Downsizing

We have our recently purchased Defever41 on the hard for general fix-up before we move aboard and find that downsizing to be difficult. Not so much getting rid of stuff but the amount of stuff. The kids will only take so much. We are going to rent a small storage shed but still have way to much. We hate putting on yard sales. How did you ( the collective you) downsize?

We contacted a person who conducts estate sales. She came in, surveyed what we wanted to sell, gave us an offer. Her offer was about $200 less than we had estimated but included her crew moving it out of the house. Everything was gone in less than a week.

I have been through several downsizings during my lifetime where I got rid of literally tons of stuff each time.


The first time was after a 20 year marriage. I left with only the stuff that could fit in the back of a small SUV. In some respects, that was an easy downsizing. I lived in an apartment for a few years and when me and my future wife moved in together, I still only had a large SUV worth of stuff. Now we have 10+ times that much stuff. What does that say- females tend to cause males to accumulate stuff ;-).


The second time was after ten years with my second wife (and we are still together) we decided to put everything in storage and go cruising for a few years. I gave away lots of stuff to Good Will and other charities. That year my incremental tax rate was 35% so it was better to give away than to sell. The remaining stuff- good furniture and other stuff fit in three Pods.


So, take a look at the Pod system. They bring you the containers, you fill them up and they will haul them away and store them for you as long as you pay the bill. When you get tired of cruising they will deliver the Pods to you anywhere in the US.


Now we are retired and are downsizing to a smaller condo. Our incremental tax rate is now only 10% so it was better to sell the big stuff- extra car, riding lawn mower, etc. But we have carted a ton or more to the local transfer station.


David

To get rid of the last remaining stuff (junk) including mattresses call the local Habitat for Humanity. They are about the only ones who will take almost anything and bring a crew of high school volunteers to load it up.

We down sized from a 5 bed room 4 bath to the boat. Relative's freinds took what they wanted, had a open house sale, called charity. The rest was hauled to the dump. The only stuff we kept was picture's and a few keep sakes. Made life easier and simple. Now we live6 months on boat and 6 months in motor home. Not worth it to keep hold on to stuff very long as you can buy new stuff if needed.

Pretend you have 3 hours before the Taliban drive up.

Take what you require , dump the rest.

Tomas said:

We contacted a person who conducts estate sales. She came in, surveyed what we wanted to sell, gave us an offer. Her offer was about $200 less than we had estimated but included her crew moving it out of the house. Everything was gone in less than a week.

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Estate sales professionals are the way to go. If you have enough, they'll organize and hold a sale on your property. They do 100% of the work and they'll realize more proceeds than you possibly could. Had a friend who had one in for her mom's home. It was not a nice home or really what you'd call nice stuff. However, the lady knew what had sale value and what didn't and organized and displayed. At the starting time on the first day there were more than 60 people lined up outside waiting for the door to open. The professionals have hundreds, if not thousands, on their email lists. They also know who to call for specific items. For instance, coins and stamps are not items they generally want at the sale but they will contact collectors they know and pre-sell them. (Fine to pre-sell as long as they never advertise them as being in the sale). They also know the in's and out's of permits and signs. For instance, one area has garage sales vs. estate sales and very different rules. Garage sales require you to purchase a permit, are limited to three days. Estate sales require no permit, can run four days. What is the main distinguishing characteristic? The estate sale can not have anything forward of the front door, nothing in the front yard.

Sold the house "as is" including garden tractor, three cars, three motorcycles, appliances and all furnishings. We took our family photos, clothes and left.

Should'nt have let the Bonnevile 750 go

We did an estate sale as well. Only kept the irreplaceable art and heirlooms and put those in climate controlled storage (we were in Dallas). We had experience with storage and knew that the cost of storage really adds up as the years go by. Do the math and most stuff is much cheaper to liquidate and re-buy than store for any length of time. We got rid of some pieces that I wish we still had, but it really wouldn't have been worth it. It's just stuff.

