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Old 12-06-2017, 08:00 AM
 
989 posts, read 765,351 times
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A friend owns a storage facility, he says for the most part it is a place where people store stuff they DON'T want before they donate it or simply throw it out. Never used on myself.
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Old 12-06-2017, 08:10 AM
 
Location: Metairie, LA
1,097 posts, read 2,332,079 times
Reputation: 1488
I remember when we moved into our current house. We're a family of 3 plus a dog. We rented a 15' Uhaul truck and made one trip.

Last month, a house across the street from us sold and the new owners were moving in. There was a full 18-Wheeler parked in front of the house for 2 days unloading stuff. That may not even have been all of it.

I don't see myself on my deathbed thinking, "Man, I'm really glad I had all those boxes of stuff". I'm probably going to be remembering that adventure through Europe, or the first time I held my son, or the honeymoon in New Orleans, or that time leaping from a cliff into a mountain stream, or that beach trip in college, etc.
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Old 12-06-2017, 09:39 AM
 
Location: Northern California
4,477 posts, read 2,925,437 times
Reputation: 8215
Quote:
Originally Posted by rburnett View Post
I remember when we moved into our current house. We're a family of 3 plus a dog. We rented a 15' Uhaul truck and made one trip.

Last month, a house across the street from us sold and the new owners were moving in. There was a full 18-Wheeler parked in front of the house for 2 days unloading stuff. That may not even have been all of it.

I don't see myself on my deathbed thinking, "Man, I'm really glad I had all those boxes of stuff". I'm probably going to be remembering that adventure through Europe, or the first time I held my son, or the honeymoon in New Orleans, or that time leaping from a cliff into a mountain stream, or that beach trip in college, etc.
Very eloquent!
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Old 12-06-2017, 10:54 AM
 
Location: Southern California
29,267 posts, read 16,639,044 times
Reputation: 18902
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yippeekayay View Post
hi there. 2 kids. They're growing so the Upsizing. Oh yeah, love just having bare necessity. It simplifies and clarifies life.
I've learned that after a lifetime of acquiring stuff. Stuff I never needed. My daughter works to put that in her grown kids minds, about clutter and so much stuff, and hope it's helping. They are starting out their grown up lives and have done enough acquiring already.
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Old 12-06-2017, 10:58 AM
 
Location: Raleigh
13,660 posts, read 12,326,875 times
Reputation: 20104
Quote:
Originally Posted by rburnett View Post
I remember when we moved into our current house. We're a family of 3 plus a dog. We rented a 15' Uhaul truck and made one trip.

Last month, a house across the street from us sold and the new owners were moving in. There was a full 18-Wheeler parked in front of the house for 2 days unloading stuff. That may not even have been all of it.

I don't see myself on my deathbed thinking, "Man, I'm really glad I had all those boxes of stuff". I'm probably going to be remembering that adventure through Europe, or the first time I held my son, or the honeymoon in New Orleans, or that time leaping from a cliff into a mountain stream, or that beach trip in college, etc.
I understand, and agree, but are your rooms furnished? I mean, if they moved from a 4/2 house to a 4/2 house, and you moved from a 2/1 to a 4/2, there would be some disconnect.
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Old 12-06-2017, 11:12 AM
 
Location: Central Florida
3,259 posts, read 4,976,927 times
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A couple of years ago, I moved from a 2000-square foot, three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car-garage (but no basement, this is Florida) home full of furniture and other stuff to a 914-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath condominium with no storage facility outside of the condo itself.

I had to get rid of a lot of stuff, and there was only myself to do it. I sold some furniture, made many trips to Goodwill, had Habitat for Humanity come and pick up a load, took lots of stuff to the county solid waste management facility, and finally had to pay a guy $100 to come and haul away stuff I couldn't otherwise get rid of.

But making the decision about what to take and what to get rid of was fairly easy. I got out a floor plan of the new condo, and for each item that I was considering packing and moving, I asked myself, "Where exactly in the new condo is this item going?" If I didn't have a definite answer to that question, I refused to pack and move the item in question.

As it turned out, even after moving I still had to make a couple of trips to Goodwill.
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Old 12-06-2017, 11:16 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,522,149 times
Reputation: 101044
Quote:
Originally Posted by runswithscissors View Post
In most of the new construction HOAs in my FL county, you see the driveways completely filled with vehicles and not parking in the garages.

Where permitted in the bylaws.

Why? Because the people pack their garages with junk they brought with them.

I have one client in a $400,000 home who will never be using half his garage, apparently, after living here 4 years because it's filled with his hobby overflow storage. He also had to build storage shelves suspended from the ceiling for boxes and totes.

People love their stuff.

I'm the opposite. I like my place to be like a hotel room. And closets/cabinets that are totally filled give me agita LOL.

I could move out with only 48 hours notice!
I am totally with you on the garage thing - I can't imagine having so much stuff that I couldn't park my vehicle in the garage - sheeze!

We have a walk in attic (love it) that opens via a regular door in the hallway upstairs, and we also have two large closets upstairs. It's a constant challenge to keep those cleared out, after losing three of our four parents in the last coupla years, selling family property, etc. But we get slowly better, not worse. Until we had the parental drama to deal with, we were doing great at getting rid of excess stuff.

I'm pretty ruthless about chunking stuff. I am about to tackle the PILE of various luggage pieces that we have. Both of us have traveled a lot over our lifetimes, for business and pleasure, and somehow or another we amassed a huge pile of luggage. What on earth? We always use the same couple of bags every time. I tell you, I'm about to get ruthless on that.

My parents never threw anything away, but they were neat hoarders. In a way, that's worse, because obviously so much effort went into neatly categorizing all this stuff stuff stuff. And sometimes, it's hard to be firm with something like Ethan Allen end tables - I know they are good quality but dang it, I don't need or want them!

Augh. TOO. MUCH. STUFF. MAKES. MY. HEAD. HURT. And I'm not a minimalist so when I say "Too much!" it really is too much!
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Old 12-06-2017, 11:26 AM
 
Location: Paranoid State
13,044 posts, read 13,817,290 times
Reputation: 15839
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon View Post
I am totally with you on the garage thing - I can't imagine having so much stuff that I couldn't park my vehicle in the garage - sheeze!
Sounds to me like the garage is too small.
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Old 12-06-2017, 11:28 AM
 
8,583 posts, read 15,974,911 times
Reputation: 11355
I used a storage unit as a downsizing tool a few years ago.

Downsized from 3000 sqft and 3-4 out buildings to a small townhouse
and now am well on my way to owning just what I actually use and
a few sentimental things (photos, baby box for each kid)

During that move I did all I could before the move but after I moved I needed
working space and used a storage unit temporarily.

There was an emotional component to how fast I could get rid of stuff
so I just plugged away at it at my own pace.

I think the key is to have an endgame in mind and
then a plan to get there.
If a storage unit helps you get to your endgame then
it's useful. If it prolongs the process then don't do it.
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Old 12-06-2017, 11:48 AM
 
Location: Hookerville, formerly in Tweakerville
15,116 posts, read 32,212,635 times
Reputation: 9689
Quote:
Originally Posted by BucFan View Post
Prolonging the task of getting rid of needless stuff. No sense keeping it just to have it.

Give it to Goodwill/Salvation Army/a deserving college kid.
That's what I did.
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