RWI003 At the end of the day, it all has to go
I Will Wear That Again
I now know the feeling that the Hoarders on TV feel when they have to make the decision on what stuff has to stay, go to goodwill and go to the trash.
Lets start with my closet. Describing this reduction encapsulates on a small scale what we had to do to purge 4600sf of stuff. I approached this task nonchalantly, thinking it would be a breeze reducing 18 linear feet of hanging clothes to 2 linear feet. This will be easy, if I had not worn the item in the last year out it goes to Goodwill.
My first closet purge, when all was complete, I had three large bags of clothes for goodwill and had felt quite accomplished. Hanging clothes reduced to 15 linear feet. Truth be told I had an excuse for every shirt or pair of pants that I had not worn in the last year but kept “Just in case”.
Over the next few months, I purged my closet three more times. Final result 6 feet of hanging clothes that are now in two hanging clothes boxes. Once inside our fifth wheeler, I will have no choice.
Much went the same for the rest of the items in the house. We got a 10×20 storage shed for memerobilia, photos, pictures and stuff we could not part with. The rest was to be sold, given to friends or sent to goodwill.
Much went the same for the rest of the items in the house. We got a 10×20 storage shed for memorabilia, photos, pictures and stuff we could not part with. The rest was to be sold, given to friends or sent to goodwill.
We thought we were doing pretty good until two days before closing. Closing was planned for Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. We had negotiated to stay one more day and had to be totally out of the home and the house clean by Midnight Thanksgiving Day. We finished at 2am and had over 10 yards of items that we did not want sitting in the driveway ready for pickers on Black Friday.
What items we did not part with ended up next door in my Mother’s pool cabana. The cabana became our home for a couple weeks until we were able to secure the 5er. The amount of stuff could fill another 10×20 storage container.
During the purge I became frustrated selling my items. The items that I owned were quality and valuable to me. But to everyone else they were not worth more than pennies on the dollar. I got so frustrated that it felt better just to give our household items away, than sell them for nothing. We were able to help one of my mom’s friends who lost everything to fire. We gave her all of our living room furniture. The rest went to friends and family and all the little stuff went to Goodwill.
I never thought I would say this but getting rid of your stuff is really freeing. I had always believed that more and bigger were better. Yes better at anchoring you to a place. The reason people do not move often is because it is such a painful event.
So the house is clean and empty. We are in temporary quarters and on our search for the perfect new home…
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