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Second house? As in you will be snow birding or something for a few years? If you are doing that, keep whatever you want. Maybe consider marking some boxes with the contents and dates, then if not used in the first couple years get rid of it. Weed things out gradually until you only have one house hold.
What is your objective? ... space savings, lower moving costs, reduce clutter, matching decor, downsizing, eliminate outside storage, etc.???
There's nothing wrong with using a move to get rid of unused items, but, if you have plenty of space and nice furnishings that you enjoy, it's not mandatory.
What is your objective? ... space savings, lower moving costs, reduce clutter, matching decor, downsizing, eliminate outside storage, etc.???
Good question!
In mulling it over, my immediate objective is to either 1) move existing stuff, 2) buy new/used or 3) buy from the sellers enough furniture so we can spend two weeks in the new house at Christmas.
1. Moving our existing stuff: On further reflection, moving a lot of stuff 1000 miles right away doesn't make sense when I'm under the gun at work until after Christmas.
2. Buy new/used: DH has made no secret of the fact that he wants a king-size bed there. I already know where I'll be getting that. I'm also in the market for an antique tansu.
3. Buy from the sellers: This was one of those house listings that said "Furnishings available on separate bill of sale" so I am hopeful we can get some pieces like tables and chairs at a reasonable price. The listing agent joked that the wife said everything is negotiable except her husband -- he's going with her.
DH is still refusing to set a retirement date, so I guess there's no rush yet. I still have time to box up those 7 sets of china!
Thanks for all your responses.
Last edited by fluffythewondercat; 10-15-2018 at 11:54 PM..
We sold our large house in NY and rented a townhouse for 1 1/2 yrs while my husband continued to work. We moved most of our furniture from our large house into the town house. The rest went into storage.
We planned to move to Florida after my husband retired.
When that happened we again moved all our stuff down to Florida because we didn't know where we'd be living. All went into storage. We lived in a furnished condo while we house hunted.
Since we didn't know what type of house we'd buy, we decided to move most of our things with us.
Once we found the house we bought, most of our furniture fit and looked good.
I'm glad we didn't get rid of everything because it would cost too much money to rebuy furniture.
We sold our large house in NY and rented a townhouse for 1 1/2 yrs while my husband continued to work. We moved most of our furniture from our large house into the town house. The rest went into storage.
We planned to move to Florida after my husband retired.
When that happened we again moved all our stuff down to Florida because we didn't know where we'd be living. All went into storage. We lived in a furnished condo while we house hunted.
Since we didn't know what type of house we'd buy, we decided to move most of our things with us.
Once we found the house we bought, most of our furniture fit and looked good.
I'm glad we didn't get rid of everything because it would cost too much money to rebuy furniture.
Did you factor in the cost of moving and storage into your "too much money to rebuy furniture?"
I regret leaving a cabinet and talk bookcase. Could really use them now.
I am so glad I brought the furniture I did! I mainly brought them because they were fairly new. Once I was here, I was extremely glad while reviewing the lease and there were 4 pages on bugs, especially bedbugs. Since I have never had the problem, I knew my furniture was safe. If I hadn't brought my sofa and bed, mattresses, etc, I would have had to buy new here. I wouldn't have trusted used.
There are also some kitchen items I'm sorry I left behind because I haven't found replacements for them yet. For me, it's more a problem with mobility. There seem to be a fair amount of garage sales but I have to take my walker because it is tough for me to get around. I hadn't taken that into consideration.
I am so glad I brought the furniture I did! I mainly brought them because they were fairly new.
meo,
All my sisters and brothers who had recently moved (from CT to CA, CA to TX, and MI to FL) advised us to leave all the furniture behind for 2 reasons: First is that the furniture from the NE may not fit the W/SW style. Second is that it would be cheaper to get local used furniture than shipping heavy items across the country.
Like you, we are very glad that we brought some of our furniture. The pieces which we kept were not new but of high quality, solidly built and of the style which we like. The furniture that we brought fits well in the new house simply because we only bought what we like. We do not pay much attention to house/decor trends or the local regional style.
