40 years in this house and moving to assisted living. Son is helping to purge, but the mountain of crap is incredible.
Why did I keep this stuff???
If I ever move from my house, ANY boxes in the basement go out. I havenât looked in them for 15 years, itâs not likely I am ever going to look at it.
But there is one stupid thing I have that has been around for over 50 years. My dad used to work for Sony and there was a black Sony sign with lights the would change from green to red to blue. It has been in the basement all this time. I only see it when I do laundry down there. I guess it does remind me a little about my dad.
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I fully understandâŚ
Many of us are in the same boat (and I think it is sinking!).
When I moved from the mainland to Hawaii, I shipped my posessions in about 35 boxes via USPS. I booked a 1st class flight (never paid for one in my life till then) just so I could celebrate my move AND bring 2 computer servers as free luggage. One of the shipped boxes had the specialized disks in it and it was damaged because I packed it haphazardly. Thus the two servers sat unused to this date.
Many of the boxes contained electronics which mostly went unused. Some boxes contained memorabilia like Star Trek convention items and signed photos of actors.
I moved from a 5 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom house about 1/2 the size.
What I learned was that even though I sold all furniture and clotes and so on, what I did ship was more confort items. I learned that many people hang onto physical items for the memories. I shipped one the the many bar stools my Father had from the house he built in 1952 or so. I still have that stool.
A couple I met had moved to Hilo Hawaii and shipped antiques there. Anyone who knows Hilo knows that it is tropical and humid. The antiques warped and got termites. So much for the care and memories.
It is too late for me, but I now suggest people photograph items and get rid of the physical item. Use the photos to remember.
When a friend was cleaning out a barn full of âmemoriesâ so he could sell the property, he was picking up each item (many of them very heavy) moving them around, but not really getting the job done. He made multiple trips back there over the years. I said based upon my previous move, to just hire a couple of high school or college kids and get a bunch of Post-It notes in different colors. Rather than personally haul any item, have these people bring you each item. Make have three piles, âThings to DONATEâ, âThings to GO to the new placeâ and âThings to THROWâ.
I wasted so much time trying to find antique dealers to handle items (hint: many of todays people donât seem to care about antiques). I cleaned many items and held weekly yard/garage sales. The money I made was significantly less than what I lost in extra mortgage payments, utility bills and by not having the house sold earlier.
By the way, my family was in Real Estate and we moved so many times you would think I would have learned efficiency in moving in my first 50 years. I have now been in the same house for 24 years and I think have learned my lesson,. I think I will finally take a photo of that birthday card I just found and throw the card out. It reads âHappy Birthday 1 Year Old!â. Do I really need to keep the card, or just the memory of it, because I donât remember actually opening it back then 
We moved from a house in SF to a 50â houseboat in the Cal Delta. Obviously, the boat is small in comparison so we stored a lot of stuff in Concord. Two years later, and enough of boat living, moved to the country.
Once settled, drove to the storage unit and just stared at the contents. We could not believe we had saved so much stuff. Trashed about 50% of it right there.
I read an article about how to declutter your home. One recommendation is to look at everything you have and determine if it has been used within the past year. The recommendation is to toss or donate anything that has not been used within the past year. Seems like a clever idea.
I know people who have multiple rental storage units. My philosophy is if you have a storage unit, you have too much stuff.
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Amen my friend.
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Although we still have a lot of stuff we donât need, I have put a moratorium on putting any new shelves in the garage. We have enough shelves, if we need more we get rid of stuff. At least in my mind I think weâre not allowing the problem to get worse.
We had to clean out my parents house when they moved into assisted living. The stuffâŚtook us a long time to deal with. Much of it was moved to my house and I have been slowly getting rid of it. Being sentimental, I have a hard time getting rid of things like Craftsman wood tools (table saw, jointer, drill press, and scroll saw) my dad remembers buying with his dad in 1938 (my dad was 7 at the time). These things are beasts and will probably never be used by me. I really need to find a good home for them and donât want them to be a burden to my kids.
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THAT is precisely what I am facing nowâŚ!
To sell old tools and woodworking equipment, see if thereâs a woodworkers guild near you. My husband sold a bunch of his antique tools that way.
Itâs a lot easier to get rid of things when you can see the joy on the face of the new owner!
Most of us spend our younger years as âcollectorsâ filling our homes with tons of stuff we probably donât need. In my late 40âs I became a minimalist, it took me several months to completely clear out my house and garage. I rented a dumpster and make many trips to the goodwill and donation centers. Now I have very few possessions, I have one room in my house that is completely empty and I no longer feel the need to fill the empty spaces in my home. I donât but anything new unless it is a necessity. It has brought me so much peace. I have written several articles on minimalism. Good luck with your clean up and move.
Declutter & Organize â The Tech Minimalist (wordpress.com)
How Decluttering Can Bring Peace â The Tech Minimalist (wordpress.com)
Simple Ways to Downsize Your Home â The Tech Minimalist (wordpress.com)
Organizing Your Home â The Tech Minimalist (wordpress.com)
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My friendâs father had a large collection of hand tools. After he passed, they donated them to a museum.
Many of us are in the same situation. The experts tell us to give our good stuff to our children, but they want nothing that they didnât buy. The smartest guidance is this: make 3 bins- throw out, donate, keep. We accumulate stuff because we never have âthrow away or donateâ days.
We have a rule- if you buy something, donate or discard the item you just replaced.
robertpri, how are you doing? Is the assisted living more fun than this forum? Hope youâre doing well.