Question on transition from House to Boat...

Depending on a developing job situation we may be moving aboard soon.* Of course this could all change, but anyway, I was lying awake last night contemplating the best ways to get rid of pretty much EVERYTHING we own.* We only have 1100 sq feet but still, what do we do with the sofa, the dressers, etc.*

So, what do you think, is it worth it to try and sell stuff on Craigslist, consignment shops or whatever or am I better off to donate the lot?* Something in between?* For those of you that have liquidated your whole household, what was your decision / experience with this?

We put an ad in the newspaper that said "Moving aboard a boat. Everything must go" Set some hours and by Sunday afternoon it was all gone.

It*took me a series of garage sales. I started in the attic of the house, and cleared it out to the second floor. Then I moved everything to the first floor. Each garage sale, anything that didn't sell got donated to charity and counted off income tax. The last one was the hardest, since I had to pick things I didn't want to get rid of, but had to. I limited myself to a 5'x10' storage space.

The thing you have to think about is storing the stuff that's irreplaceable, vs. "stuff". For what you would spend to store a refrigerator, washer and dryer for a couple of years, you could* have sold them and bought new stuff. You will need SOME storage space, but what is the incremental extra cost to store other things? No clear answer, but you've got to really make decisions about what is really irreplaceable and what can be sold then bought new later.

We called an estate sale agent who purchased everything for about $200 less than we estimated we would receive in private sales. Three men showed up with a truck and the "stuff" accumulated over 40 years was hauled off in half a day. Important posessions are in a 10x10 storage unit. Worked great for us.

Tomas wrote:

We called an estate sale agent who purchased everything for about $200 less than we estimated we would receive in private sales. Three men showed up with a truck and the "stuff" accumulated over 40 years was hauled off in half a day. Important posessions are in a 10x10 storage unit. Worked great for us.

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That's a good idea.* We donated and did a yard sale.* At the end of the whole thing we used up a lot more than $200.00 of our labor and mental health.

Larry/Lena
Hobo KK42
Huatulco, Oaxaco, MX

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Tomas wrote:We called an estate sale agent who purchased everything for about $200 less than we estimated we would receive in private sales. Three men showed up with a truck and the "stuff" accumulated over 40 years was hauled off in half a day. Important posessions are in a 10x10 storage unit. Worked great for us.

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Oh cool, I contacted one of these yesterday.* He wants photos.

I read a great way to get rid of extra stuff*before moving aboard.*Someone was getting ready to move*aboard and they donated all of their household belongings to a victim of Katrina that had lost everything in the flood.* Also noted in the same thread was contacting the Red Cross/fire departments**to donate to recent victims of home fires, or any kind of disaster like that.*

I thought it was a great idea!

We had a huge yard sale after giving good stuff to kids and family. In one day all was gone and we had a few grand in hand.
PS - be carefully you don't sale all your good tools.

When we sold the house we gave everything (furniture) to the daughters, nieces, inlaws and outlaws...

Last time we had tag sale we sold the house.
Yes the house was listed, but was only on the market for a week. This guy came for the tag sale, liked the house and pretty much bought it on the spot. Cash sale as he had just won 1 mill in the the lottery.
Ya never know.

Pineapple Girl wrote:

..........So, what do you think, is it worth it to try and sell stuff on Craigslist, consignment shops or whatever or am I better off to donate the lot?* Something in between?* For those of you that have liquidated your whole household, what was your decision / experience with this?

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When we moved from the house into the bus we put a lot of effort into a multi-day garage sale.* Never again.* For the little bit of stuff we moved and the little bit of cash we raised there were plenty of better ways to spend our days.

We gave our kids first pick.* What they didn't take (they didn't take much) we gave first pick to a recent immigrant girl from Nicaragua.* She was furnishing a house so she took a lot of furniture and appliances.* Then we started putting stuff at the end of the lane with a "Free stuff - help yourself" sign beside it.* We got rid of absolutely everything that way with the exception of one cat litter box.

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My house sold the first day

So getting rid of 45 years of stuff had to happen fast. I built a rolling shop in a 26' Wells Cargo Van, Gave away to friends the larger stationary tools. rented a storage unit and put most of my home furnishings in it. Filled two dumpsters with odds and ends and fortunately a friend allowed me to store a 12x40' portable building where I store the keepsakes and sporting equipment. My daughters are now using most of the furniture and household items so the storage unit is out of my life. The rolling shop was a stroke of genius as a man can't be without his tools. I keep a pretty complete set of tools on my boat so the trailer stays in storage and I use it as needed. It's totally self contained with electrical power and a air compressor. So I can work in it in anywhere. I gave away the washing drying machines and yard equipment as it cost more to store than replace. It only cost me a $1000 for the storage on household items until my daughters needed them so it worked out. Depending on the value of your property the storage could eat you up fast. Most of the live aboard boats I know of have a storage unit.

The home workshop is something I realy miss from the house. As a guy that works and pays taxes , lives on board the storage unit realy comes in handy. If I could just leave and cruise I dont know if I would try and keep anything that would not fit on the boat.

Maybee some day I will get the chance to find out.

When we moved we made many trips to Good Will and several garage sales. Then the rest was moved from California o Washington. The plan would have been to stay on the water for a short time and so our furniture would have been needed. Now we have decided to stay on the water for a while and everything is in storage. We got a little bigger unit so we had room to rummage and so I could access my tools to work on things. The storage manager is pretty flexable about what you do there. Some people run businesses out of the units.

Steve, I like the idea of the trailer. That would make a great shop to work from. Did you rig it with shorepower and genset or just shorepower?

Both

Papa Charlie said:

When we moved we made many trips to Good Will and several garage sales. Then the rest was moved from California o Washington. The plan would have been to stay on the water for a short time and so our furniture would have been needed. Now we have decided to stay on the water for a while and everything is in storage. We got a little bigger unit so we had room to rummage and so I could access my tools to work on things. The storage manager is pretty flexable about what you do there. Some people run businesses out of the units.

Steve, I like the idea of the trailer. That would make a great shop to work from. Did you rig it with shorepower and genset or just shorepower?

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I have 8000 watt air cooled Robin Generator and a Honda 2000 depending on what I'm doing. Usually your stuck with 20 amps plugged in with my land shore power. The bigger generator will run my band saw and sanding station.

Scary said:

I have 8000 watt air cooled Robin Generator and a Honda 2000 depending on what I'm doing. Usually your stuck with 20 amps plugged in with my land shore power. The bigger generator will run my band saw and sanding station.

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I really like that idea. Been thinking about it as a serious option. Also contemplating getting a Motorcycle. The trailer would double as a garage for the bike. Well we will see.

"The trailer would double as a garage for the bike. Well we will see."

Expect to pay dry storage rates for the trailer IF the marina has space and will allow it.

Nicer places may not.

FF