Decluttering, Downsizing, What to keep?

C

ChrisNP

New Member
First, let me say I live with my labradoodle in a three story four bedroom 100+ year old home. Something is always needing repair and I have 25 years of stuff from four kids who "forgot" to take their stuff when they moved out. Now, I need knee replacements and bought a small ranch 2 blocks from my daughter's family where my youngest three granddaughters are. As thrilled as they are to see me more, all of the grandkids say they will miss my "big house" so that tears at my heartstrings.

This weekend I hired workers to empty the attic and put everything on the first floor-it took up the entire first floor! That led to ordering a dumpster and it is half filled and it seems like I haven't made a dent in all the "stuff". I am getting to the emotional items now, cards, trinkets, souvenirs -the 100.00 Hardrock sweatshirt that was worn once-etc. I've decided to not touch anything twice; wish me luck
 

We have done the same about 5 years ago. We had 3 bedroom 2400 SQ/FT house the kids grew up in and my 1500 SQ/FT shop. We sorted thru stuff, set up a yard sale at and in the house and shop. What didn't sell we donated between 2 different resale stores here, Hospice and a womans shelter.
 
ChrisNP said:
First, let me say I live with my labradoodle in a three story four bedroom 100+ year old home. Something is always needing repair and I have 25 years of stuff from four kids who "forgot" to take their stuff when they moved out. Now, I need knee replacements and bought a small ranch 2 blocks from my daughter's family where my youngest three granddaughters are. As thrilled as they are to see me more, all of the grandkids say they will miss my "big house" so that tears at my heartstrings.

This weekend I hired workers to empty the attic and put everything on the first floor-it took up the entire first floor! That led to ordering a dumpster and it is half filled and it seems like I haven't made a dent in all the "stuff". I am getting to the emotional items now, cards, trinkets, souvenirs -the 100.00 Hardrock sweatshirt that was worn once-etc. I've decided to not touch anything twice; wish me luck
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well I am wishing you luck because I'm facing a simialr prospect with my house.. if I can ever find a property I want ...and can afford.. but it's very daunting, so I wish you well.

Remember when trying to choose whether to keep souvenirs, etc and even ornaments and some furniture.. that its a lot easier just to take a photo of them and keep that, than it is to trawl everything with you..
 
Did you have the kids come over and take what they want? How about letting the grand kids take stuff as well?

My philosophy when deciding if something is worth saving or not is based on what will happen to it after I die. Does it have significant monetary value? Will one of the kids want to keep it? Or is it just going to end up in a dumpster?

Good luck with the cleaning. I really think you need to invite the kids and grand kids to help, it could be a good way of closure for all of you.
 
Welcome ChrisNP - I went through all of that 11 years ago now. I put a lot of the stuff I didn't want out the front of my place with a sign saying.,
"Freebies" and most of it was gone within an hour, the rest donated to charities. I asked my boys to come over and take what they wanted and they said they had enough of their own junk thanks.
 
Hi, @ChrisNP .. de-cluttering becomes easier with time. Someone had the great idea of inviting the kids & grandkids over to choose items they may want. Best of luck to you with your move :)
welcome.3.gif
 
I have done this and either sold, gave away or donated the stuff I didn’t take with me. Still had a fair amount of junk for the dump but it feels good to keep it out of the landfill if possible.
 
A month or so before my husband passed away in October, I had the "urge" to start getting rid of a lot of stuff. Premonition? I don't know.

Anyway, I gave several boxes of books to our local library for their upcoming sale and threw away quilting magazines I've been hauling around for years. It felt good to unload some of that. Now, my life has changed drastically so I think this winter I'm going to be doing more "sorting" and have a garage sale this spring. I don't really need 5 large totes of yarn...do I?

Welcome to SF from PA :)
 
Donate what you can. There may be things you regret getting rid of. I can tell you from experience on that one. But you survive. It's just stuff. There is a member here who sold her family home she lived in with her parents. She still has tons of stuff.

I'm a thrift shopper. I have too much.

I hope your family is helping you. It's hard to do alone.
 
Colleen said:
A month or so before my husband passed away in October, I had the "urge" to start getting rid of a lot of stuff. Premonition? I don't know.

Anyway, I gave several boxes of books to our local library for their upcoming sale and threw away quilting magazines I've been hauling around for years. It felt good to unload some of that. Now, my life has changed drastically so I think this winter I'm going to be doing more "sorting" and have a garage sale this spring. I don't really need 5 large totes of yarn...do I?

Welcome to SF from PA :)
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It won't be easy Colleen. Even those magazines can be donated to some thrift stores or quilting guild. I have a lot of yarn also.
 

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