De-junking

[khenrie]

So, we've barely started the process of de-junking, boiling our "stuff" down to what can fit in an RV. I'd love to hear how you all have handled this.

What about old photos? newspaper articles? momentos? etc? What creative ideas have you come up with or have you just been flat out ruthless?

[Liz]

I've been "downsizing" for a couple of years....still had too much stuff. Put old photos in plastic bins (several) and shipped them off to dds for THEM to sort through when they feel like it...probably after I die. A few family heirlooms also went to dds. I'm storing 2 bins of clothes at my dds....probably pitch those next year. The rest of the stuff...it came down to ruthless in the end. Yard sale, Salvation Army, or trash. I pitched several old manuscripts (& rejection slips) from the days I thought I wanted to be an author. Been saving those for years. Got one book published....too much like work...will never do that again.

Wish I'd taken a picture of the explosion in my living room the other day before the yard sale...too late now; it's all gone.

[BarbaraRose]

. Got one book published....

Liz, would like to know more about that! What was is about? Knowing how well you write on here, I bet it is very good!

[Liz]

. Got one book published....

Liz, would like to know more about that! What was is about? Knowing how well you write on here, I bet it is very good!

Co-authored with Idella Parker, her auto-biography. She was maid to Pulitzer prize winning author of "The Yearling", Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, for 10 years. Much of Idella's story is about life with Marjorie Rawlings. Published by University Press of FL.
http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780813017068?id=4961887307966

[Bethers]

All my old photos and newspaper articles and even the pages from my hs yearbooks I scanned and saved onto an external hard drive. It's worth the time - and then I did toss them all. It gave me the time to really go through things again - and some didn't get scanned, but most did. Was actually a long, but very pleasant time. Did that in the rv just last summer.

Everything else - be ruthless Your memories are what you don't want to forget. I did what many told me to do and stored a bunch of stuff. Was a waste of money - I ended up donating expensive stuff to goodwill and the salvation army - to get rid of the storage locker. But if you find it hard to really get rid of it all - get a storage locker to save things in. Then just wait and see if you really feel the need to keep saving it all as time passes.

[Birdie]

I have scanned a lot of the paper stuff and still have more to do. Can't find the time, too busy, flitting around. I have a large storage unit and will be going through some of that stuff this year. I have decided that some of it I can pitch, but some of it I won't. I don't plan to live in my rig until I die, just for a long time. I need to determine how much of the stuff I have I can buy for the storage fees that I pay. That will help me decide on getting rid of it or not.

Clothing was easiest for me as I no longer work so those things went to Goodwill after my SIL took her pick. I have some clothes left and have my summer suitcase which I'll trade the winter one for in a couple 2 or 3 weeks. Some of the furnishings I want to keep and some I can get rid of as they are easily replaceable. My electronic gear is being kept and used by a friend as I didn't want it in a storage unit. You can always go back and pitch it, but you can't go get it back from Goodwill or SA. But photos and paper things are easily scanned and then can be pitched or handed off to another family member.

Good luck, girl!!!! Just think when it's all gone, you are on the Road.

[retiredhappy]

I first put a lot of stuff in a storage unit then my daughter moved it all to her place to save me money. Everytime I came back to Kerrville I would get rid of more stuff. I had seven muffin tins - why I don't know - I never made muffins.

I had a lot of antiques and every time I go to my daughters I find more of my stuff has moved inside her house so I really don't miss them. I go visit them from time to time. I still have some furniture if I ever decide to move back into something other than my RV. As for clothes, I find I have some things I always wear and some things I just keep carrying around. Am gonna get rid of more of those.

[Echo]

Hmmmm? Dejunking. Down sizing.... Hoooo Boy!

I have gotten rid of so much stuff in the past 8 1/2yrs. Got rid of stuff when we moved from TN to ME. Got rid of more stuff when Kelly moved to Seattle and I moved into a smaller apt. Got rid of more stuff when Kelly came home to live while I was in the process of totally moving out of an apt into the road tractor I was then driving.

