Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for July 26, 2024

I really don’t believe I would take that deal. Look at that closet McGee.

They have services that will haul away anything you point at now.

Sell as is?

Hard to disagree Arlo

Arlo, I know for a fact there are people out there who would be happy to buy and resell the items you no longer want or need. I did this more than 30 years ago for a couple of years (I was way ahead of the show “American Pickers”). I used the Tradin’ Times publication which advertised the items I bought to resell and it really helped supplement my day job wages. If an item didn’t sell in two weeks, you could continue to advertise it for free. If you had an item for sale for under $100.00, you could advertise it for free. I don’t know if the Tradin’ Times is still in business, but I’d like to thank them for helping me get through tough financial time in my life by advertising all the stuff I sold through their publication!

For the last couple of years I have been slowly (Very Slowly) going through stuff to decide “Keep, Trash, Give Away, and Sell”. Not because we’re planning to move, because I don’t want my eulogy to be “Who the heck needs a bent screw!”.

i was able to leave the attic full of junk for 5k. the loss was much easier to take than to try to clean that monstrosity.

You’ve been downsizing for about a year now, or so it seems. What’s the problem?

Didn’t they do the clean out the garage, etc. gag a few years ago?

It’s called a living estate sale.

Always thought the ideal home is 10,000 square feet of conditioned warehouse space with a double wide parked in front

I told my kids it would be smarter for them to burn it down.

When I retired 14 years ago I sold my house in NC and moved to northernmost Maine. I didn’t have time to go through everything and decide whether or not to keep something or throw it away. So, I packed up everything and brought it with me. Luckily I had access to large cardboard containers known as ’’gaylords’’, so that made packing easy and everything was easily moved with a forklift or pallet jack. Once here, I could start throwing stuff out or give it away.

you’re going to get more for the house and then pay twice as much for your new one and the interest rates are through the roof, good time to sell, bad time to buy

When we downsized in 2018, I did 90% of the work, emptying an 11-room farmhouse with two attics and a 2-story barn. My husband could not get started emptying his study… three weeks after we moved, the new owner arrived at our new home in a truck jammed with boxes, having packed up my husband’s study.

Last fall, very tired of seeing a much-needed closet full of them, I managed to get them all down and said, “Let’s go through one at a time!” Somehow, he never has time to do this or to put them back (plenty of time for NYT crosswords in ink, though, LOL). I’m so tempted to empty them myself but love him too much to try.

I sold a house and left most everything. The guy buying knew the deal. The house came with furnishings, lawn equipment, two workshops, and a whole lot more. I took my classic car and my pickup truck with a few personal items.

I’ve always said I would have an ‘Ozark Fire’ if I had to move. There was a furniture store in our area that would burn down every five years or so, and rebuilt bigger and better.

Right there with ya buddy!

Here is your chance to really clean house…..use it!

When we sold and moved 4 years ago we let the movers do the packing. It cost about $1100us and it was the best money we ever spent.

Check out burn permits in your town.

They may eventually get around to selling the house…in twenty five years or so.

When moving park a dumpster by the front door and a moving truck on the street.

When we came to look at our present house the owners had a big rental bin in the driveway, the kind roofers use when they strip the roofing off, and were filling it with their accumulated junk.

Maybe not $10,000 but close to $2,000 to get my junk removed when I moved.

A friend did just that. Still got over $900 grand. We went in with trucks ahead of time. I got the brand new $4k bbq, a pile of pressure treated wood, the oriental carpet, pry bars, art and more. He moved to a city house from his country spread and just left a whole lot of stuff. No one wanted the life sized rearing silver horse lawn ornament for some reason.

My brother bought an old house and found a sander, croquet set and a pool table in the attic

The problem is I am emotionally attached to a lot of things in our house. What to do when we downsize is not easy for me to figure out.

When my Mom passed in 2017 we sold the home “as is”. Us kids took a few things before putting it on the market and it was a most excellent decision. We dropped the price by 15K and it was well worth it not having to go through everything. The home was beautifully furnished and the buyer was ecstatic. Do what’s right for you, Arlo.

Amen to that. It’s gonna cost me to get rid of what I now consider junk.

Stored but forgotten treasures.

The toughest part of moving … the pre-move purge.

Has anyone asked Ludwig about moving?

Your “treasures”??? If you didn’t treasure them, they would have wound up at curbside years ago!

But what would you use in the new place?

Before reading all these comments I have never heard of people just leaving most of their stuff for the new homeowners to take care off, except the attic situation of my parents house I mentioned above, it just seems rude to me and I don’t think I could ever do that. I have been a renter all my life and had to take everything so maybe that is why I see it as just lazy and rude.

You can Arlo, there are companies that do that, then they turn around and sell or rent at VERY unaffordable prices. That’s why the markey is so out of control…

Just rent a dumpster and begin tossing.

Husband keeps talking (for several decades if not longer) about moving to another state. I like it here – born, raised and plan to die on this island (as was he). I look around and know there is no way we could take our stuff with us and much of the stuff is of the type which is too sentimental not to take, such as “our children” – my teddy bears and dolls who have their room plus are elsewhere in the house, his woodshop, etc. Plus both our families – including my 95 yo mom live here. We don’t have children so have to hope that niblings or more likely their children will help as we age more (right now my money’s on his younger niece).

We worked a long time getting the house to have the 18th century look we wanted it to have (other than his redoing the living room to accommodate his TV) and to get the same look elsewhere would take much too long a time.

I can walk around the house in the dark, not fall down the stairs, and get to where I want to be – I would hate to start having to learning that all over again.