Life Passages

[Queen]

Old thread - just bumped for an update.

My recent tent camping trip gave me pause, it allowed me to look at many of the things I've "always done" in a new light. Seem I'm still doing things that are no longer all that much fun... just because they are things I do. Never gave it much thought before, if I don't enjoy those things why am I still doing them??

This isn't a "how can I still do these things if I can just modify them to work" thread, it's more of a letting go of un-fun things and seeking new paths. So, first things on the "done" pile...

Tent Camping - done. Sell off the gear and hotel it until we get the RV.

Scuba - mostly done. Sell off the gear and stick with snorkeling most of the time, the exception may be lobster season in the Keys.

Bicycling - mostly done. Just keep the 40 year old Schwinn for little rides around the neighborhood.

Motorcycling - done. Sell off the gear, keep the scooter for two wheeled fun.

Life is cyclical, maybe some of these things will come around again; but then again, maybe by making some room for new interests I might go in a whole new direction.


So, what have you got to toss on the pile??

[JudyJB]

Here is my done list:

- Done with saving teaching materials that I might use some day. Ditto for business books. I can find better things online now, and don't need that big filing cabinet anymore, so out it goes as soon as I can get someone to help me get it out.
- Done with a lot of serving stuff like cake plates, tea pots, etc. I'll pack away my china for my someday house, but I haven't put a cake on a cake dish for decades!
- This one is hard. Done with knicknaks I have accumulated. Will pack the ones with the most memories away so I can rediscover them someday.
- Done storing the stuff my mother held so dear--doll clothing and baby clothing from the child who died before I was born. No one but me really cares about it anymore.

That's a start at least. Got to prune my life down even more.

[Queen]

One thing that dumped on the "done" pile that I regret is kayaking, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get that back into the current list.

[Forestgal]

While I'm not hitting the road full-time or retiring soon, I've begun to look at those things in my house that simply aren't being used anymore, or that I inherited when my mom died. One of those things are quilts. My grandmother, as well as her mother, was an incredible seamstress and over the years made many, many quilts. While I'm not sure what happened to most of them, I ended up with 3-4. And frankly, they're not my style. So after a conversation with a dear friend who's a quilter I've shipped 2 off to her. She'll appreciate the vintage-ness of them and if she doesn't keep them she'll pass them on to someone who will.

The same goes with embroidered & crocheted pillowcases. I must have 15 sets of them that my grandmother did! Never been used, and probably never will be. So ... if any of you are interested in some vintage pillowcases let me know. I'd love to see them go to people who will appreciate them.

I've got other things like expresso makers, musical instruments, and camping equipment that are going to be added to my neighbor's son's garage sale next month.

It feels good to begin lightening my load. I hope to do it little by little so that when I'm ready to move from here it won't be so traumatic.

Laura

[Queen]

I hear you Laura, we took a full pickup truck load to Habitat and another to Goodwill last Saturday. We keep trying to figure out how two people could have accumulated this much stuff!!!

Our new house rule... the only things that can come into the house now are replacements or consumables, nothing new to add to the mess.

[Readytogo]

Funny you should mention this. Just this weeekend, I looked around and carried out of the house a few things I no longer had use for and were just cluttering up space. On the RV singles forum, they call this "de=stuffing" in preparation for fulltime RVing. I am not planning on that anytime soon, nor will I move due to the housing market. Maybe this is something we start doing because of our age or stage of life we're in?! But I too said to myself nothing more to come into the house except food!This will be really hard to stick to regarding books and shoes! Wendy

[Readytogo]

PS, already breraking my resolution! Ill have a get a couple souvenirs on the cruise! Well, what can I say?

[JoanE]

I've never been too materialistic and I hate shopping, so accumulating a lot of stuff was not a problem. In spite of that, now that I am ready to full time, I still have what I consider too much. So I advertised a yard sale for Saturday morning selling primarily good quality furniture. Saturday dawned and I did not have one single buyer! On to Plan B, call my friend with the used furniture store. He tells me that I can expect to get about 20 cents on the dollar. I may not have bought a lot but I did buy quality. That is a huge loss on my furniture. But what is the alternative? Spend money to store it? I rather take my loss or give it to charity.

As for collectibles, of which I have less than 10, he said I would be lucky to get any offers. People are desperately trying to raise money in this economy and they are selling all their possessions. As a result, prices are ridiculously low or have no interest at all.

I'm now on to Plan C but addressing the topic of this thread a recent decision was to sell my cello. I have been playing for about 10 years and loved it. But I have a genetic shoulder problem and the cello playing exacerbated my problem. One day I just decided that I would never become Jackie Du Pre and I wasn't helping my body, so I gave it up. I can still enjoy listening to other great musicians and it doesn't give me pain either.

