Doing sons a favor
 

Why did we do this? If we died tomorrow, kids would just thro the stuff out and plrobably not donate to Savers. Really was a liberating experience. Not to worry. I did NOT get rid of fab I can see. Only stuff that has been hiding in boxes for...I have no idea now long..lol

WOW! My DH and I have been talking about just this recently!! He is on a mission to throw something away each week lol.

I have been cleaning out my sewing room too. Charity things always seem to be in my car. Did my closet yesterday. i got all my Christmas quilts into one tub. Scraps cleaned out, etc. MY son is already living with me and my youngest granddtr will be here when college is out for Holidays, etc. One must make room!

Congratulations! It is so liberating to get rid of stuff that is packed away. A few years ago, I got rid of all my Scrapbooking stuff. I realized I was never going to get into that again. It made room for more fabric!

If the thought of packing up and moving seems an impossible task then it is time to purge. I told the kids to take any items that meant something to them I wasn't using or needed. I was surprised at what they wanted. Nothing I thought they would. The rest I knew would be cleaned out the fastest way if left up to them to deal with. We moved twice in one year and it opened my eyes to how much stored clutter I did have.

We did this when we were packing up to move. We got rid of a lot of items that we hadn't used in years. We called a privately owned company and for a small fee, they will take everything you don't want and then sort through it and sell some, fix what they can, donate items, and toss the unfixable or too worn items. The modest fee is for them to pick it up and dispose of what needs to be disposed of. They make up the rest of their income with what they sell in their resale place. They donate a lot as well, so it is good for all around. Saved us hauling to places. They donate a lot of the furniture items. We had a hospital bed from my MIL and they donated that and a bit of furniture before hauling all the smaller items that they needed to sort through.

Another thing that helped declutter the attic storage, is that we told the three kids (all adults with half grown kids of their own) that they needed to get all of their childhood belongings and stored items from their later years and take it to their own homes. They himmed and hawed for a bit until we told them that what they hadn't removed by the end of the month, the place we called to get the things we (husband and I) were getting rid of, would be clearing the attic as well. So if they wanted it, best get it now. So they each took a weekend and went through their things and pretty much took everything that was theirs They grumped a little, because they didn't want to store it at their place but.... too bad. Their stuff/keep it or lose it! I think because we had stored it for so long, they were used to it being here. They had more than enough room at their houses to take it if they wanted it. And, it was time! Now I have room to store the Holiday decorations and seasonal clothes in the attic bins instead of stuffing them in a closet! Sometimes showing a little tough love, is a good thing!

Well done, Julie! It makes me feel so good to get bags of stuff out of the house.

I love to de-clutter! We've moved four times in the last five years (multiple houses that overlapped - not as bad as it sounds) but each was another opportunity to purge stuff. In normal times, I keep a laundry basket in a closet for Goodwill to put things in whenever I realize an item should go. It moves things out regularly without having to do major sortings, which is more efficient for me. I always feel so much lighter after dropping things off.

We moved in with Mom about a year ago and did a major purge then. Most of our things that we kept went into storage. Now that we’ve been without them for a year we realize most of that can go too. Mom passed away in April so we’ve been preparing the house for an estate sale. So now we have 2 households of too much stuff. When we start moving our stuff into the house we will be adding a lot of it into the sale. It does feel good to clean out the clutter!

It really is a great feeling, isn't it? I took a super size bag of odds and ends to a guild meeting this past week. Odd blocks from projects I lost interest in, some fabrics that I no longer love, flimsy's that I enjoyed making but won't use... Almost all of it was gone before the meeting started. People were happy to have it, and I was happy to have it gone. It gave me a little bit of breathing room.

I recall reading about a lady who had a garage full of her 3 grown children’s things and it had been there for years. No room to park her car inside (really?). One day she fell on an icy driveway then gave the kids a deadline to get it cleared out. One took a few things and I recall one didn’t come at all. She had someone haul everything away that was left.

I also keep a donation box in the closet and when it’s full, off it goes.

I’ve been thinking about all the stuff my spouse and I have accumulated over time. We have large collections of books (we met at a used bookstore!), albums, comic books, pop culture stuff (we collect 1950-1970 era tv spy memorabilia among other things), etc.

Oh, and lots of fabric and various mid century sewing machines. 🙀

We have no children and don’t really have anyone that might want our collections (though some items are quite valuable).

I hate to burden my sisters/BILs if we pass before them (and they also have their own collections/hobbies and no children).

We’ve been looking at a combo of Marie Kondo and Swedish Death Cleaning (https://www.realhomes.com/advice/swedish-death-cleaning) to make things more manageable. I hate the thought of everything just being tossed, but don’t want to obligate someone to deal with things that meant something to us but might not be someone else’s cup of tea.

We should probably pre-arrange some contacts that know the value of our collections and can sell items family/friends may not know how to handle so they can receive cash instead of boxes of items they feel obligated to keep in some manner. Possibly anything not wanted by family/friends can be donated to fund charities we support.

I look in dread at my childhood home and the decades of accumulated stuff that we’ll have to deal with in the future and don’t want to replicate the issue for others.

The pack rat gene runs very strong in our family.

Anyone else in this boat? Any tips?

I went to an estate sale this past weekend. No one had died but they were moving and chose to downsize. They hired folks to handle all the pricing and advertising. They put HIGH prices on everything (like only $5 below what you could buy things from in the stores for tools and flowerpots etc.) I saw nothing under $10. Someone stood in every room watching to make sure that nothing was stolen. The family made a fortune and they managed to downsize at the same time. The sale was held from 9 - 2 pm on Friday and Saturday.

I bought nothing as nothing was there that I needed for the prices they were asking. But this may be an option for you.

Another option is to find an estate auction company near you. The auctioneers for estate sales don't ask prices that are ordinarily high for the starting bid, but they will also take the small stuff, box it together and start the bidding at $5 so they will take everything. You pay a 15% commission to them for what is sold in my part of the world. The buyer pays 15%, too. Some auctioneers will run the auction from the property so no transportation issues are involved.

Good luck!!

I will be moving by the end of October--not certain just yet to where. But I know I want a 3-bedroom house, so I can have my brother come and have his privacy. I will also give him the Master Bedroom. He served this country most of his adult life and now prefers to have some alone time. That he will get.