Ended up acquiring stuff when we ended up moving to a sticks & bricks in TN in 2007. After 18 months we really, really downsized as we were going to start workamping. Son got ALL of the furniture type stuff.

As to pictures, I chose what "I" wanted to keep (they all fit in a box that's maybe shoebox size) and made the kids go thru 3 banana boxes of pictures to see what they wanted and the rest of them went into the trash. My books, which I love? Oh goodness they were hard! Most all of them were donated to a Hospice related bookstore. I kept quite a few but have since gotten ruthless and gotten rid of most all of those too. Have only kept maybe a dozen of my most favorite ones as I do reread them. Kelp mostly immediate needs. But STILL do have way to much stuff and will be getting even more ruthless with what's left. Also will be going thru our clothing to get rid of a lot of that!

All in all? I would recommend being as ruthless as you can be. Or like us end up carting stuff around the country and constantly revisiting the storage to go thru more and more. Waste of time and money to hold onto stuff you will not need or use again in maybe YEARS!!!

I figure that if and when I ever go back to a 'house'? I can buy what's needed from rummage sales, thrift stores and what not.

Everything that's worth keeping or saving??? You have in your husband, kids, friends and memories!! Those are the most important items. All that other stuff? Is just stuff and weight!!!

[khenrie]

It helps to hear your experiences. It's amazing, because we are not shoppers, I do not buy knick-knacks, I do not collect anything, we LOVE books but use the library, but we still have soooo much stuff.

The things that were striking me as Randy started to go through things.... his army insignia. His drafting tools. His late-father's drafting arm. His drawings and models from architecture school. He is not a sentimental guy, so for him to hold on to these is a big deal.... and now he is questioning whether he should or not. I can imagine when I start going through things. We're in for some ruthless times!

Fortunately, we aren't selling our house right away, so can store some things here and will keep it furnished, so that will make it easier. Our yard sale is April 23 if anyone wants to head this way to help or to shop!

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Colliemom]

After my dad passed away 8 years ago, I started getting rid of stuff around here too. He had stuff, I had stuff. He isn't here any longer to use his stuff, so I cleared it out. Kept the things like tools etc., that I need to keep up my house, but everything else gone. Just recently sold off his Army insignas etc. to a collector. Next person who cleans out my stuff, will just toos them anyway.

Went through boxes of old pictures and slides that have made a number of moves over the years. Decided that the majority of those pictures were friends of my paretns, and meant nothing to me, so tossed them. Scanned some of the slides of things I remember of different parts of my life and have them framed on my wall. Actually, after going through all the pictures, I now have four frames with pictures in them. And in those 4 frames are highlights of my life. I can look at them and remember almost 62 years of life in just those few pictures. You don't need to keep every single picture of kids growing up, Grandma Jane, Grandpa Joe, Aunt Molly, Uncle Fred etc. Just one or two pictures of them is enough to remember them. You have memories.

Went through papers and my old high school yearbooks, decided that don't remember anhybody any way, since my high school class was so big, so tossed all that stuff. I have memories.

I have cleared out a of things from the house here too cause I don't plan on this being my permanent home and am getting ready to market it. There are a few things in this house that I wlll keep and probably put in storage for awhile. But it won't be much. I am down now to three dressers, one of which will proobably go, two beds, a small dining room table, a love seat, two recliners, 3 lamp tables, a good set of china I at the moment hate to part with, but never use much anymore, my file cabinet and a bookcase. I will sell my TV's as they are not HD's anyway. Might let one of the beds go too. And all the other stuff like fans, AC's, and what not in my basement will go. The bookcase will go too. I have gone through all my books and kept some, but will get rid of a few more. So by the time I am through, there will not be much left. If I were to get a bigger rig, I think the recliners would go in there as I really like them and they are comfty. But beauxe I do eventually plan to have another place to live, I will not get rid of everything at the moment.

So as others said, get ruthless. Think about the stuff and how much you reallly use it or want it. In your case, because you are not going to sell your house right away, leaving some of it there and then hitting the road, will make your decision. After you are gone from it for awhile, you will find what you miss and don't, then it's time to make the move and throw.

