Decluttering and moving

Aussie Willy

Aussie Willy

Living in the land under the land down under
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I have plans this year to make a major change with regards where I live (moving interstate if I can get a job in my chosen place). In fact I have started job hunting and even applied for something.

I also saw this article about decluttering which prompted me to post this thread.

https://www.domain.com.au/living/i-...heres-how-i-finally-got-free-20180119-h0kafq/

I have done quite a bit of decluttering over the last couple of years, including scanning documents, burning CDs to iTunes, tossing video tapes. But if I move then I want to take as little as possible with me. I would at least sell off the large items of furniture. And then if I find a new place I want to buy reused furniture rather than buying brand new stuff. Of course will look at Gumtree or Ebay for things.

Any suggestions on what you might have done if you have made a big move. Did you write lists of your items? How did you categorise things? What big decisions did you have to make?

I think this might make an interesting topic to discuss anyway.
 
@judiz I was just going to mention hiring a company to organize the decluttering. My mum did that when she moved out of her house into the apartment she lives in now - from a three-bedroom three-level house that she had lived in for nearly 30 years to an 800-square-foot one-bedroom apartment. The company she hired worked with her to decide what she wanted to take, and then organized an estate sale to get rid of as much as possible. It worked really well - she was more than willing to pay a fee and a percentage of the takings from the sale in exchange for not having the hassle of organizing all that herself.
 
Ah. My favourite topic. It took me three years to prepare for our downsizing move across the continent but it can be done more quickly!
I sorted books, CDs DVDs etc first. Three categories 1. Must keep. 2. Keep if room. 3. Sell,donate or toss. Then I would sell to a local shop and donate to a local charity.
Next, I went through the kitchen and removed one item from each drawer or shelf every few days until I was able to consolidate into half the number of drawers or shelves. There were only two categories, Donate or Toss.
I did the same with the office, garage, bathroom, going room by room. I reduced clothing by one half. By the time I was ready to get out the packing boxes there wasn't too much to deal with.

I didn't really make lists, but for some things I attached a label numbered 1,2 or 3 as I described earlier. Basically, anything left on packing day had survived three purges and was needed for daily existence or because it had monetary or sentimental value.

We sold all but our bedroom furniture and started afresh. That was wonderful because our furniture was thirty years old.

The trick is to be persistent in using whatever method works for you. Don't overlook anything, but always consider what you can eliminate from your clutter without causing a feeling of loss.
Good luck and have fun.
 
I’m not moving, but I’ve been intermittently trying to declutter for a while now. One of the things I need to figure out is what to do with old physical photos. I have a box of them in the basement and I need to do something with it. I never look at them (partly because they’re a mess), but I also hesitate to just throw them out.

I also have 2 large boxes of nicer kids clothes that I need to try and sell. Although I don’t know where.

I have a very large box full of candles that have accumulated over the years. I never use most of them. But I never throw them out either, because I think, what if we lose power and I need them?? :biggrinbo

:duh::scream::scream:
 
clairecloutier said:
I’m not moving, but I’ve been intermittently trying to declutter for a while now. One of the things I need to figure out is what to do with old physical photos. I have a box of them in the basement and I need to do something with it. I never look at them (partly because they’re a mess), but I also hesitate to just throw them out.
Click to expand...
I would like to know what to do with physical photos as well. I have a stack of photos from my travels many years ago that I would like to scan but would like to know what is the best way to do it.
 
There are companies that will take slides, photos, etc and put them on a DVD, at a price. Scandigital is one that operates in the US. When you receive the DVD back you will need to go through it and carefully label all the photos so that the information is not lost. Unlabelled photos might as well be tossed out, IMHO.
You could also use your own printer/scanner to scan each photo, organize them into virtual albums, then put them on a DVD or flash drive. This is very time consuming but it gets the job done, eventually.
Of course, some photos are worth keeping if they are of special people or moments. Again, make sure they are labelled.
 
we too are in the process of decluttering in the hopes of moving in 18-24 months. After living here 41 years, you can imagine we have a lot of stuff. A house, a garage, a two story shed. A lot of stuff.

question about photos - I want to scan them, don't know if we will eventually hire it out or not. But tossing the photos seems to be a bit of a dilemna - especially if there are people in them. Ethically, I guess. They are people with a history - what if someone gathers them and uses the images for some ad or some other use? Do we have an obligation to the person or their families? And you don't know who they are or you no longer have any contact information?

That's part of the reason I haven't dealt with my parents photographs - there are people they went on trips/cruises with and I am not sure what ethical responsibility I have to protecting their image. Or perhaps that is just an excuse to not deal with them. I do want to know how others are dealing with it. Or maybe I am the only one struggling with that issue?
 
I had a major fire and an international move in the same year. Some things got tossed due to water damage, others to conserve space in the storage facility I moved everything to when I left the US.

