on Ebay and haul the rest to Goodwill very shortly.</p>
<p>Now, now, how does one serve chocolate fondue with fresh strawberries if one gets rid of one’s fondue pot? We use ours about once a year - the kids love it!</p>
<p>For those of you who have large (or any) items you no longer want and would be willing to give away, Craigslist has a “free” section. People will swarm your curb to take those unwanted items off your hands. If you can’t get the items to the curb, have the people come in and move them out themselves. People love free stuff!</p>
<p>We are approaching the downsizing phase as well. We waited to get married, waited to have kids, and now we are waiting for them to grow up. I will look forward to hearing where Edad settles after doing some traveling. </p>
<p>We swing between wanting to move near DH’s family and staying where we are. I think I want to see where my kids end up before I decide. Who can predict that?</p>
<p>MDmom–our thinking was to settle in the area (about 150 miles from where we brought the kids up) that we have always vacationed in (the Cape May NJ vicinity). so far, both look to be staying in Jersey, but should that change, I know they’ll visit a lot since they adore this area.</p>
<p>My son was telling me the other day how nice it would be if we bought a nice lake house that he could visit with his kids. He’s 16. No kids yet. Funny boy, that one. Cape May sounds wonderful, but we paid those Jersey taxes when DH was in the Army.</p>
<p>edad, thanks for starting this thread. Dh and I had hoped to enjoy early retirement, but a combination of factors means we will be postponing our travel plans for several more years. I hope you’ll continue to post when you’re on the road!</p>
<p>We’ve made over a dozen moves in the past 3+ decades, and it never gets easier. At one house, where we lived long enough to amass a large amount of stuff, I found a couple who were willing to clean out my basement and garage in exchange for keeping whatever they wanted. They hauled a couple of loads to the dump (& paid the fees), took another load to a charity thrift shop, and kept the rest to either use or sell at a flea market. Once the spaces were empty, the man cleared cobwebs and swept, leaving them ready to show. It was so much easier than dealing with donation pickup truck drivers who only show up half the time or who come unprepared to lift anything over 20 lbs. I’d called a couple of the businesses that do similar hauling jobs, but they wanted roughly $300 and did not clean up afterwards. The couple who did the job asked me several times if I was sure about them keeping certain things (they were delighted) and I was happy to not be out of pocket for the work, so it was a good deal all around.</p>
<p>There’s a forum at early-retirement.org that may interest you. I haven’t read very much yet but plan to spend some time there this weekend. There’s a retirement forum at city-data.com, along with lots of info on a large number of cities and towns.<br>
The retirement forum at gardenweb isn’t very active, but the buying & selling a house forum may be helpful for you. </p>
<p>My son is moving into his first apartment this fall, and we’re using the opportunity to get rid of things. He is actually appreciative of the cast-offs. (Doesn’t like spending money on household stuff.) My mom gave him a blender that she had since I was a child- it’s amazing looking. Definitely Retro, but it works fine. He also happily took my Revere Ware pots and pans that we got when first married, and an old Regal vaccuum of my mom’s from the 80s. They still are in good shape, and were actually made in the USA. The problem with stuff you buy at Target and other shops now is that nothing is made here anymore. So there are some folks who appreciate the old stuff–don’t just dump it. I agree with your wife, edad, that a new home is a better option-- at least for the things that have some life left in them.
Freecycle and Craigslist are both great for finding new homes for things if your own kids aren’t ready or willing to take them.</p>
<p>My inlaws bought a lake house. Said it was a way to draw the kids and grandkids. The two kids who each had a child at the time overstayed their welcome. The moms would come with their kid and stay 1-2 months. By the time our kids and the other brother’s kids came along, they were sick of grandkids. Two of my three kids hate it up there anyway, so we only go for special events (e.g. the 50th anniv party.)</p>
<p>MDmom–the taxes for the (near, not CM itself) house, are a fraction of our North Jersey taxes. We don’t see them as a problem at all.</p>
<p>Most of the houses around us are second homes, retirees, or rentals, so there are very few kids per house compared to most towns, which means lower per-house school taxes.</p>
Aren’t DVDs almost obsolete for transferring these old tapes? </p>