Too much (useless to me) stuff.

[wurm]

I'm starting to think that the greatest gift we could give our children is not to leave them with a bunch of our crap to have to deal with. We accumulate so much over the years and probably rarely use half of it. The problem is, it still has some value (just not to us).

This came to light in particular this weekend when I visited several local consignment shops in hopes of placing some decent pieces of furniture there to sell. These belonged to my late mother-in-law. The furniture is quality stuff, but it's just taking up space. Problem is, none of the consignment shops wants the stuff. In their defense, it's because they don't think they can sell it. And even if they could, it would probably cost me more to have it moved there that it would return after the shop's cut.

Anyway, it got me to thinking that I'm going to try to start getting rid of stuff I no longer need or want or use. One suggestion I found is to imagine that (God forbid) there were a fire in your home that destroyed everything. What would you replace? I guess that's a good start, but it's easier said than done.

How do you deal with the junk you've accumulated that you no longer use? Salvation Army? Freecycle? Craigslist?

[Speedy]

Garage sale.

Free stuff Monday.

Goodwill.

Salvation Army.

[davemchine]

I've spent the last year slimming down possession. You probably couldn't tell by looking around though! I've sold a few things on craigslist and to friends. I've also given away a lot of things.

My own thought process is, "what do I want to take with me when I retire?" Of course some things stay because I still have a large house and a family. But I know what I want and what I don't want.

[mattkime]

Could you talk to my parents?

(one of the benefits of living in nyc is that its difficult to accumulate stuff)

[dmann]

Oddly enough, my family has had better luck with "estate sales" (NOT garage sales) than trying to give away quality items. A friend of the family did this for a living so she coordinated everything, but we were able to sell some good pieces that were difficult to give away.That said, Salvation Army in my area will come pick up furniture. So will a few independent charity driven thrift stores.

After the tornadoes in OK and Hurricane Sandy, I remember seeing many organizations looking for good home furnishings for those trying to rebuild their homes and their lives. Same thing happening in areas affected by wildfires out west. Trucking companies were donating their services to transport goods across the country. There might be some sort of similar relief effort in your area.

In general, I am not a saver. I live in a 2 BR 2 BA condo so space is limited. No basement, no attic, no garage. I have 2 small end tables that were my grandmother's and 4 funky club style chairs that were my great-grandmothers. All were restored and refinished and all are in my living room being used as functional furnishings. My couch and other pieces were chosen to complement those few heirloom pieces. Those are the only "big" sentimental things I have and I would be very sad if anything happened to them. Other than that, "stuff" does not last long around here.

DM

[N-OS X-tasy!]

I've heard it said that we spend the first half of our lives collecting stuff and the second half getting rid of it.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Very close to your situation here. I think the real reason that my mom did not want to move into a smaller place was that she heard stories about how much work it was to move out of some place that a borderline hoarder lived for 52 years. I found a consignment furniture shop to take about a third of it. Gave away 12 banker boxes of books to the library, recycled 14, took 2 for myself, 7 to go to a consignment ebay book seller. I burned out a fairly new shredder, then took five banker boxes to a professional shredding company, have about 7 more to go. 20 loads of laundry (about a third of the total) to the thrift store that she use to work at, and they said 'please, no more clothes, but we will take the kitchen gadgets though.'

The kitchen cabinets were amazing. I found two boxes of 'new freeze dried process' drink mixes labeled Xmas 1969 and some cans and jars of food that were almost that old. I saved some photos if you are interested. :barf:

[clay]

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
The kitchen cabinets were amazing. I found two boxes of 'new freeze dried process' drink mixes labeled Xmas 1969 and some cans and jars of food that were almost that old. I saved some photos if you are interested. :barf:

that would be fun to see if you can easily post the pics...

[Speedy]

Filliam H. Muffman wrote: I found two boxes of 'new freeze dried process' drink mixes labeled Xmas 1969 and some cans and jars of food that were almost that old. I saved some photos if you are interested. :barf:

Don't you have Paul F.'s address?

[wurm]

My three brothers and I arranged for an estate sale after my dad passed in '04. That worked out really well. I half-jokingly commented that it's too bad they can’t do estate sales while you're still alive. Turns out they can. Unfortunately, it still takes a lot of time to go though what you do and don't want to keep. Still, if it were just me in the house, I might strongly consider it. I don't think my wife would go for it.