Too much (useless to me) stuff.

[pRICE cUBE]

Have a huge garage sale and set a specific amount of hours. Then discount like crazy as you run down on time and donate the rest.

[cbelt3]

We *should* have done an estate sale right away after my inlaws passed. We waited too long. And spent 6 years and 15 (so far) LARGE dumpsters removing just junk from a house where an inveterate dumpster diver lived for 45 years. We've been working at reducing the junk in our house ever since.

We just donate or scrap (or free Monday !)

[testcase]

Mom mom did some MAJOR cleaning / thinning out a few years before she died. Anyone in the family who wanted any of the cast offs were free to take them as long as THEY came and got them. That made things MUCH simpler after she passed away.

I started my own major purge back in May. With help from family and friends, I filled a 10 yard dumpster and then a 20 yard dumpster! Yard sales put hundreds of dollars back in my pocket. I'm on the road now but, when I get home in the fall, I WILL keep thinning out my hoard. Ideally, I'd like to be able to move off Long Island and out of NY before April, 2014. I just have to figure out WHERE I want to set up "home base" for my RV adventure treks.

[mrbigstuff]

same here, and, in fact, I believe that I have written the exact same sentiment in posts on this subject.

I tend to believe that the desire to accumulate is a problem that goes waaaaay back in our DNA and it's not just wanting the next greatest thing. Or three of them. It is exacerbated, of course, by being told we need not only a home PC, but a laptop, a smartphone, a tablet, etc. Pop culture has always been like this but it seems to be worse now than at any other time. And, of course, I am a serial collector of various things over the years, like comics, when I was young and now audio speakers now that I'm older (and have an attic). But, it all comes down to not letting it take over your life, and if it doesn't then your kids are just going to call 1-800-GET-JUNK and all your hard-won collecting is going away.. :-)

[bruceko]

After My mother in law had to move out of her house due to poor health it took 8 months to clean out the house.
A basement full of stuff and 8 years of paper work to sort out.
We have been slimming down our stuff for the last 3 years but we still have to much stuff. With our inlaws there were no other children so instead of all the heirlooms being disbursed to all the younger generations it all ended up with my wife and I.

[Speedy]

I have a bad habit of just retiring my old electronics to a large closet. Not because I'm attached to it but because when first taken out of service I keep it as backup. Unfortunately it just stays in the closet and gets buried by the next generation of retired stuff. That and the fact that it is not legal to throw the stuff in the trash. I did get rid of a lot of junk when Best Buy held a recycle event. It was a 140 mile round trip but getting rid of a station wagon full of old displays and PPC's made it worth the drive, saving me hundreds of $$ in recycle fees.

[digby]

I played a trick similar to the "If everything burned up, what would I replace?"

My version was "What would I take on a long trip/sabbatical?"

I recently went on an (urban) adventure for a few weeks with just a small backpack, and got along fine with minimal clothes, some art supplies and a stack of paperbacks. And it got me thinking...

What if I pack up the really important stuff for a trip, and then mercilessly attack what's left and cart it all to Goodwill? Hmm, I wonder if I'd have to get someone who's not emotionally attached to My Stuff to throw it out? I know I'd take forever, dithering over whether "I might just need that widget someday"...

[mrbigstuff]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x_QkGPCL18

[OWC Jamie]

My father died in 2004 and I'm still throwing his accumulations away.

[Octave Doctor]

The retired professor I used to help out died a few months back, leaving a three story house full of stuff. I feel sorry for his son who's going to have to go through it all, especially the memorabilia.

I've been paring things down slowly, hopefully by the time I'm 87, things will be manageable.