[JudyJB]

My problem is that I am virtually an only child, so I have my parent's stuff and some from my grandparents. My mother was a collector of good stuff and also just plain junk, and I have had to clean out her house twice--once when she sold it and several years later when she moved from a senior independent apartment where she accumulated more stuff, to assisted living, and finally when she passed away last year. To her everything was valuable. I still have a lot of stuff in my basement, but am determined over the next year to get rid of it. (What does one do with a fur coat these days?)

The hard part is that a lot of the really old things like photos and papers of my grandparents and great-grandparents, my kids don't care about now, but I think they might in the future. A lot of the movies are on DVDs, and I need to get the slides scanned also one of these days when I have a little extra cash.

I've been working my way through my main floor closets, and some of the basement things, but I really need to get rid of more. When I am ready to move to an RV in a couple of years, I hope to have a lot less, but I'll probably store it for a couple of years since I don't see myself doing this forever. Too expensive to have to buy furniture again. I am going to use only plastic bins, which I have a ton of from my mother's moves, so I won't have to worry so much about stuff being damaged in storage.

I have promised my kids that when I am gone they won't be left with all the junk I was left by my parents! That's the least I can do for them!!

[Bethers]

I've been working my way through my main floor closets, and some of the basement things, but I really need to get rid of more. When I am ready to move to an RV in a couple of years, I hope to have a lot less, but I'll probably store it for a couple of years since I don't see myself doing this forever. Too expensive to have to buy furniture again.

That isn't necessarily true. That monthly charge - plus moving it all - then moving it again to who knows where you might end up. Let's see - I spent over $1500 to MOVE my stuff to AL to store it. We won't go into what caused that to be way more than I expected. The hassle of doing it. The storage locker broken into twice. The hassle of clearing out the storage locker. The waste of over 2 years of paying for the storage locker. All told, I spent over $2500 - if I had saved that - then continued to save the storage fee every month - I could easily replace all the furniture. And who says I would want most of that furniture when/if I end up settling someplace again. Just sayin'. Not saying it's wrong for you to store things - just saying it's not necessarily the fiscal thing to do - it's done more for emotional reasons. And if you think you'll do this for a really short time and stay in the same area when you settle again.

[mtngal]

This winter I haven't done much in the way of 'downsizing' but this thread has gotten me motivated again. I have been hanging on to 'work' type good clothes from the last couple years when I worked in an office. Next week will be dedicated to going through those and sweaters. I haven't been able to wear sweaters for years!

Hard decisions for me are around fabric, yarn, patterns. If I ever go full time I need room for my sewing machine.

Honestly, for all of us, full time planning or not, it's a good thing to let go of these 'things'.

[Echo]

Ya know this has really been running thru my mind....

How much of the 'stuff' that we keep is kept out of true sentimentality? How much of the stuff that we keep is out of habit or because that is what 'people' do???

The stuff I kept after my Mom died and Dad got killed is now gone except for a few small items. And now that the stuff is gone? I don't miss my parents any more or any less than what I did when I still had that 'stuff'. All the memories, love, feelings, the missing and the wishing is still with me. But not the stuff. I can't hold on to them, keep them or anyone else with me just because I hold onto their "stuff".

I miss those that I loved and still love. Not the stuff, not the baggage and not the weight.....

I don't think that I will need to be ruthless sorting out our 'stuff' after all. Just methodical, industrious and thorough.

[rvgrammy1953]

You know I'm very lucky to have had 5 siblings, many nieces and nephews, and a loving son, all who have taken stuff we had....female family members took the family heirlooms I had. (Grandma Benson's treadle sewing machine now lives in CA.... ) and all my craft stuff too large for the 5er (quilting frame, boxes of fabric and yarn, etc.) now are very happy at my sister's on the family farm... The furnishings are with my soon to be ex DIL, who is taking good care of them until the DS gets a permanent home base. But because of this thread, I think I'll get the boxes of photos and go thru them, scanning will be my summer project....

Thanks for the motivation...