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If you sort according to trash, donate, keep, etc, make sure to label each pre-sorted pile, otherwise you will end up second-guessing piles and be right back to where you started
I used colored ribbons. Red was trash, blue was donate, yellow was keep, etc. I bought large spools of ribbons on sale at Hobby Lobby, and even made a poster board with the various colors and their meaning, like a big red ribbon next to the word TRASH. Actually, I let my daughter make it, at least doing all those posters in school taught her some sort of life skill
It really made a difference in keeping things sorted. Then I knew, come trash day, just to haul out red ribbon bags, etc. It s also important to process sorted things on a regular basis, don't let things pile up or you will end up second-guessing them. Just pick a day per week you will go to dump, donations, etc. then DO IT, regardless of how much or little you have, even if just one bag or box. Don't get "gas-cheap" and wait until you have an entire truckload, etc, then you're like the Beverly Hillibllies with your truck!
Also, if you take any type of prescription medicine, make sure to remove the labels from old bottles. Especially if they are controlled substances! But any bottle has waaaaay too much information on it to allow to fall into the wrong hands! You can't just cross off information with a marker, when it dries, the information bleeds through. Instead, I soak the labels off, use a big bucket of warm water and some Dawn or other detergent, then, scrape off what doesn't soak off. Then, dpsose the bottles separately from the lids, "druggies" find uses for empty bottles
Also, you might want to investigate a small storage unit for stuff you want to keep but can't figure out where to store. Small but valuable things, like picture albums, etc. Do make sure to keep detailed lists of what's in there. That way you have the peace of mind of knowing where your important stuff is and won't worry come moving day. You can always make the storage unit your last stop on the way out---don't forget to turn out the lights
I was preaching and practicing this over the last year as we cleaned out a relatives house he had lived in, and kept everything, since 1957 and at the same time downsizing our own 2400 sq ft home we'd been in for almost 35 years. Didn't read the whole thread so I may be repeating but here I go.
In the case of the out of state relative, we got lucky in connecting with an antique store that did estate sales, then put more unsold into lots for another auction and assisted us in hauling the remainder to the dump.
As for our house, as said, start early. I used Freecycle, Craiglist, several local thrift shops. Also check facebook as most areas have a virtual Yardsale site you can join. For me that was more local than Craigslist. Then discovered my neighborhood had a facebook page which was even better. Oh yes, community yard sale too.
After the move one of my first places to find in the new location was a thrift store that quickly got stuff that we moved and didn't need. We have also gotten into Ebaying but it's not as fast or simple as you think. Next I'm going to try the Facebook yard sales for my new area.
To help me through it, I took many, many pictures of items, so I have them to remember. I'm not a throw it in a dumpster type of person, so it's been a long haul and isn't over but we are working on it. Someday the piles will get smaller!
I guess one thing this thread shows, we all go through this. It happens, we all accumulate too much junk, at least at some point in our lives. When going through a move/purge, at least don't beat up on yourself mentally for having let stuff get to this point. Don't go thinking oh, why didn't I get rid of stuff sooner, or why did I accumulate so much crap? Its part of the process of living, it even says so in the Bible "there's a time to build up, and a time to break down..."
Just try to keep a handle on it as you go through life, don't let stuff pile up too much. Certain life events force cleaning and sorting, like death, divorce, job changes, marriage, go away to college, etc, etc. But we can't be expected to live everyday like we're on the fly!
Just accept and realize there will be such times in life when we will need to make major changes and major purges along with it. Try to stay at least halfway neat and organized in the meantime. BTW, I never understood why---do people hoard National Geographic magazines? Otherwise sane, normal, organized people have garages and basements full of those darned things
I was guilty of collecting the Nat Geo mags for about 15-20 years then finally donated them to the Fairfax County Library. They were always special to me, and obviously to many others, with their high gloss pages and very factual data and stories.
I gave it up in the late 1990s after the publication seemed to have gone formulaic with a rotating set of articles on a regular basis. Every 3-4 months there'd be a story on ancient ruins in central or south America, an arctic story, an African story, etc. To me it was obvious and I got tired of the repetitiveness of the topics.
I no longer save any magazines and will be further downsizing in the near future. LP records anyone?
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These are very good ideas. I'm starting to get overwhelmed with how much stuff we have. I have been strategically purging and it feels like the more I purge, the more I feel like we still have. Trying to get a family of 4 (3000 sq ft house) purged and cleaned then packed is very overwhelming. I decide to pack one box of things we are saving to get an estimate of boxes that I may need for just 1 room. I about cried from either seeing how little fits into a box or how much stuff I still had to box in that room and the estimate of boxes I would need.
I'm keeping an eye on the prize, better Quality of Life for all of us with this move. We have about 6 months now and time seems to be slipping away. We are planning on doing needed upgrades in November and put house on market in January.
In anticipation for my next move a few years down the road when I retire, I've gotten rid of almost all my CD's. Copied them to mp3 files. The rest will be going away soon. Got rid of all my DVD's except the dozen or so that wouldn't copy. Copied them to mp4 files which I can stream to the TV. I keep very little paper. If it's really important, like the mortgage deed to the house or title deed to the car, of course I keep it. Anything else gets scanned, and I throw away the paper. For me, things are easier to find on the computer than in a file folder.
Got rid of almost all my books. Replaced them with e-copies. I almost never buy anything else now.
Backup copies of all that music, all those movies, all the books and whatever else is important on my hard drive are on a cigarette pack-sized 2 terabyte external hard drive.
By doing this, I've reduced stuff I need to move by probably a dozen boxes and I don't know how many pounds.
I'm not on Facebook, so I'm hoping someone who is on FB can fill us in on how FB may be used to get rid of excess items and keep stuff out of landfills.
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I'm not on Facebook, so I'm hoping someone who is on FB can fill us in on how FB may be used to get rid of excess items and keep stuff out of landfills.
FB has some market place like a craigslist. I'd just post it on craigslist.
Something interesting involving cleaning a house before moving to my family. My exwife has been living in the house we bought in 1989. House wasn't in the best of shape then! Our sons told me she wanted to move into an apartment since it was just her and had been clearing things out. She even texted me about an old typewriter I still had stuck back in one of the closets. Not too long after she cleared a lot of junk out of the house, she had surgery to take a pin out of her leg from a previous surgery, her heart gave out, and she died 3 days later. One of our sons said it was kind of like she knew what was about to happen and she saved them the trouble of having to get rid of everything.
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