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What's a "paper hoard". Anyone who isn't cashing checks received on a regular basis has a bigger issue than simply not getting rid of stuff IMO. Perhaps losing a few screws during the aging process? Robyn
could be. She is in her upper 60s. Says she has a hard time remembering names.
The mail piled up while she was recuperating from surgery. I thought that would have been the perfect time to go through it.
We will be moving from a HCOL state to a lower COL one. And to a smaller house as we no longer need all this room. Like you all, we have inventoried our possessions. HOLY COW do we have a lot of crap! We are determined to not have our kids be stuck unloading boatloads of stuff like we recently had to do with my folks' estate.
We've had two garage sales so far, and given away to vets' organizations a couple dozen boxes of stuff. I spent this weekend running two shredders way past their duty cycles and have filled a garbage can with shredded docs. Did I really need to keep brokerage statements from the late 80's? It is amazing how many documents had your SSN on them back then.
I am down to guns I need for hunting, only necessary fishing gear, and all of my woodworking and other tools. Mary Poppins (the wife) still has a loooong way to go. Between fabric, cake decorating, candy making, and other domestic stuff, she could still fill a room and more. I see another round of garage sales and trips to Goodwill.
We also need to get rid of my mom's jewelry. We have a box full of gaudy "what grandma would wear on a cruise" jewelry to unload. Our two daughters split a tennis bracelet, and each got enough diamonds for their wedding rings and a pair of studs--which is a great way to remember grandma. Still not sure how to sell this jewelry and not get taken.
The unloading continues...
If its costume/fashion jewelry, don't discount its value. There's a great deal of interest in "vintage" fashion jewelry. If you have time, try researching it and selling it on Ebay. Brands that are no longer being made often go for more than you would think. Especially Napier, Monet, Trifari, Coro. Such could sell for $50--$100 or more per item. Its not a fortune, but don't make the mistake I did by donating all my mother's fashion jewelry to the Goodwill
CANCELLED checks, I'm sure is what it is. My father had bricks of them in boxes in the basement! You can throw the ones from two years ago - and all paperwork, for that matter - after the current year's tax season (or after any danger of being audited).
I had an opportunity to lend some household things to a family who has moved into our area, and whose possessions are not here yet. I lent some things, and as I was getting them together, I realized that I didn't need anything I was lending. It was a sort of wake up call. I'm glad I have these things to lend, but do I need to keep them after I get them back?
And then I thought of a couple of other items I really don't need that are currently taking up space in my kitchen.
So, I'm thinking of what my next GW donation will be like.
I'd been concentrating on downsizing decorative items; I hadn't considered downsizing linens or kitchen gear.
Why is it so important to down size. I don't really get this.
Maybe not downsize, maybe de clutter?
Get rid of things like the 50 year hoard of cancelled checks. Clear out the " unicorn" room. You tell someone you like unicorns and you end up with 5000 variations.
If your things are nice, neat, organized and you are happy, no worries.
Hell, even if it's a big cluttered hoard and you are happy, no worries. Lol
I am on a roll! LOL! Just yesterday the people from "Habitat For Humanity" came and got not only the last of the furniture I planed to give them but some other useless items I no longer needed. It's kind of a liberating feeling for me. I look at my living room now and it's uncluttered and larger appearing because it's not stuffed with "stuff."
I recently met a neighbor who moved from a two bedroom apartment to a studio. She didn't want to part with anything. She has chests of drawers, bookcases and curio cabinets everywhere. He bathroom even has a dresser. It's so crowded in her place. But that's how she wants if for now anyway. I wonder if she will hold onto all these things forever. She must get tired stumbling around dodging all of it.
I dove into the old electronics spare parts cabinet on Saturday. You know, the one with the old stand alone push button phones, Arcnet and outdated Ethernet equipment, and things like that. There was even a floppy disk drive for an Apple II+ from 1979. Then I wiped two obsolete Win XP Dell desktops my daughters used when they lived here--after clearing it with them. Anyways, got half a trash can for the next electronics roundup in my city and a few less places with clutter.
But our biggest downsize recently was inadvertent and financial. It happened on Friday. I have a bunch of stocks I can't sell till my mom dies or I have to pay cap gains on them (an ESOP thing), and Friday's market haircut cost us a bit. Ouch!
If its costume/fashion jewelry, don't discount its value. There's a great deal of interest in "vintage" fashion jewelry. If you have time, try researching it and selling it on Ebay. Brands that are no longer being made often go for more than you would think. Especially Napier, Monet, Trifari, Coro. Such could sell for $50--$100 or more per item. Its not a fortune, but don't make the mistake I did by donating all my mother's fashion jewelry to the Goodwill
Didn't know that about the costume jewelry. Thank you. We have three boxes of the stuff--probably 90 pieces total. I planned on hitting a couple estate jewelers this week to see what the "real" stuff would sell for. I know my mom said she paid almost $15k for a ring back in the early 80s. It'll be interesting to see what some jewelers have to say. I'll drag along the costume stuff and see what they have to say about it as well.
Turns out my wife is making a baby shower cake for a local jeweler. We might just do the cake for free if she can appraise the lot and show us how to unload it for the best price.
Thanks again for the tip. Like you, it would have gone to vets or Goodwill.
eBay is tedious, but may be worth it once we are fully retired to our little slice of Heaven and have nothing but time on our hands. Oh, we've got a ton of Hummels to unload too.
Last edited by Lv2fish; 06-26-2016 at 01:01 PM..
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