Getting rid of stuff, downsizing time advice appreciated.

[Lmcgrath87]

I have sold a few bits before, nothing too fragile. Just shove it in a jiffy bag and off it goes!

[tillergirl]

Apologies if this has been said before. Ring your local council and ask if they have a "choose to reuse" scheme going. Any furniture decent enough to be passed on they will take and sell on at a hugely reduced cost to someone just starting out. The money they make keeps the service ticking over. We did that with a couple of bits we were unable to sell

[Loafer]

We also have the '12-month' rule on our boat. If it's not used within a 12-month period, it goes.

 

Buy anything new, like trousers or pullovers, then an equivalent old one goes.

[carlt]

Is parcelling up stuff for ebay a faff? I have a lot of china and glass to get rid of.

Loads of bubble wrap and, most importantly, photograph the wrapping process so that when the scammers who claim that it was broken in the post start up you have proof it was adequately packed.

 

I find that offering a full refund on receipt of the broken pieces soon shuts them up.

 

Remember to add the cost of the packaging to the postage fee too.

[carlt]

Epic fail on the knitting needles, they're still in the car.

I find primary schools a good dumping ground when I'm having a crafty clearout.

 

My son's teacher was thrilled at receiving the huge pile of knitting needles I inherited from my Great Aunt.

[rupertbear]

Just managed to sell 80 DVDS for £120 wahooo. That's most of our insurance paid for.

 

Could I ask how/where you did this? It's a very good price.

[Lmcgrath87]

 

Could I ask how/where you did this? It's a very good price.

 

My father in law :-) but I have also used webuybooks too to sell DVDs.

[rupertbear]

My father in law :-) but I have also used webuybooks too to sell DVDs.

 

Thanks! Does he want any more?

[Catrin]

... Boris was a child when the war started and the shortages and make do and mend of his growing up years has affected his view on stuff. It might come in handy is firmly part of his thinking and we both find it hard to just chuck stuff out.

...

 

Edit . Boris seems to find it doubly hard to let stuff go maybe because of his past experience, I have to tiptoe round and negotiate even to get rid of my stuff.

I think that is true of so many people who lived through the war, and, tbh those who were brought up by them.

 

My late MIL left us a houseful of junk and tat to get rid of - nightdresses that fell to pieces as I picked them up, and that I estimated were probably 60 or more years old. 100 or so pillowcases - ranging from pristine still in their wrappings to those made out of my FIL's worn out flannel pyjamas.

 

It is hard to get rid of stuff, and I was brought up with the idea that you don't chuck stuff away, you might need it. My mother used to put used matches back into the matchbox - you might be able to use the used match as a 'spill' - until she set a matchbox on fire - and the jacket she was wearing that she had put the box back into.

[madcat]

I put some stuff in the bin today, a selection of outlet hoses for dishwashers and washing machines. Why did I keep them , they're a bit small diameter for bilge pumps I think.

 

I was brought up,to hang onto stuff just in case

 

I had a right royal sort out in the darkest recesses of my lair but most of its just gone back tidy .

Edited March 17, 2015 by madcat

[Lmcgrath87]

 

Thanks! Does he want any more?

haha I'm not entirely convinced he wanted the ones he bought from us..... But webuybooks,co.uk i can highly recommend, and will be putting more onto my account there tonight to see if I can shift the last few.

[Timleech]

I think that is true of so many people who lived through the war, and, tbh those who were brought up by them.

 

 

Yes, I think my generation - born a couple of years after the war - potentially have the biggest problem with 'stuff'. We were brought up, with good reason, to make do & mend, to keep anything that could have any chance of being reused. Shortages didn't end abrubtly in 1945 - and we were also in the full flow of the Consumerist society - you need this, you need that, very often something that hadn't been even dreamed of when you came into the world.

 

Tim

[wandering snail]

I thought the one room at a time idea was a good one. Might make it all more manageable.

[keble]

Just remembered a funny thing about Freegle/Freecycle. Last year I had a surplus WiFi router, from when I changed from BT to EE.

 

I advertised it (free) on Freegle - no takers!

 

So I put it in eBay - got a good price (£40-ish from memory)!

 

Strange ...

[Ange]

I think that is true of so many people who lived through the war, and, tbh those who were brought up by them.

 

My late MIL left us a houseful of junk and tat to get rid of - nightdresses that fell to pieces as I picked them up, and that I estimated were probably 60 or more years old. 100 or so pillowcases - ranging from pristine still in their wrappings to those made out of my FIL's worn out flannel pyjamas.

 

It is hard to get rid of stuff, and I was brought up with the idea that you don't chuck stuff away, you might need it. My mother used to put used matches back into the matchbox - you might be able to use the used match as a 'spill' - until she set a matchbox on fire - and the jacket she was wearing that she had put the box back into.

This is a worry for us. MIL keeps saying she must get rid of stuff, but nothing happens. They have a five bedroom house an five acres of land rammed with stuff. They're both approaching 80 - hopefully we'll have them with us for a few years yet but I'm dreading the thought of going through all that stuff, especially in a time of deep grief.

[madcat]

I know what you mean Ange, I dread dealing with Boris leaving and all the things at such a bad time.