With me it was clothes and books that were overwhelming. I didn't have time to go thru again and again because I only had two staging sessions at the warehouse where my stuff was, after the fire.

Having no time focuses the mind wonderfully. (Also, my paperbacks were mostly on the lowest shelves of all the bookcases and were water-damaged, so I tossed almost all of them.) I tossed hardback books on instinct and reduced the number by about a third.

Clothing, OMG, I gave away everything that didn't fit, was older than five years old or was too fancy for casual Israel. Eight giant lawn-and-leaf bags to Goodwill!

The fire cleaning company tossed ALL my makeup, perfume, skin products due to smoke contamination (I was reimbursed.)

All I can recommend is being ruthless. Since moving to Israel I've given away another third of my clothing that I schlepped here. I advise buying one of those organize-your-wardrobe books and following instructions. You'll be amazed to discover you wear 20% of your clothing 80% of the time.
 
I've surrendered. I am essentially a minimalist and really love to throw things out, which is almost therapeutic for me - but then the issue is how to transport and get rid of all the stuff.

Mr. Japanfan is the opposite of a minimalist and while he keeps his stuff under control in the house, our garage is his playpen. I call it the 'vortex' of the garage because stuff is always going in, but never comes out. Friends often ask to store stuff there. For example, a friend's father died over 10 years ago and asked to store the father's paintings in our garage. Yup, still there.

If we have to move, I will have nothing whatsoever to do with unpacking/cleaning the garage.
 
We moved across the country a few years ago, and knowing that moving companies charge by weight made it a lot easier to get rid of things. Basically, is it worth paying someone to move it?

I donated a lot of books to the library.
We shredded SO MUCH PAPER (husband is a bit of a packrat and we had something like 12 years of paid bills in a filing cabinet.
Got rid of furniture that we knew we didn't want because it wouldn't look right in the new house, or just wasn't worth the cost of moving.
 
When we were de-cluttering some years ago, we set up a special pile of things that my husband didn't want to get rid of because it had sentimental value. When going through that pile, I told him to tell me a story about each item (i.e., the person or event it reminded him about). If he could tell me a story, we kept it; if not, we got rid of it. Very slow, but worth it because we did not get rid of those things that were genuine reminders.
 
For books and DVDs I use the 5/5 rule. Have I read it/watched it in the past 5 years and can I imagine myself reading it/watching it in the next five?

Since I like to own things, this is a legitimate approach for me and I've parted with a lot of books and DVDs that way. I'm also fortunate that there's a friends of the library used bookstore relatively nearby that accepts books and DVDs.

I keep all pictures and letters, and have pretty boxes in the closet where I stash them. A couple of months ago, while looking through old pictures because I was going to be seeing old friends who were interested, I found a letter that a girl I'd been friends with in elementary school had written me her senior year of high school. As it happens, this woman had gotten in touch with me about a year ago, so when I found the letter I returned it to her, and she got a tiny piece of her life back.

I downsized a number of years ago from a large 3 bedroom house (with a massive basement) to a 4 room apartment. An auction house sold big pieces of furniture. I knew that wasn't the best way of making money off of things like dining room sets, but it was far more convenient, and I didn't want to have strangers traipsing through my house (other than the ones that came with real estate agents).
 
As an aside, last night I went to the movies with a work colleague who is now doing the decluttering thing after her marriage of 25 years broke up last year. She will now look at selling the house but is going through and working out what to keep and what to get rid of. She is finding it very hard but she is also an incredibly practical person so working through her own strategies for solving it.
 
I hate to think about downsizing my kitchen (before an upcoming remodel), because even if I use something once/year, it can be really helpful for preparing or serving "that meal". I'd love to get lighter-weight dishes (mine originally came from a potter in Pennsylvania) and mixing bowls that stack more neatly, but my budget will already be stretched with cabinets, the countertop, a few appliances and surrounding work. I do think I can collapse some of my plastic ware, my toaster oven can go, and all of my holiday themed stuff has been donated.
 
I've periodically gone thru stuff, but occasionally wished I hadn't tossed something. Like the US Championship program that Adam Rippon signed when he was a novice medalist. But really what would I do with it, other than say hey I have this. Very few, if any, of my friends/family would care.

I think that will be my deciding factor with memorabilia - when I die would anyone want it?
 
clairecloutier said:
I also have 2 large boxes of nicer kids clothes that I need to try and sell. Although I don’t know where.
Click to expand...
Are you on Facebook? If so, search for yard sale groups in your area. I belong to one in my neighborhood and one in my hometown. I haven't listed anything for sale yet, but I did find some free moving boxes somebody 2 miles away had listed. My cousin and niece sell their children's outgrown clothes on my hometown group. You can arrange pickup at a location away from your house if you are uncomfortable with having somebody come to your door. In my area, the local Walmart seems to be a popular place to meet up.

