Downsizing: Week Two

[no_hypocrisy]

Week One: Donated the 10-speed bicycle.

Week Two: Donated ca. 20 VHS tapes, mostly classic movies.

The momentum is there.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Do you do cleanouts?

Any experience with Pickers, or alternatively, Downsizing companies? Then there's junk removers. I prob need all three and it's a complex dance to sort, sell, maximize, junk, donate. We are prisoners to our junk.

[kimbutgar]

4. I do that in my senior move manager job.

It’s something to go into a place, identify the things they need to move with them. . Pack up that stuff, move them into their new residences and then go back and clear out their homes afterwards. We wait a few days until we start that because they always forget something they realize they need!

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Incrementally, yes.

Week Three will be culling the 100+ cookbooks I own. Reality hit me that I really don't use some of them.

[multigraincracker]

14. I spend time looking at collectibles and the market for them.

Some things go out of favor or almost disappear. The internet has killed the cookbook market. So easy to google a recipe now. If you can find a "one off" family recipe, hand written and old, there is a great market for it.
Just like clocks. Not that long ago they were always a good investment. However, most of those collections were life time collections of older folks. They are passing away fast and now the value and interest is about gone.
The market can change quickly. I had an antique shop back in the 90s. I had a box full of all kinds of old door knobs, crystal, brass and even iron ones. Never more than one at a time. One day a lady came in and bought a half dozen, all different. The next day it happened again and then again. So, I asked what was going on and found out Martha Steward had an article in her magazine about making coat hooks out of door knobs.
Back in those days, I had a friend that sold tons of costume jewelry on eBay and was making a ton of $ doing it. Then one day it just stopped, she couldn't sell any. She found out lamps were hot and did that for a while.

[kimbutgar]

2. Today my husband and I cleared out our kitchen freezer and garage freezer

Put expired food in the green bin, cardboard paper and plastic ( separated) in our recycling bin. I can’t believe how much room I have now in my freezers. I do downsizing for my senior move manager job and since I did that yesterday for my senior client my husband “ suggested” I should do it at home. It feels good!

Lately if I have free time I’ve been going though drawers while I’m watching tv and throw out stuff. One doesn’t realize how many” treasures” one collects in their lifetime!

[leftieNanner]

3. Well done 👍

We gave away a really nice wood table, four cane seated chairs, a microwave, and a small fridge to be given to folks living in low income housing. Downsizing is good for us, but not always easy.

[lamp_shade]

6. Should I keep this? Ask yourself this question:

What would be the cost to replace this? $50?... $5?... then make your decision.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. My question to myself is do I need it now and will I need it in 10 years.

Right now I'm debating whether to keep curtains. I love them, but they aren't hanging on my windows.

[enid602]

8. year

Ask yourself if you've used the item in the last year.

[mahina]

9. Books. So so so many books.

I need all of them! Or so my brain says.

[XanaDUer2]

10. I want less in my life

[no_hypocrisy]

11. I'm sticking to themes for de-cluttering:

DVDs
Sheets
Cookbooks
Nonfiction
Fiction
Summer clothes
Winter clothes
Coats

[XanaDUer2]

12. Sounds like you have a plan

[no_hypocrisy]

13. And one room at a time. Can't be overwhelmed.