How about having your own estate sale? (beach, retired, dating)
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My issue is I am NOT ready to part with anything (that's mine) in the attic. DH has his own side of the attic and I try not to look during those rare times I go up to "Flowers In The Attic", if anyone is familiar with V.C. Andrews book series
I "cleaned house" when I was getting ready to move for retirement. My younger brother can deal with what's up in the attic and I have already told him so, lollol
I was thinking the other day what will the kids do after us with all the junk and clutter in the house?An estate sale, perhaps? Well, why not having our own estate sale while we are still alive and use some of that cash ourselves?
That's called a garage sale. They happen all the time. You can't sell off everything you own. You're not going to sell all of your furniture. Where would you sleep or sit?
My issue is I am NOT ready to part with anything (that's mine) in the attic. DH has his own side of the attic and I try not to look during those rare times I go up to "Flowers In The Attic", if anyone is familiar with V.C. Andrews book series
I "cleaned house" when I was getting ready to move for retirement. My younger brother can deal with what's up in the attic and I have already told him so, lollol
I was just thinking today about what I like about my new place - it's that it is not filled with a lifetime's worth of clutter. When DH got sick we sold the house, got rid of most possessions, and rented furnished condos for a while.
A year ago I moved into this new place with a futon and a set of dishes and have been very selective about what I acquire. I was in my guest room, which has a bed, table and lamp, rug, chair, and curtains.. I have stayed in other people's guest rooms where you feel like you are going to be suffocated by all the clutter they keep in there.
I highly recommend getting rid of what you don't need and/or love. Do it and enjoy the clutter-free lifestyle.
If you're hoping to translate excess stuff into cash, an estate/tag/yard sale is one of the least productive ways to do it. It's about one step up from giving the stuff away and they'll only take the good stuff leaving a huge residue of not-so-good stuff to be dealt with. The other downside to estate/tag/yard sales is that your treasured items then become worth ten cents since that's all someone will offer for them. However, it will move a lot of stuff out of your life, so that's a good thing.
Sometimes having someone else sell your stuff at the sale so you don't know how much a particular item went for or hear disparaging remarks about things while it's being sold can be a good thing. There are some folks who make a business of doing estate sales, so there may be someone who can come in and do it for you. Should you choose to do that, it may be easier to take the stuff you want to keep out of the house and then let the estate folks take over. Maybe while you're on an extended vacation somewhere? Then come back, take the good stuff out of storage and set the reduced house back together again.
If you don't want to deal with people on an item to item basis, perhaps a consignment shop may be helpful, although they will take a large cut of the proceeds.
There's also an online group called 'freecycle' where you list the stuff you don't want and folks come and get it.
There's probably more than one answer to how to declutter a life and I'd guess it's more of a process than a one act play. If it were me, I'd start with getting all the not good for anything stuff out of the pile. Then progress to getting the thrift store donations out of the pile. Then take the good stuff and put it somewhere else entirely. At that point, then call in the estate sale folks. Everything not sold at the estate sale goes to a thrift shop/charity. Then have a cleaning service come in and get it all sparkly clean and then come back from vacation and bring the stuff from storage back again. Sounds like about three to six months of dealing with stuff, more or less?
I'd rather have an estate plan and let our children decide.
We have a Family Trust and have dumped a lot of collected stuff. We know that our kids are not into jewelry and the rest of our good collectables. We've talked to them and they know that that they get the choice of what to keep and what to get rid of.They also know the value and will make whatever decisions they want.
Donating, itemize and able to deduct, and not getting a receipt in order to deduct is simply giving the federal government more money to waste. If you deduct, and want to maximize your gift, then donate the money that your taxes were reduced by. That is so basic a concept, I don’t understand how anyone can call that cynical in the least!! The new tax law will not greatly reducing donations IMHO, as most people donate and simply can’t itemize anyway.
Did this a couple of years ago before moving to a new retirement home. What we learned:
1) No one wants your old wood furniture (we donated much of it to Habitat and Goodwill)
2) The most you can expect is about ten cents on the dollar.
3) the relief felt after disposing all that crappola is priceless.
Did this a couple of years ago before moving to a new retirement home. What we learned:
1) No one wants your old wood furniture (we donated much of it to Habitat and Goodwill)
2) The most you can expect is about ten cents on the dollar.
3) the relief felt after disposing all that crappola is priceless.
It's cathartic to get rid of stuff and declutter.
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