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Cleaned out a cupboard of mugs. Only those directly related to something we did in our working lives stayed. The rest, including the three given to us at Christmas, are in the truck for transport to the local thrift store.
I just rented some space in a consignment shop and there's a church fair tag sale end of the month that I am already packed for.
I know, this sounds productive but I have been like "deer in the headlights" all winter over having too much stuff that it makes it hard to clean the house or even think straight. Sure maybe the things are "nice" things and not junk, but they still muddy my head up and make the house feel stagnant.
Now that these things are packed and ready to go it feels like a weight has been lifted.
The phoenix rises.
Hubby and I have been cleaning the garage for the last 2 days. Oh, boy! Fun! NOT. But it has to be done and the weather is perfect for it.
I took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill yesterday, and we have 16 boxes of books ready to donate to the library book sale. We got rid of some other stuff, including a table. Some stuff is sheer junk and just gets hoisted into the trash or put in the recycling bin.
When I look at all the room we have in there already, I feel happy. Lots more stuff to go through. We are being pretty ruthless, as we are tired of shepherding this junk for years.
One thing that inspired us regarding the books was that my husband had dated the boxes the last time we "sorted" through them. We realized most of the books had not been touched since 2010! We figured if we hadn't looked at them in 7 years, we were probably not going to. The Internet has changed information-gathering a lot, and there is just less need for books than we once had.
I took several boxes and bags of stuff to Feline Rescue today. They're having a yard sale in a few weeks. Bonus was that there were a lot of cats there .
We are in NY this week cleaning out the house . Never-ending trips to Goodwill and village recycling and loading boxes that will go with us back to FL. I'm guessing some of those box contents may go to the cat rescue there when I unpack. I'm brutal about what gets tossed when I start the day, but by late afternoon that resolve starts crumbling.
A home clean out company is coming today to give estimates on hauling out a piano and some large pieces of furniture, we'll be back in the fall to have that done and do a final clear out of the essentials we need to leave here yet.
I sold two looms and three spinning wheels through a fiber arts website. Three have been picked up and the other two will go this weekend. I'm uploading pics today to Craigslist to sell a canoe and kayak.
We didn't bring our pets and that was a great decision. We don't have to stop to feed, walk or worry about them slipping out the door or being underfoot. The kids are watching them for us, so we shortened our visit to 10 days instead of three weeks. Two of the pets are quite old and traveling isn't as easy these days for them.
It's a bittersweet time: lightening the load feels great but the flood of memories are overwhelming when I get overtired. I had bought a Father's Day card last year, not knowing I had one already, and I wrote the second one out and addressed the envelope and put a stamp on it to send this year. I came across it and had a good cry. Dad died last fall.
It is a glorious spring here with all the flowering trees, bushes and trees, we will always love this area. The weather could be warmer but we having no problem staying warm by hitting our 10,000 steps by mid-afternoon every day. Monday and the trip back to FL can't come soon enough!
My wife and I are also in clean out mode. I have a set of Encyclopedia Britannica's from the 1960's that I'd like to get rid of but don't know where to take them.
Can't bear just to trash them as they are quite nice and my parents sacrificed a lot at the time to buy them. Libraries, of course, are not interested, nor are places like half price books.
Perhaps they could be re-purposed by someone crafty. Anyone have any ideas?
I thought I'd start a thread where we could each contribute what we did towards downsizing in anticipation of retirement.....
its either get rid of it now, or later.....later we will be too old to make decisions with the luxury of time.....I don't want my kids cleaning out my "junk" while I'm being hauled off to the home!
Before our retirement move, I purged. Well, I purged to the best of my ability. My DH might say something different. I donated a set of Wedgewood china to a thrift store and kept my favorite set. Although it is not in me to get rid of books, at my husband's prompting, I did get rid of many....but not all. We thought about what furniture to keep (the versatile pieces) and we gave away, sold at a garage sale or donated the rest. We still ended up with 150 boxes to move, washer/dryer, grand piano, two queen size beds which wererelatively new, and more. Many of the boxes sit unopened in the garage. I intend to go through them a second time and get rid of more things. I find it to be an exhausting job and love putting it off until later. Okay, so now I'm motivated to go through my closet and pull out the clothes that I thought I would have worn this past winter, but never did. Wish me luck!
This year is an abrupt reversal. I have some money to invest, and have decided that the best investment is real estate, so am adding to the home to increase the size of the master bath, refinishing the guest bath, and building a 36x48 shop with an office and bathroom. Our 90 acre parcel really needs a shop, and we are on a paved road where a home business could be a big plus. The best any other investment would do is break even, and stocks would be a guaranteed loss, so real estate it is. I also put a 30 year roof on the house, painted it, and plan to re-pave the driveway, which hasn't been paved since 1972. The master bath is being converted to handicapped accessible, with a floor level shower that will accommodate a wheelchair. We'll hang on here as long as we can. One more year would return 400% on the remodel investment. We're 70, and my wife is already having some mobility issues. Chances are we will have to sell out and move to town in 10 years, and I want the place to sparkle when it goes on the market.
As for the contents, we'll take a couple of suitcases to assisted living and call an auctioneer for the rest.
I have a set of Encyclopedia Britannica's from the 1960's that I'd like to get rid of but don't know where to take them.
Can't bear just to trash them as they are quite nice and my parents sacrificed a lot at the time to buy them. Libraries, of course, are not interested, nor are places like half price books.
Perhaps they could be re-purposed by someone crafty. Anyone have any ideas?
You might try to see if any local schools might want them. I felt the same way about an old Time Life series of books I had from my childhood. I couldn't bear to just toss them in the trash.
Ultimately I put a "curb alert" post in the free stuff section of Craigslist. Saturday afternoon somebody just drove up and took them. I have no idea where they ended up.
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Lots more stuff to go through. We are being pretty ruthless, as we are tired of shepherding this junk for years. 