 

I've identified some boaty stuff to sell. Even if I were to take on another boat/ project it's things I wouldn't need. I must get sorted with ebay as I theres a generator to go some time after Easter

 

I think I'm just going to have to persist with this one and pick away at it one bit at a time.

[Jim Batty]

We downsized from a large 2-bedroom flat with thousands of books onto a 53' narrowboat five years ago. It took about 6 months. The closer we came to 'D-Day' (moving onto the boat forever), the more ruthless we became. The big eye-opener was just how little other people value stuff you think is wonderful/beautiful/clever. As we'd both moved between different continents a couple of times, we knew all about storing stuff at family and friends places. Only to go back five years later and wonder why on earth we'd wanted to keep it in the first place! For this reason we decided to NOT put anything in storage.

 

Here's a few things we tried:

 

-- I initially circulated 'For Sale' emails at work, and sold a few things that way. The hassle was transporting heavy books and stuff to my workplace in central London on trains and tube. But people were really happy for the opportunity.

 

-- We sold a couple of things through supermarket 'for sale' boards

 

-- We held an 'Open House' weekend, putting up posters all over the neighbourhood, saying we were moving onto a narrowboat, and inviting people to come by between specific hours to have a look. We restricted everyone to the hallways, lounge and kitchen ... and put price signs on everything. We were always open to offers. Many kitchen gadgets, some books and most large furniture (armchairs, sofa beds, tables, bookcases) were sold this way. Mostly to students at knock-down prices.

 

-- I started to list things for eBay and get my head around that ... but ultimately it could see it would be too time-consuming, so gave up on it.

 

-- Our High Street cancer charity supplied stacks of bags, so we gave them many books and stuff. We must have made 20 trips to them ferrying all this on a hand-truck.

 

-- The Sally Ann was the only charity that would actually pick up home contents, so during the final few days they came around and took the rest of the furniture. Happily, the driver was pleased to take a couple of 6-foot indoor ficus benjaminas home. I loved these plants, and in 6 months I had been unable to find anyone with space to take them.

 

-- Finally came the council tip. I had tears in my eyes when I threw my beloved (but outdated) StarWriter word processor into the giant container full of other electronic junk.

 

 

Now, it feels great to be mobile! Everything fits onto the boat. If something new comes aboard, somewhere along the line something else will need to be removed. We buy the best and most beautiful of things we need, and treasure them while we have them. For us it has been quite liberating.

[Lmcgrath87]

Just made £39 on ebay with 3 pairs of shoes. Got a couple more listings to end today. Sold some of tgethe cat's stuff for £10 and another pair of shoes for £5 so running total in this downsize experiment is £174!

[cherswud]

We have recently moved from a 5 bedroom 3 reception room house to a 2 bedroom, 1 reception house. We'd been in the former for 34 years and had heaps of stuff, although we had been away for 4 years (in the UK in the mid 2000s) so had emptied the house into storage and rented our house out. That emptying involved the Sallies and a skip. When we first went to the UK we lived in a studio apartment, admittedly large, but we went to the UK with 2 suitcases each, and we realised we didn't need at least 99% of the stuff we had accumulated over the years. The final move out didn't entail a skip, but we did take stuff to charity shops that didn't sell at the garage sale.

We had to get rid of excess furniture along with paintings, china, ornaments, clothes etc. And books by the hundreds.

The way we coped with letting go of the stuff we were attached to was to talk about the memories the things evoked, laugh, cry and then put it in the box to go. We found that the memories stayed even if the thing was gone.

I even coped with letting most of the books go and I was quite ruthless about it - if I knew I wouldn't read it again if I kept it, it went; if I would read it again, I noted the name and author and will get it on my kindle.

We've been in our new home for three months now and I can honestly say there isn't a single thing we gave away that we miss. And we've continued to give things away that we just don't have room for here.

[madcat]

Interesting. I took a load of stuff to the tip yesterday, that was quite a good feeling.

 

I'm capable of being ruthless but I have to tread carefully round my husbands feelings . As his disability and ageing advances he is finding life a struggle and can be easily upset. It's a bit of a minefield.

 

I once downsized to a camper van from a 5 bed house due to change of circumstance , I've never felt so free but sadly got drawn back into the house and stuff situation. It sort of creeps up on you.

 

I think a lot of it is about loss and fear of change. We think all this stuff will somehow form a buffer between us and the scary bits of life. We hang onto stuff because you can't get it anymore and then get some new stuff anyway. Our lives and interests change and we haul this cargo of the past round with us because we fear letting go.

 

I want my life back so I'm steadily picking away at the heap a bit at a time. Support suggestions and general encouragement welcomed. I'm fairly independent but a bit of friendly advice never goes amiss.

[Lady Muck]

This is a worry for us. MIL keeps saying she must get rid of stuff, but nothing happens. They have a five bedroom house an five acres of land rammed with stuff. They're both approaching 80 - hopefully we'll have them with us for a few years yet but I'm dreading the thought of going through all that stuff, especially in a time of deep grief.

I've had to do three major clearouts, now. My partners dads house last year, it was horrible. But my mother is the biggest hoarder of them all. Not looking forward to that one.