[carold]

After selling our house, gave some (very little) furniture and stuff away and packed a 10x30 storage unit with the rest. Beginning of last year, got rid of more and scaled back to a 10x10. Spring came around and decided, enough already-had given a lot to friends and family, offered the rest and that not taken, other than some pics and letters, a few glass pieces from Italy, some tea room depression glass and what I have in the MH, it's done!! Either friends or someone who shops Goodwill have it I'd have a lot more $$ if I had done that in the beginning instead of a storage unit. Of course, now that we MIGHT buy a small condo (we're in the thinking about it stage), I'll have to buy all new stuff No regrets at all.

tGM kept his scuba gear (which may go this year) and our snorkeling stuff; bicycles we still use and take with us on the road, fishing gear and workout stuff also with us, and OF COURSE our tennis stuff which we play whenever we happen upon a court. Kayaking is something I'd like to add, but haven't yet-just rent that or a canoe when we're somewhere we can. For us, it was just about a mind set and then doing it which was the hardest part. Have fun! carold

[JudyJB]

Anyone who has ever cleaned out a parent's home after their death or had to dispose of someone else's belongings has learned the lesson that you really CAN'T take it with you, and all you do is burden the next generation with all your stuff.

I have given almost all of my mother's stuff away, and am now working through all the junk she saved from my childhood and my brother's. His stuff will go to his estranged daughter because he is not competent. Hopefully, someday she will want the pictures and few things.

I have promised my kids I wlll not leave them with a ton to clean out when I am gone.

[Bethers]

I did like Carol and had a storage locker. The things in it were the more expensive things. And when I decided to get rid of it, most went to Goodwill. I sold a few items, but just decided to let someone else enjoy who might not be able to afford some of the things otherwise. I, too, before getting down to the storage locker couldn't believe all my stuff. Living in my 22' rv, I can't believe all the "stuff" I now have, either. It's amazing.

Many of us on here kayak, me included. I got an inflatable kayak and love it. If you do a search on here you'll find several threads talking about the ones we got and like. I like Advanced Elements - mine is one of their specials - was also one of the least expensive. I was in Baja and used several people had down there (that's when I fell in love with a more expensive Advanced Elements). One couple each had the cheapest inflatables they could get - paid 60 or so dollars for the first when purchasing it over 7 years prior. I wasn't quite willing to go down to that one, but obviously it was working for them. They each had their own.

[Excel]

I can attest to the pennies on the dollar for quality furniture....Contacted one of those Consignment stores here in town to handle my Henredon bedroom set. It cost me way more than any one would believe....& is the best quality & in perfect condition...Store owner told me I'd be lucky to get 1/10th what I paid for it...told her I'd set it on fire rather than take that kind of loss...she said oh! why would you want to do that when someone else could really enjoy it (mind you they take their 20% off the top)....I said ... cause I can.....

[Nasoosie]

All this de-stuffing talk, and my own attempts at destuffing have really caused me a lot of emotional pain. Unfortunately, I am extemely attached to my stuff----I absolutely love my stuff. Although I can't say I am a hoarder in the sense that those on the TV programs hoard, I am definitely a 'stuff' collector. Every single little thing from baby clothes to china to antique bottles to kids' toys and kids' projects and photos and jewelry and mementos and family stuff and on and on-----every little thing I have to give up tears a piece of me away. I have really made an attempt this past year, to eliminate a lot of 'stuff'----my long-dead mother's clothes, for instance, that made me cry to give up. They still smelled like Mommy, looked like Mommy, reminded me of many Mommy moments-----never worn since she died, most of them, just looked at and remembered. Unlike many people or kids who don't care, the stuff my mother and father left I LOVED, and kept it all. Apparently my mother felt the same way as I found lots of my grandmother's stuff included in her stuff.

Today would have been a perfect day to tackle more stuff in my house to get ready to sell in the garage sale on Labor Day. I just couldn't do it. "It's only stuff" doesn't cut it with me-----my stuff, once gone, cannot be replaced. Sigh.

[Readytogo]

Oh Soos, I keep the "stuff" I want. just got rid off things I didn't want. One reason i could never live fulltime in an RV, two of the things I love in my house are an organ and a grandfather clock! Joan, I think I have a saxophone somewhere, should have kept the cello for a band!

[Excel]

Thank you Soos for posting your feelings.... I too have 'stuff' that I just can't part with...alot of which has no monetary value but is priceless to me....& as I walk through my house at any given time I can look at a picture, a chair, a candlestick...or a 40 yr. old piece of pottery that one of the kids made in grade school & just feel warm in my heart....lots of my 'stuff' has to stay with me because it reminds me of the wondrous things that life has brought to me...helps to push away the grief that creeps in sometimes....