We had some frustrating and disappointing experience in shopping for some replacement pieces of furniture. I checked many online furniture stores, went to all the recommended high quality and/or modern furniture stores in Boise and could not find any living room furniture of the same quality as the ones that we kept. We ended up ordered a leather mid-century style recliner from a North Carolina manufacturer which turned out to be very nice. I did not want to order a sofa sleeper online and much prefer checking out the cushions and mattress first. After dozens of trips to local stores and reading many online reviews (especially about quality and durability), we decided to order the sofa from the same NC's manufacturer. We did have better luck in finding a modern dinette set, some rattan/bamboo chairs and table from local stores and online after shorter searches.
Regarding used furniture, we went to several estate sales, searched craigslist and combed all the local thrift stores for several months before finding a nice leather recliner and a love seat for the downstairs living room. It took a lot of time and effort so I am not sure whether the cost saving is worth it. It is likely that my brothers and sisters had better luck than us in finding good used furniture in bigger metro areas especially in Florida. Another reason is that we are somewhat picky in our furniture style. We like shaker, mid-century and danish modern furniture i.e. things with clean, simple, subtle and elegant forms. If one searches high-and-low, one may find some used pieces but they are either of high prices or requiring restoration effort. BTW, we had the option to purchase the furniture from the previous owner. We only got the patio dining set and a leather office chair. The rest of the furniture is not our style. They are either too decorative or stuffy and bulky.
Shipping heavy and bulky furniture long distance is worth it for some people like us especially if they are your favorite pieces.
We moved twice in the last 10 years to our "last" retirement home. First time to SC and DH rented a large Penske truck twice plus all the trips from PA to SC (I moved, he had to stay for awhile). Yeah, sure. Second time we had a mover move us and it was almost a disaster. They damaged about 6 of our pieces which had to be fixed and/or refinished.
Anyway, we kept almost all of our furniture because when we bought them we bought good solid wood stuff and I really liked it. Couldn't touch them now for what we paid for them then. Most of it is Ethan Allen or Pennsylvania House cherry. Most of the reasonably priced stuff down here is what I consider throw away furniture. The only thing we didn't keep was an Ethan Allen sofa and love seat that we had in our rarely used living room. I used the love seat in the new house and discovered that it was so uncomfortable I told DH to not bring down the sofa. Went to LaZBoy on their Labor Day sale and got new plus a sofa bed.
Got rid of stuff that I hated, although I used it. Bought a set of Corelle for our new house and sold off the Pfaltzgraff stoneware that I hated (black marks). I did bring down my one set of china but really never used it much. DD wants it so it is now packed up for her waiting for her to get her buffet or china closet. Now putting together enough Fostoria American to do a tea luncheon when I want. Had a TON, and I do mean TON in caps, of collectibles including several lines. Kept one large box of each line and sold the rest to a reseller. I do still have more than I should but couldn't bear to get rid of it all. Maybe some day...….
I will admit that there are things that I got rid of that I miss. Well actually DH got rid of them. He was the one who was staying in PA working and also held all the yard sales. He was cleaning out his mother's house as well as ours. Every now and then I run across something that I can't find but KNOW that I had. Make sure that what you get rid of is agreed between all parties. I had to go back to my DD and get my cedar chest back from her that DH gave away without asking me first. She knows she will get it back later, though. He also gave her my set of barrister bookcases but she won't give them back to me. We could have put them upstairs for his items, but instead we had to buy him a new set of shelves. I still had to get rid of some stuff that he brought down even though I told him to get rid of them. But I wasn't in control, he was. Oh well...….
Good luck! I have neighbors who literally got rid of everything and started new. Except for the one bookcase for DH everything else we had for awhile. And all the wood furniture is anywhere from 35 to 100 years old and still looking good.
Anyway, we kept almost all of our furniture because when we bought them we bought good solid wood stuff and I really liked it. Couldn't touch them now for what we paid for them then. Most of it is Ethan Allen or Pennsylvania House cherry. Most of the reasonably priced stuff down here is what I consider throw away furniture.
Pretty much all the reasonably-priced stuff is throwaway furniture, I'm convinced.
I had been sleeping in the bed that DH had when he was in high school -- 50 years ago. Then the headboard broke and it couldn't be fixed. We went shopping for a new bed but all we found was crap. Then we went into a store that sells nothing but solid wood furniture. He gasped at the prices but the bed I bought there will outlast me.
It all depends on how BIG a life people want and especially in retirement. We are a huge people of STUFF and that's what it is.
Then all this STUFF has to be cleaned out by our families when we go.
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