I'm like Snooze2978 and have a donation box permanently open and use it to drop things into as I decide they no longer need to be in the house. I live nearly 3 hours from a city and sometimes it seems I take as much in with me on a shopping trip as I bring home. I've learned which thrift shops specialize in which items and sort my donations accordingly to suit them.
That said, I moved into this house with a pickup truck and small trailer of stuff. We have outbuildings and every one is full of stuff. Almost all my husband's but nevertheless it needs to be dealt with at some point. When we are hauling away the garbage he comments that every item we take away is something we hauled in as this property was undeveloped when he bought it. We have a neighbour whose health forced him to move back to Germany so his children could help with his care. He left with a suitcase and a trunk, abandoning everything else to be sold as-is with the house. The house just sits on the market and I think because it's such an overwhelming project to think of going through all the stuff. I don't want to burden my children with my junk.
I'm appreciating the thoughts of others on this whole topic and think it will help me become more creative and pro-active in ensuring I don't leave a legacy of overwhelming detritus.
By the way - how do people create that @name thing?