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There's a fascinating thread on this forum about regretting a move. It got me to thinking of the huge role played in my own two-and-a-half-year moving ordeal by the necessity to sell or give away possessions.
A poster on that other thread brought this up: how "stuff" will often hold you back, when "stuff" is just..."stuff." I'm not making light of moving expenses--not at all. The financial aspect of a move is formidable and frightening to anyone not a millionaire.
But I wonder if anyone else literally hurts from having to give up, or giving up and finding you didn't have to give up, or selling some beloved item(s) that meant a lot to you.
The only "stuff" I gave up in my last move that broke my heart is the locale of where I lived.
I can't imagine not being able to take meaningful tangible items with me on my next move. In fact, one of the big things I learned about myself on my last move was - I don't NEED nor WANT all this stuff. DH and I donated dozens and dozens of lawn and leaf bags full of clothing, shoes, etc to various charities. We also donated several unopened gifts (mostly trinkets). I just kept asking myself, "how much stuff do I really need?"
As we contemplate our next move, I am mentally getting rid of even more stuff that we brought here with us.
Not all that long ago, I found myself safely moved cross country and surrounded by stuff. Stuff that belonged to dead people. My H, his parents, my parents, and even some of my grandparents stuff. H had promised me he was going to be brutal and get rid of all the stuff, but he didn't. And then he died too.
And I got rid of tons of stuff before I moved.
Probably 3 or 4 times a week I load up the SUV full of stuff and donate it. I am hoping to have most of it gone before the end of the year.
My best advice is to get rid of everything before you move and just take the bare minimum. Whatever looked great in your old house won't be right in the new one. Or the movers will damage stuff too. You can usually replace used furniture with used furniture for much less than it costs to move the stuff cross country!
I get attached to trinket type things, maybe things I bought somewhere that have special meaning or someone gave them to me. But, furniture, large items like that, not much attachment w/ the exception of my Grandfather clock that I have attachment to.
I relocated and put things and storage. My things have been in storage in my previous state and the expense of keeping my belongings in storage is adding up--and I still have to go get them.
My mom said that I needed to get rid of all my things. I threw out as much as I could, and sold what I could. The things I kept would be to expensive to replace (one of them being an antique dresser). When I put my dresser up for sale, no one wanted it. The only thing that sold or that people kept calling me about are the cheap Ikea bookcases I had. The quality things I had, no one wanted to buy. The other stuff that is in there are personal items like photos. So I ended up putting everything in storage. I didn't have the time to plan the move and ship ahead.
Now I have to plan the logistics of getting my stuff to where I am now.
I get attached to trinket type things, maybe things I bought somewhere that have special meaning or someone gave them to me. But, furniture, large items like that, not much attachment w/ the exception of my Grandfather clock that I have attachment to.
I like reading your posts, Nanny Goat. Almost always I share some common feeling.
I did jettison nearly everything I owned to keep my UPS shipping bill manageable. Gave away every stick of furniture. As Atlanta B says, no one is interested in the meaningful things anyway; and I have a sibling with what seems a common City-Data nightmare. She stored every bit of gramma, grampa, mom, dad (all deceased) trivia, then moved 4,000 miles away, and, now that I'm gone from our city of origin, has either to swallow the loss of probably $10,000 in storage fees so she can give everything away, or pay a long-haul mover to move it all...and we're not even talking about someone who'll give the nostalgic stuff the TLC she wants it to have.
My original post above refers to those of us who are over-givers. I gave some personal things away that I need not have and actually called the charity to whom I gave it to see if they would give it back. I have given this charity so much over the years that the staff all know me, and one kindly young manager said that as a going-away present, I could come in to the thrift store and pick a replacement for the particular item I groveled to get back. No, I was not ashamed to grovel. Those posters who are over-givers will understand. I never did it before and don't plan on groveling again, but, dang, do I wish Santa would drop those over-given items down my chimney.
The only thing I really regret is leaving behind some artwork I did in college. Otherwise I moved with only what would fit in my Beetle and 13 boxes shipped UPS.
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I like reading your posts, Nanny Goat. Almost always I share some common feeling.
I did jettison nearly everything I owned to keep my UPS shipping bill manageable. Gave away every stick of furniture. As Atlanta B says, no one is interested in the meaningful things anyway; and I have a sibling with what seems a common City-Data nightmare. She stored every bit of gramma, grampa, mom, dad (all deceased) trivia, then moved 4,000 miles away, and, now that I'm gone from our city of origin, has either to swallow the loss of probably $10,000 in storage fees so she can give everything away, or pay a long-haul mover to move it all...and we're not even talking about someone who'll give the nostalgic stuff the TLC she wants it to have.
My original post above refers to those of us who are over-givers. I gave some personal things away that I need not have and actually called the charity to whom I gave it to see if they would give it back. I have given this charity so much over the years that the staff all know me, and one kindly young manager said that as a going-away present, I could come in to the thrift store and pick a replacement for the particular item I groveled to get back. No, I was not ashamed to grovel. Those posters who are over-givers will understand. I never did it before and don't plan on groveling again, but, dang, do I wish Santa would drop those over-given items down my chimney.
I've given away and sold (cheaply) so much stuff over the years to fill a house I think. When I moved back to the East Coast I had to get rid of stuff out of necessity. I just had an attitude like " it must go." I did let out some tears when the auctioneer came for most of the furniture in my Arizona house. I had to get in my car and leave. I just remembered that. I must not be as much of a hardened give away'er as I thought! It does teach you...no forces you to let go...
Ya, I know what you mean about Santa...maybe one of his elves will surprise you this year!
When I moved back east to live with my mom for a year, she said to just leave everything I had because I didn't need any of it. I ended up putting it all in storage and I'm so glad I did.
Part of the problem with getting rid of any of my belongings is that I could never afford to get them back. I have a beautiful sofa I bought when I sold my house, my books were all bought when they were 50 or 75 cents, the magazines I have collected are sell for about $8 more than when I bought the ones I have, and some stuff I have I could never replace. The thing is, I use everything I have every day. I am always reading my books or paging through my magazines. I couldn't imagine just walking away from it.
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Those posters who are over-givers will understand. I never did it before and don't plan on groveling again, but, dang, do I wish Santa would drop those over-given items down my chimney.
