Would you get rid of these items if you were thinking about moving?

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Xantippe said:
For further inspiration, try watching one of the hoarder shows.
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I’ve never watched Hoarders, but I see now that watching Antique Roadshow or American Pickers won’t provide the inspiration I need. 😃
 
Kay_Cee said:
My husband and I sell used items on eBay, and I can tell you that Moving Sales are where we usually find the best deals. Since the sellers are under a time crunch, they often let items go rather cheaply. We then sell them on eBay for 2 to 5 times what we paid, sometimes even 10 times what we paid.

I suggest you don’t wait and get rid of the items you’re not using now. You can check on eBay to see what a similar item went for in the last few weeks by scrolling down and clicking on Completed Listings. (You do have to register to do that.) Completed Listings is on the left side of the screen.

If selling on eBay is too much work, you can always have a garage sale.

Best of all, you can be a sheep instead of a goat by donating your unwanted items. 🙂
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I’ve bought on EBay and given selling on EBay lot of thought over the years. I’ve scanned it, and knowing it’s worth is one reason why I’ve held onto stuff in storage. Garage sales don’t usually do too well in my area, so if I were going to sell things it would be either on-line or on consignment at a store. I have another load ready for donation, and after that I’m going to slow down and think more about what I should do with the items. Our church has a fundraiser in spring with a silent auction, which might be a good place to unload some of the valuables.
 
PhiloMed said:
On the other end of this, my mother has several friends who saved heaps of things both of their own and of the kids in anticipation of one day needing it or thinking that the abundant number of grandchildren would be regularly using them.

What they found is that the adult children had no interest in any of it. They get new toys for their kids. They live in a different state or country. They only buy organic clothing and bedding. Crib safety recommendations changed. Mattresses corrode. Bassinets aren’t in fashion anymore. Grandchildren never arrived. A thousand different reasons why all those treasured items are still sitting in an attic 30+ years later …
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PhiloMed–your observation of your mother’s friends was very helpful. It got me thinking that one reason for holding onto these things in the attic is because there is an attic. And one reason for holding onto the attic for storage–or in our case basement and closets–is because they come with the rest of the home. Just as I don’t easily get rid of these things, it won’t be easy to sell our family home!

We bought this house for reasons relating to family and children. We moved here to be by my husbands family, and because it seemed like a nice place to raise our children. For the most part, it has been. We’ve made different choices for our family life because of where we live, such as homeschooling and being in the position to welcome more children. Our lives evolved around where we live.

The reason for holding onto this home now also relates to our children and potential grandchildren. If we moved to a different state, we’d be moving away from our adult children. (All but one of our older relatives have either died or moved.) While I want to be someplace warmer, I still want to be near family. It seems really weird for my husband and I to be the ones who move away from home.
 
Xantippe said:
Sunshine is VERY nice. I’m from the Pacific NW and live in TX now–I don’t think I could ever go back long term.

Some thoughts:
  1. Are the clothes items that existing members of your household will grow into? If so, keep.
If a new baby is a realistic possibility, I would hold onto a box each of each size of newborn-3T clothes.
  1. Keep a small set of basic maternity clothing (say 10 items max), but not dress-up stuff.
  2. Keep at least a small set of toddler/preschooler toys for entertaining visitors.
  3. With regard to the old stuff–do you still like it?
  4. Maybe create a “purgatory” box where you put books that you aren’t emotionally attached to and don’t think you need, and if anybody in the house loves the book, they can fish it out? If the book stays in “purgatory” too long, you can give it away.
Also, maybe plan to keep one bookcase of kid books in grandmahood? My kids enjoy finding books to read at their grandparents.
  1. Maybe start offering your young adult children stuff as they launch? I have a set of Star Trek drinking glasses that was given to us that is either going to leave with a child or going to Goodwill.
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Ah, I want to pick your brains about moving to somewhere warmer! Share more, if you don’t mind! How would you feel if you returned home to visit the Pacific Northwest and your parents weren’t there because they’d moved to Florida? When I go back to where I grew up, there is no “home” to go back to.
  1. Some of these are clothes that I hope to shrink back into. I lost weight before, then gave away my “fat” clothes, only to now find I need them. (And I can’t even blame it on pregnancy and baby weight!) Anyway, I now find my closet has some very nice clothes that I can’t fit into.
  2. Actually, it’s the dress-up stuff that I’m always more inclined to keep because our other clothes tend to see a lot of wear.
  3. :yup:
  4. :yup: I like antiques in general. If I don’t like things, I don’t keep them. But sometimes I keep things because I like* who *gave them to me. For instance, I did finally let go of an old blouse yesterday that my mom gave me and a baby outfit my aunt gave us. Both women died a dozen or so years ago. I miss them. Sometimes I treat these items more like religious relics because someone I loved touched them. And I love the items because I love the person who gave them to me. With the loss of loved ones comes some emotional baggage, and sometimes that emotional baggage takes on physical form.
  5. I think I should create an entire “purgatory closet” with things that I’d only get rid of if we moved! When I re-organize the books, I can create some “purgatory bookshelves” too. (And I’ll definitely keep some children’s books regardless of it there are children living in my home or not! Children’s books are my favorite!)
  6. Done that. It’s easiest to get rid of things by pawning them off on my older children! Oldest son lives in small apartment and next oldest lives in frat house, so there’s not a lot of space. Oldest son gave us some old dishes back that I’d given to him once he got new ones. (Things I give away often find there way back here! I guess that’s the moral of the story!)
 
