Downsizing...timing and economics

[Clay L]

Although we stored a lot of stuff (and I am very glad we did) we also sold a lot. We got about ten cents on the dollar for what we sold. That hurt but was what we could get.
We did not follow the advice of many about getting rid of everything and put quite a bit in storage (10 by 30 storage unit).

After 11 years of full timing we bought a house in western CO and had all of our stuff moved here from NH. We had sold all of the big appliances and most of the soft furniture but still had a lot of stuff.

I am sure glad we did not follow the conventional advice and get rid of all of it.
We have spent about $15,000 buying what we need for the house - stuff that we sold for maybe 10 percent of what it cost back then.

If we had to replace what we had stored - like guns, complete woodworking shop, my wife's equipment for building miniatures, her genealogy research records and small appliances, desks and office equipment, and my electronic gear, it would have cost a lot more than what we spent for storage.
Some things like heirlooms that came from as far back as our great grand parents could not be replaced at any cost.

[dexters]

Originally Posted by TJFogelberg

Do you just forget what you paid for stuff and get rid if it?

YES!

I sold the house and am full timing. I had great furniture. I discovered you can't sell it and if you can it isn't worth the hassle. It isn't worth trying to put it a consignment shop either.

It is even hard to give it away!!! Yes, I learned you have to schedule a month or more in advance for a charity to pick it up. I didn't know this. I had to beg The Salvation Army to pick up my stuff before the closing on my house.

After a very short time you will forget about all that stuff.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by CarolynanBob

We have about a month until we hit the road. When we do we know a single mom that we have known since she was about 4. Her husband up and left her with nothing, so we are giving the rest to her.

What a wonderful gesture!!! You'll be rewarded in other ways!

[CarolynanBob]

Thank you.

We will still have a storage unit as there are some things we want to keep. The main thing is my 65 C10 pick up. We are going to have a storage unit that will just barely fit that. Every thing else we want to keep will have to fit in the bed of the pick up.

[computerguy]

Reading through this thread is great. Some completely diametric viewpoints. That is what great about it. No one is right or wrong. At first I started to question why someone would want to keep stuff just on the off chance they might use it somewhere down the road and then have to move it. But that is what's right for them. I've moved my whole house cross country twice. That ain't cheap! Nor fun! 10k each time and I did it myself. I love the travel lifestyle and plan to do it until I simply cannot do it anymore. Then I'll buy a manufactured 1 BR home and spend my last days there. I am only keeping what fits in my coach. Everything else goes. The past year I sold $4700 worth of "stuff". I don't miss anything so far. It's all "extra" money to me as I did not budget anything for it. 8 more months and I am pulling the plug and retiring and the house get's sold too. It's paid for my new leather rocker/recliner in the RV and just purchased the brandy new WifiRanger AC Elite thingy. The solar panels are going to be ordered shortly as soon as I finalize the design.
Don't sweat the small stuff, enjoy the journey.

[Klc]

We are going through the downsizing process right now. We started last spring. We have donated numerous bags of shredded paper to the schools. I am now scanning boxes and boxes of pictures onto a thumb drive. The actual pictures will be given to our children to do with what they want. Our kids and grandkids are being given everything else we are not taking with us. If they aren't interested we list it on fb for a short time, then if it doesn't sell, donate it to purple heart or the salvation army and use the tax right off. We do not plan on having a storage unit. I am a crafter. I knit, crochet, sew, embroider, and craft. I have a lot of supplies. I know I will not be able to take it all with me and I am not willing to give it away, as it is all used. My children have each said I can store it at their homes. I think they like being recipients of my crafting. Some of the things I have a hard time parting with is made a little easier by giving it to a loved one. The closer the time gets to putting the s&b on the market, the easier giving things away gets. Only a few more months.

[Smitty77]

Between this and the Escapees forum (At least two that I've seen have responded here!), we had a good two years + on Retirement Planning/Strategy prep work. (In addition to our Financial Planner, 60% + of the info I considered, factored - was from the RV'ing community. Very helpful, and I remain very appreciative of all that have done this ahead of us, sharing their real world experiences!)

One key thing that I kept running into, was to have an 'Exit Strategy' in place. So, that sort of simplified things for us. As my DW and talked about where we'd like to come off the road. We both felt that our current home was going to be high on that list. So, we've retained it as our Vacation Home. And also are helping my MIL with a Win/Win no cost a home/apartment for her, and we have someone in this vacation home as we travel. The home was totally refreshed over the last 15 years, and that included combining two downstairs rooms into one large room and bathroom for MIL. This could become our longer term room, when stairs become an issue of safety. )Though, I do have the stairwell setup with 5/8th plywood backing, and two sources of 20A electric home runs, to support stair chair lifts. So that remains an option too.

Not that we don't need to downside, WE DO! Both of us have massive accumulations of 'STUFF'. So much so, that a rental home we have next door with a three car garage, is overflow for some of this 'STUFF'. (I'm a Got Tubes? HiFi junkie. And have accumulated way too many components and speakers and turn tables over the years. Swap them in and our of my main home system, and really enjoy this hobby. Part of retirement budget planning, was my commitment to stay off of Cragslists and Audiogon accumulating vintage gear.) So, sometime over the next decade, we'll liquidating much of our combined accumulated 'STUFF'. (Will make some very happy Nephews, BIL, and friends - as I set them all up with upgraded HiFi!) The rest I'll take to local San Diego HiFi dealer that handles consignments. With the commitment that all the funds raised, including 50% of their usual 30% take, goes to two or three local charities and Boys/Girl Scouts.

