Getting ‘rid’ of STUFF! (?)

Thank you, Keesha. One excuse I have is that my 4 grown kids still have some of their stuff here too. They say, your kids haven't moved out until everything is out of the attic. Well, I don't mind because i have the space and they don't for now...and now it's all organized and labeled. They're going to end up with it someday anyway.

Wait drifter, you've gotten rid of all your stuff and now you're going shopping? I like your style :D ha. But not me. I don't ever want to have to go through letting-go again.
 

Everbody has a situation, a situation that causes one to cling to...'stuff'

I found out, by default, how to relieve one's self of unneeded baggage when one is in a quandary as to what to keep and what to send elsewhere

rent a storage room, or wunna those PODs, or sea container
fill it with all yer stuff
take out only what you need, when you need it
after one year, send the rest elsewhere
 
Gary O' said:
...when one is in a quandary as to what to keep and what to send elsewhere:

rent a storage room, or wunna those PODs, or sea container
fill it with all yer stuff
take out only what you need, when you need it
after one year, send the rest elsewhere
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That's kind of a great idea but those PODs are expensive. Rates vary depending on where you live but typically it's an initial $90 delivery fee and $116 per month for a 7' container...and a lot of work loading and unloading. That's almost $1500 for a year. One's stuff may not even be worth that much.
 
Lara said:
That's kind of a great idea but those PODs are expensive. Rates vary depending on where you live but typically it's an initial $90 delivery fee and $116 per month for a 7' container...and a lot of work loading and unloading. That's almost $1500 for a year. One's stuff may not even be worth that much.
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Great point

but

getting rid of stuff being stored...for years into decades

was so worth it
 
Over the last year I have been getting rid of a lot of stuff. Have a stack of stuff to sell at the next yard sale. I don't think my 2 sons will ever move out. I do shop the thrift store now for most things but I am very, very selective and only buy what I really need and will use now. I am sure the thrift store is very happy with everything I gave them.
 
I now live in small spaces so needless stuff goes to whoever needs it.

Like Iris I do the thrift stores but most times leave with nothing....still it is fun.
 
Lara said:
That's kind of a great idea but those PODs are expensive. Rates vary depending on where you live but typically it's an initial $90 delivery fee and $116 per month for a 7' container...and a lot of work loading and unloading. That's almost $1500 for a year. One's stuff may not even be worth that much.
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It can be a great way to eliminate the excess stuff from your life and see what you really need/use even if you apply it on a much smaller scale.

Start by taking everything out of a closet, desk, dresser, kitchen cupboards, medicine chest, etc... Store the items in cardboard boxes in the basement or garage. When you really need an item bring it back. In a relatively short period of time, the most important items should be back in place. After a set period of 3-6 months, you should be left with a few boxes of things that you really do not need/use. After a few small victories, the neighbors may be wondering why you have a POD container in your driveway!
 
Aunt Bea said:
It can be a great way to eliminate the excess stuff from your life and see what you really need/use even if you apply it on a much smaller scale.

Start by taking everything out of a closet, desk, dresser, kitchen cupboards, medicine chest, etc... Store the items in cardboard boxes in the basement or garage. When you really need an item bring it back. In a relatively short period of time, the most important items should be back in place. After a set period of 3-6 months, you should be left with a few boxes of things that you really do not need/use. After a few small victories, the neighbors may be wondering why you have a POD container in your driveway!
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'the neighbors may be wondering'

HAH!

Excellent post

We came by a 20' sea container (still have it) and learned this theory by default
It has become a seasonal storage unit for things like snow blowers, even seasonal clothes (small cabin)

I like the smaller scale, lessor time period slant
it does work
 
Aunt Bea said:
It can be a great way to eliminate the excess stuff from your life and see what you really need/use even if you apply it on a much smaller scale.

Start by taking everything out of a closet, desk, dresser, kitchen cupboards, medicine chest, etc... Store the items in cardboard boxes in the basement or garage. When you really need an item bring it back. In a relatively short period of time, the most important items should be back in place. After a set period of 3-6 months, you should be left with a few boxes of things that you really do not need/use. After a few small victories, the neighbors may be wondering why you have a POD container in your driveway!
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This is a good idea and would eliminate most things from our house.