FF said:

Pretend you have 3 hours before the Taliban drive up.

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Not funny - we have an "official" Taliban office a few miles away. Makes for fun conversations with my family back home.

BTW - I agree about the Pods and have been using one for almost 8 years now. Aircon storage and very affordable.

Before you put anything in storage, we suggest you determine when you will take it out of storage. When that day comes, anything still in storage needs to go. Most of the stuff that people keep in storage isn't worth what they pay for the storage when it is all said and done. Just get rid of it one way or another.

JNandJN said:

Before you put anything in storage, we suggest you determine when you will take it out of storage. When that day comes, anything still in storage needs to go. Most of the stuff that people keep in storage isn't worth what they pay for the storage when it is all said and done. Just get rid of it one way or another.

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20yr. liveaboard and I am not camping. I've never had off boat storage.
Simple rule, nothing comes on the boat unless something goes off.
Our lives are cluttered with too much "stuff"

Thanks to all

We just want to say thanks for all the great advice. We will probably use a bit of all. We are leaning toward just giving, donating, trashing all. It does seem that it would be easier to replace things than to store them.

I did mine with yard and garage sales, but it took years. Eventually I got down to a 4 x 4 x 4 rolling crate, but then I met my Admiral. Now, I dream of her two full containers of stuff falling off the ship while in transit, never to be seen again. Two years ago, the storage company lost a 20 ft container of her books and papers and I really celebrated, knowing I wouldn't have to handle that crap again. They called a year later and said the found it. and so I still dream.

Gordon B said:

We just want to say thanks for all the great advice. We will probably use a bit of all. We are leaning toward just giving, donating, trashing all. It does seem that it would be easier to replace things than to store them.

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Before doing so, I would just suggest you find one professional estate seller and allow them to tell you the services they can provide and what kind of value they see in what you're ready to leave behind.

As to donating, perhaps better to donate the dollars from an estate sale to the charity of your choice. As far as donating household items, I just caution you to carefully check who you're donating to as with many of those who accept such items, very little money goes to help any cause. One of the largest in this country is nothing but a huge thrift shop business that just doesn't pay for merchandise and only a very small percentage of their proceeds ever. On the other hand there are places to donate that have very little overhead and put the proceeds to great use.

We are just now wrapping up the downsizing. Will be moving aboard in about ten days. Two households, three garages - a ton of stuff. Boats, tools, cars and family heirlooms. At the end of the day, we'd ask each other, 'when was the last time you used this?'

Sold a ton on CraigsList, kids took some and the rest went to the dump. Once the emotional trauma of so many 'family' items passes, we realized our 5x10 storage unit will be too big. Just keeping tools and hunting equipment. Everything else fits on board or adios.

Good luck.

boatpoker said:

Should'nt have let the Bonnevile 750 go

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Oh thats sad.

I gave my junk (to me) to goodwill. There was a lot of stuff and you know they made good use of it.

Why do the kids "dicktate"? I love mine too, but she'll get the left over cash, instead of having to put on an estate sale or lose funds in commissions. It's your turn! You raised them, they are on their own thanks to you. Go have fun. Sell whatever or give it to them now and let them store it at their cost. I'm a single Mom and my kid gets it, but will say I'm guilty of only planning to spend off of my saving's earnings so she gets the cash bulkhead and the Rossi in the end to shove me out to sea on. But the stuff, heck no, not cutting into either my having fun or the savings to store stuff. If she won't store it, neither will I. I'm giving her one more year to find a place for my Boston Whaler...otherwise it's becoming my Rossi fuel. Pressure is good..lay it on them, you have places to go and things to see.

makobuilders said:

Not funny - we have an "official" Taliban office a few miles away. Makes for fun conversations with my family back home.

BTW - I agree about the Pods and have been using one for almost 8 years now. Aircon storage and very affordable.

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I was having a good day until you reminded me of the "office". Oh well, I'm off to ATL tonight