gardenswithkids said:
Books, books and more books. We homeschool and have many books from preK-12+. Most are on bookshelves, looking much like a library.
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Just wanted to toss out a couple thoughts on these - one, if you at all love a book (favorite to read to a child, enjoyed it in your own childhood, etc.) I’d say keep it, because while there’s a handful of children’s books that get reprinted over and over, there’s also a large number that do not. And while a copy may be found on ebay, etc., the cost to replace a book (imho) is far more than the cost of keeping a favorite. (They pack, store, and endure nicely.)

On the other hand - there are so many children out there who’d probably love whatever book(s) you are willing to part with. Books that will become their favorites, will inspire ideas, and help them grow.

So the awesome part is that either choice is a good one (keep or purge). 😃
 
gardenswithkids said:
Ah, I want to pick your brains about moving to somewhere warmer! Share more, if you don’t mind! How would you feel if you returned home to visit the Pacific Northwest and your parents weren’t there because they’d moved to Florida? When I go back to where I grew up, there is no “home” to go back to.
  1. Some of these are clothes that I hope to shrink back into. I lost weight before, then gave away my “fat” clothes, only to now find I need them. (And I can’t even blame it on pregnancy and baby weight!) Anyway, I now find my closet has some very nice clothes that I can’t fit into.
  2. Actually, it’s the dress-up stuff that I’m always more inclined to keep because our other clothes tend to see a lot of wear.
  3. :yup:
  4. :yup: I like antiques in general. If I don’t like things, I don’t keep them. But sometimes I keep things because I like* who *gave them to me. For instance, I did finally let go of an old blouse yesterday that my mom gave me and a baby outfit my aunt gave us. Both women died a dozen or so years ago. I miss them. Sometimes I treat these items more like religious relics because someone I loved touched them. And I love the items because I love the person who gave them to me. With the loss of loved ones comes some emotional baggage, and sometimes that emotional baggage takes on physical form.
  5. I think I should create an entire “purgatory closet” with things that I’d only get rid of if we moved! When I re-organize the books, I can create some “purgatory bookshelves” too. (And I’ll definitely keep some children’s books regardless of it there are children living in my home or not! Children’s books are my favorite!)
  6. Done that. It’s easiest to get rid of things by pawning them off on my older children! Oldest son lives in small apartment and next oldest lives in frat house, so there’s not a lot of space. Oldest son gave us some old dishes back that I’d given to him once he got new ones. (Things I give away often find there way back here! I guess that’s the moral of the story!)
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A. That’s a tough one, as my parents’ house is not very homey and they aren’t very good at being hosts to visiting grandkids and spend the evening glued to the TV, so in some ways, it feels like they’ve already gone.

About warm weather locations, we get far more usable days outside in TX, but we need to stay indoors during the summer months. So, for a lot of southern locations, that would be a natural time to go up north. We also have BUGS. Also, the gardening season here is different from what you’re used to–there’s a short spring season, the summer dead time, and then a short fall season. Also, allergies are apparently terrible in our area.
  1. Definitely get rid of those (unless there’s an item or two you really love). Skinny future you deserves new clothes.
  2. That’s tough.
My parents have also inherited furniture from a couple of deceased relatives and won’t part with it. Funny thing is, I know for a fact that one of the deceased relatives tended to get **her **furniture from the side of the road…
  1. The guy who does Apartment Therapy recommends a similar technique for furniture, although he doesn’t use the term “purgatory.”
 
I would get rid of everything you aren’t using and aren’t likely to use. I’d keep adult clothes if they’re well made and just a size off. Get rid of all the kid stuff. As for other stuff - if you really think you will use it, keep it. Otherwise get rid of it. My perspective is one of someone who recently moved and finally decided to get rid of a lot of stuff rather than keep moving it from place to place.
 
Woo-hoo! Another two loads of stuff hauled away!

Today, we sorted through toys, and my children were willing to part with a number of them. My youngest is thrilled because along with all this, we did some toy-swapping of what’s out vs. what’s stored away. so she’s got toys to play with she hasn’t seen for a while. (I usually swap out what toys are stored with what’s out every couple of months, but we hadn’t done that since before Christmas.)