When a charity calls about having a truck in my area to pick up donations, I usually tell them to come by. Then I bag up stuff and set it outside for pickup. Yesterday I got rid of two large Hefty bags of clothes, one of kitchen things, and another of books. It seems no matter how much I donate or throw out, I still find things I don't need. I think somebody is breaking into my house and leaving their stuff. :shuffle:
 
once_upon said:
we too are in the process of decluttering in the hopes of moving in 18-24 months. After living here 41 years, you can imagine we have a lot of stuff. A house, a garage, a two story shed. A lot of stuff.

question about photos - I want to scan them, don't know if we will eventually hire it out or not. But tossing the photos seems to be a bit of a dilemna - especially if there are people in them. Ethically, I guess. They are people with a history - what if someone gathers them and uses the images for some ad or some other use? Do we have an obligation to the person or their families? And you don't know who they are or you no longer have any contact information?

That's part of the reason I haven't dealt with my parents photographs - there are people they went on trips/cruises with and I am not sure what ethical responsibility I have to protecting their image. Or perhaps that is just an excuse to not deal with them. I do want to know how others are dealing with it. Or maybe I am the only one struggling with that issue?
Click to expand...

I understand that feeling!

My plan is to shred photos once scanned. If there are a lot, you might be able to pay a service to shred those and old documents you don’t need but which have account numbers, SSNs, etc.

ETA I guess I didn’t answer your question. I’m not sure you have an obligation, but I just would feel uncomfortable putting photos in the trash where someone could pick them out.
 
Tavi said:
I understand that feeling!

My plan is to shred photos once scanned. If there are a lot, you might be able to pay a service to shred those and old documents you don’t need but which have account numbers, SSNs, etc.

ETA I guess I didn’t answer your question. I’m not sure you have an obligation, but I just would feel uncomfortable putting photos in the trash where someone could pick them out.
Click to expand...
I'm glad to know that I'm not alone. It just seems wrong somehow to throw away an image of someone, I don't know why :)
Yeah we are going to how boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff to be shredded, going as far back as 1978 or so.
 
once_upon said:
I'm glad to know that I'm not alone. It just seems wrong somehow to throw away an image of someone, I don't know why :)
Yeah we are going to how boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff to be shredded, going as far back as 1978 or so.
Click to expand...

Ugh I don’t envy you!
 
Until recently our 5 unit condo had a yard sale every 2 years. That gave me a good excuse to keep on top of the clutter and make a few dollars. It was fun but hard work.
We have decided not to do that anymore. Now I have to be more disciplined so things don't collect. I try to take a box of donations to the local thrift shop every month or so. I also try to toss stained T-shirts and clothes that no longer fit, but that's the hardest thing for me.
It seems that "stuff" reproduces and multiplies behind closed doors.
 
missing said:
For books and DVDs I use the 5/5 rule. Have I read it/watched it in the past 5 years and can I imagine myself reading it/watching it in the next five?

Since I like to own things, this is a legitimate approach for me and I've parted with a lot of books and DVDs that way. I'm also fortunate that there's a friends of the library used bookstore relatively nearby that accepts books and DVDs.

I keep all pictures and letters, and have pretty boxes in the closet where I stash them. A couple of months ago, while looking through old pictures because I was going to be seeing old friends who were interested, I found a letter that a girl I'd been friends with in elementary school had written me her senior year of high school. As it happens, this woman had gotten in touch with me about a year ago, so when I found the letter I returned it to her, and she got a tiny piece of her life back.

I downsized a number of years ago from a large 3 bedroom house (with a massive basement) to a 4 room apartment. An auction house sold big pieces of furniture. I knew that wasn't the best way of making money off of things like dining room sets, but it was far more convenient, and I didn't want to have strangers traipsing through my house (other than the ones that came with real estate agents).
Click to expand...
 
There is a place in my town that takes shredding for workers in a sheltered workshop. A big paper grocery bag costs a dollar or so, it is .22 per pound. I keep a bag in the office and toss everything in and probably bring in a bag every month. I never shred my own stuff any more. Look and see if you can find a place like this. Banks use it - it is safe.
 
My husband had a record collection of over 2,500 cds, dvd’s and vinyls. Working really hard to find buyer before I move.
 
Lizziebeth said:
There is a place in my town that takes shredding for workers in a sheltered workshop. A big paper grocery bag costs a dollar or so, it is .22 per pound. I keep a bag in the office and toss everything in and probably bring in a bag every month. I never shred my own stuff any more. Look and see if you can find a place like this. Banks use it - it is safe.
Click to expand...
Every spring one of the TV stations does a shred day, where you can bring boxes for shredding. That's what I'm waiting for
 
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