We have heard a lot of comments, some from the posts on forums and others from people we’ve shared our plans with, that they don’t think the wife could or would get rid of all her stuff.
And I understand that because a lot of people are in the same house for 20-30+ years. They’re surrounded by family and friends they would never think of leaving. We have never lived in a house for more than 5 years, but we still raised 4 kids and accumulated lots of things over 35 years together. Enough stuff in fact to fill one and a half of those large moving semi-trucks.
Over the past 20 years we have moved several times and several of those were corporate moves. People came and packed up everything we had and moved it across several states and then I would unpack it all. As the kids got older and the house size and location changed there were boxes of stuff that did not need to be unpacked. Stuff I didn’t need or that didn’t fit into the décor of the new house, but I wasn’t ready to part with. I thought I would use it later or that maybe it had sentimental value to one of us. But I’ve come to realize it doesn’t, it’s just stuff. I’m not into antiques. I won’t reread all those books. I don’t really need all those special baking pans. The china was used once a year (maybe). My fabric stash was made up of projects I’m not interested in making anymore. Just stuff.
Now the one area I did find hard selling was my furniture. Over the years when we bought furniture we bought good name (Thomasville, Flexsteel, Rowe) quality sets. Boy the amount you get for quality used furniture in really good condition is minimal. That was tough. I spent a lot of time on ebay and craigslist to get a feel for asking prices and I was quite surprised. But in the end I had to realize the age of the furniture and that the style isn’t a fit for all. Some pieces would take just that one person and you hoped they walked into your sale with an “I’ll take it” and cash.
The last move was our empty nester downsize house which left us with a basement full of boxes, stacked up two to three high, taking up valuable floor space. When we finally decided that what we wanted out of the next phase of our life was to travel full time in a motorhome, the real work began. I didn’t find it to be as hard to part with these things as many have talked about. There were so many things that I never used and hadn’t seen in several years (the last time I packed it in a box). Then there was all the stuff from the kids. They were surprised I kept some of these things: papers from grade school, little award certificates, and small little knick-knacks they had received. They didn’t want it which meant I didn’t either. There was stuff from our parents which neither of us wanted. The kids didn’t want any of our stuff. So unless it was some kind of heirloom, it was going. And going it did, over three weekends of garage sales, recycling centers, donation centers and trash.
It took us a month of Sundays but we cleared out that basement and the rest of the house for that matter. We have a storage unit full of the stuff we didn’t sell and some of that is being stored to go on the motorhome. There are boxes of pictures and important papers that need to be scanned. Then there are boxes of things that still need to be sorted and gotten rid of. So for me the actual parting of stuff was not hard. They were things I was told I needed to keep which turned out to be bad advice. Much of it was stuff I never used or stuff handed down to me that was simply for display. Looking at all those boxes was frustrating and as I emptied more and more of them onto tables for the garage sale I felt such a release, an ahhh.
It was so exciting to see those walls again and that floor space opened up. Even if you are not planning to travel full time, just imagine what you can do with the space that all those boxes of unused stuff is taking up: a craft room, a sewing room, a meditation room. Oh the possibilities. And the proceeds from the sale of all that “stuff” could make it a reality.
Please share your thoughts about too much stuff. We’d love to hear from you.