Along with this, I’m thinking about what other things in the house I should get rid of or replace. If we are going to put the house on the market, there are some things that need updating. Even if we kept our home, I’d like to do those things, (and I’ve wanted to do some of them for a very long time.)

Chauffer duty calls. I have more questions, but I’ll have to ask them later.
 
On a* much larger* scale of things to “get rid of” when considering moving… if you were thinking about moving and didn’t need to sell your home in order to move, would you consider renting instead of selling and buying?

If we sell our home, there’s no turning back. I’m not sure if I want to “get rid” of the option to come back here. Plus in order to sell, we’d likely need to “get rid” of some things that are in working order (like outdated appliances, older carpet, etc.) and spend money on renovations that we wouldn’t need to spend if we just rented this house to someone else.

Plus, if we were to move, it might make sense for us to rent for a year to see if we really liked the area.

Buying and selling real estate “gets rid” of some of our options.

I don’t know. Maybe we just need a vacation. :tanning: Or maybe my husband and I just need to stop watching “Beach Front Bargain Hunt”. :takethat:
 
gardenswithkids said:
On a* much larger* scale of things to “get rid of” when considering moving… if you were thinking about moving and didn’t need to sell your home in order to move, would you consider renting instead of selling and buying?

If we sell our home, there’s no turning back. I’m not sure if I want to “get rid” of the option to come back here. Plus in order to sell, we’d likely need to “get rid” of some things that are in working order (like outdated appliances, older carpet, etc.) and spend money on renovations that we wouldn’t need to spend if we just rented this house to someone else.

Plus, if we were to move, it might make sense for us to rent for a year to see if we really liked the area.

Buying and selling real estate “gets rid” of some of our options.

I don’t know. Maybe we just need a vacation. :tanning: Or maybe my husband and I just need to stop watching “Beach Front Bargain Hunt”. :takethat:
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Renting can be complicated. Are you prepared to hire a lawyer if you need to evict a tenant? Are you prepared to possibly lose income for several months if a tenant doesn’t pay, while the eviction goes through the courts? Are you prepared to potentially pay for tenant damage out of your own pocket (collecting from deadbeat tenants can be difficult to impossible)?
 
DarkLight said:
Renting can be complicated. Are you prepared to hire a lawyer if you need to evict a tenant? Are you prepared to possibly lose income for several months if a tenant doesn’t pay, while the eviction goes through the courts? Are you prepared to potentially pay for tenant damage out of your own pocket (collecting from deadbeat tenants can be difficult to impossible)?
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Yes.

If you can swing it financially, it might be better to find a responsible house sitter.
 
gardenswithkids said:
On a* much larger* scale of things to “get rid of” when considering moving… if you were thinking about moving and didn’t need to sell your home in order to move, would you consider renting instead of selling and buying?

If we sell our home, there’s no turning back. I’m not sure if I want to “get rid” of the option to come back here. Plus in order to sell, we’d likely need to “get rid” of some things that are in working order (like outdated appliances, older carpet, etc.) and spend money on renovations that we wouldn’t need to spend if we just rented this house to someone else.

Plus, if we were to move, it might make sense for us to rent for a year to see if we really liked the area.

Buying and selling real estate “gets rid” of some of our options.

I don’t know. Maybe we just need a vacation. :tanning: Or maybe my husband and I just need to stop watching “Beach Front Bargain Hunt”. :takethat:
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I would definitely rent if the house was in a good investment area and worth holding onto. Money in the bank is literally losing value right now.

This really depends on your comfort level, though. My family buys houses in our area just for purposes of renting. Evictions and damage have never been an issue in over 20 years of doing it, but that is largely related to the area we are in and the type of people we rent to.

I will say that depending on how hot the rental market is where you live, you may or may not need to make those updates anyway. We only rent out new renovations and older places tend to not rent as well or have more trouble with who is staying there.
 
Again, thanks to everyone for sharing. 🙂 Those are all things worth thinking about. I don’t think our state laws are too hard on property owners. People we know somewhat locally have turned their former homes into rentals, and I’ve never heard horror stories about rentals around here. Anyway, it’s something to think about. When the time comes, selling this home will be difficult.

The basement closet and storage area looks much better now.

Also, thanks for the television show suggestions. I should start watching Hoarders instead of shows about antiques and beachfront homes. 😃
 
Okay people. I watched an episode of Hoarders. :eek:

After watching, I couldn’t decide if I should take a shower or clean the laundry room. Cleaning the laundry room won. The pile of unmatched socks waiting for their mate to eventually show up–gone. The silk flowers that once decorated our home–giving them away. Plastic and paper shopping bags that were starting overflow their storage spot–in recycling. Then I looked at our recycling. :eek: We have a good system for trash removal, but since the pope’s latest encyclical, my dh recycles many more things. We’ve got to get a better system for recycling because it looks like a big pile of trash to me.

That Hoarders show is horrifying! Perhaps just a slight bit inspiring too. But mostly horrifying.
 
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