I really enjoyed putting things at the end of our driveway and have neighbours pick them up.
We had a large collection of bird feeders and decided to get rid of them this way. It was nice seeing our distant neighbours walk up the road and take them. We’ve left our old doors, windows and metal. We call the guy down the road who collects metal and he comes and picks it up for us. We’ve even put out our old fridge this way and it’s gone in no time.
 
After the Aug 29,2017 hurricane Harvey it is still difficult to drop off stuff at dump sites as they are full. You can till drive by homes with large dumpsters in their driveways. I called everywhere to dump a microwave and one wanted $65!! It now sits on my balcony.
 
Well. I’m happy to state that we are finally getting rid of stuff. After doing much needed organizing we have been dividing things into sections; keep, garbage, donate, and sell and I’m happy to say that most things we have donated to various charities. Most of them being goodwill since they are more convenient.

The libraries aren’t open around here so we will wait for them to open to donate our extra books we no longer want and while we are not quite minimalists, we certainly are far more organized, have much more room, notice that things are much easier to find since everything has its place.

We had duplicates of so many things it was ridiculous and we actually sold some stuff which helped pay for much of our kitchen renovation.

It was a lot of work but so worth it plus it’s nice knowing that we’ve helped others less fortunate than us.
 
Pecos said:
We are getting rid of things, but doing so is hard for us, especially me.
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Good for you Pecos. You should be proud of yourself since you are much older. Not meant as an insult. 🙏

After helping my parents it really made me realize that I didn’t want to be in a predicament where I was no longer do anything about to do it and perhaps be permanently surrounded with STUFF! It’s such a liberating feeling nothing where everything is.
 
Keesha said:
Good for you Pecos. You should be proud of yourself since you are much older. Not meant as an insult. 🙏

After helping my parents it really made me realize that I didn’t want to be in a predicament where I was no longer do anything about to do it and perhaps be permanently surrounded with STUFF! It’s such a liberating feeling nothing where everything is.
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The whole process of moving from a fairly large house into an apartment is almost enough to tempt a person to just throw up their hands and abandon ship with just the dogs and the clothes on our backs. There is a whole lot to be said for living simply. Too bad I didn't know that 40 years ago.
 
I have spare furniture that I want to donate to a charity which helps destitute people setting up home for the first time. Unfortunately, because of the virus, they are not taking donations at the moment.
 
Pecos said:
The whole process of moving from a fairly large house into an apartment is almost enough to tempt a person to just throw up their hands and abandon ship with just the dogs and the clothes on our backs. There is a whole lot to be said for living simply. Too bad I didn't know that 40 years ago.
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While I’m not at your age yet, I learned plenty from caring from my parents and the main take away was ‘less IS best,’ and for so so many reasons. Even while going through our things I’d find stuff that at one time I was so excited about having yet it sat in our basement for some 20 years.

Then of course there are those items that are so precious that when you lose them you go out and buy another one only to realize you have FIVE duplicates.🙄 It made me realize just how materialistic and wasteful we really are.
Stuff doesn’t make the world go around.
LOVE DoES❤️
 
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We place a box or big bag in the corner of the guest bedroom and put in items we no longer need. We then donate it to Goodwill. I don't even think twice about what I am donating; I just think that someone will need these items more than we do. I get a great sense of relief when I do donate.

I don't like clutter so we donate quite a few times per year. Yes, Goodwill is accepting our donations.

If I knew that I'd be seeing my sisters, I would save it for them. But, we haven't seen our families in over a year.

I can't part with items that hold sentimental value and/or were gifted to me by our families. I bought a beautiful leather coat about 3 years ago and I think I wore it once! I've got it boxed up to send to my sister.
 
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Keesha said:
This is the problem we ran into and you can’t very well just leave the furniture outside.
What a shame. Hopefully that will change soon.
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AnnieA said:
Just carried a trunk load to a local food and clothing ministry. We're rural, so people don't have easy access to Salvation Army which is where I usually take stuff.
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I wonder if a church/ministry will take that furniture, Keesha.
 
This is a timely thread, I just finished looking around in [one of] our storage rooms...in dispair. My wife is a crafter / quilter, which is code words for "pack-rat". :ROFLMAO:
It will be like pulling teeth to get her to get rid of her stuff. Turning 70 next month- it's not like she can put this off for another 30 years...
 

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