Yeah, I did stray on my response - it's my nature!

But. When downsizing and preparing for this chapter. DO ALSO FACTOR IN YOUR EXIT STRATEGY into the planning!

Exciting time, go have some fun,
Smitty

[Finally]

Originally Posted by TJFogelberg

Reading good posts here regarding the emotions of downsizing. I agree with the notion that once the stuff is gone, it will be freeing and that one won't miss most of it.

As an example, I see a solid oak rolltop desk in my S+B in excellent condition. (Paid let's say $900). Looking at CL I see half a dozen similar desks for $100-$250. The impression I am getting is that you can't give this stuff away. Do you just forget what you paid for stuff and get rid if it?

I noticed on my insurance bill that I pay a premium to insure all this crap at replacement value. But to file a claim, you have to actually replace the item. At this stage of our lives, it is unlikely we would do so. I need to seriously rethink full replacement coverage given this restriction.

We just bought a new rig and would like to start the downsizing process and spend more time in the RV. It's very difficult to get started. I feel most happy when I am out in the RV camping and never give my crap a 2nd thought. The vast majority of it (75%) is never used.

Todd

For us, we went through everything and keep what little we wanted, then we let the kids take what they wanted, then we called Volunteers of America. It took them 4 full truck loads to get everything out. Done. We hit the road and never looked back. Just loving it. The only regret is that we did not do it sooner.

[Finally]

Originally Posted by Klc

We are going through the downsizing process right now. We started last spring. We have donated numerous bags of shredded paper to the schools. I am now scanning boxes and boxes of pictures onto a thumb drive. The actual pictures will be given to our children to do with what they want. Our kids and grandkids are being given everything else we are not taking with us. If they aren't interested we list it on fb for a short time, then if it doesn't sell, donate it to purple heart or the salvation army and use the tax right off. We do not plan on having a storage unit. I am a crafter. I knit, crochet, sew, embroider, and craft. I have a lot of supplies. I know I will not be able to take it all with me and I am not willing to give it away, as it is all used. My children have each said I can store it at their homes. I think they like being recipients of my crafting. Some of the things I have a hard time parting with is made a little easier by giving it to a loved one. The closer the time gets to putting the s&b on the market, the easier giving things away gets. Only a few more months.

It will get easier. My DW was the same way. She had a hard time getting rid of stuff until the house sold in 8 days. Then it made it alot easier. Get a storage if needed. You can do it!!

[Pepperell]

I had some deep sea fishing gear that my father in law had left us. I don't fish, so I donated it to the local VFW. They'll likely raffle it off.

Had some old HO railroad stuff that I donated to the local model railroad club. They had a blast digging through and found many items that they hadn't seen before. They were like kids at Xmas.

I felt better seeing that than I would have if I sold it.

[Barbaraok]

Originally Posted by Pepperell

I had some deep sea fishing gear that my father in law had left us. I don't fish, so I donated it to the local VFW. They'll likely raffle it off.

Had some old HO railroad stuff that I donated to the local model railroad club. They had a blast digging through and found many items that they hadn't seen before. They were like kids at Xmas.

I felt better seeing that than I would have if I sold it.

We donated a huge stereo system (4' high separate speakers) with turntable, 5-CD disc player, twin tape deck, etc., to the university we were at for a new dorm rec room they were building. The kids put the system together and then started on the large box of 78s from the 60s. The "I didn't know someone else recorded this song" remarks and the planning of 60s parties made us very glad we did it. We also donate a number of coffee table art books to the library as they were just putting in a 'coffee corner' in the basement, while all of our text books were given to respective departments to build of reference materials for students. Really loved that the stuff was going to be used and enjoyed by students.

[TechWriter]

We went the Estate Sale route though our home broker because when we closed on the house we only had a few weeks to get out of Dodge.

Pennies on the dollar for most of our stuff, but the Estate Sale was quick and fairly painless.

[southernlady]

Originally Posted by Clay L

Although we stored a lot of stuff (and I am very glad we did) we also sold a lot. We got about ten cents on the dollar for what we sold. That hurt but was what we could get.
We did not follow the advice of many about getting rid of everything and put quite a bit in storage (10 by 30 storage unit).

After 11 years of full timing we bought a house in western CO and had all of our stuff moved here from NH. We had sold all of the big appliances and most of the soft furniture but still had a lot of stuff.

I am sure glad we did not follow the conventional advice and get rid of all of it.
We have spent about $15,000 buying what we need for the house - stuff that we sold for maybe 10 percent of what it cost back then.

If we had to replace what we had stored - like guns, complete woodworking shop, my wife's equipment for building miniatures, her genealogy research records and small appliances, desks and office equipment, and my electronic gear, it would have cost a lot more than what we spent for storage.
Some things like heirlooms that came from as far back as our great grand parents could not be replaced at any cost.

This is us. While we are in the process of getting rid of stuff, we won't get rid of the antiques (most exceed 100 years old and the current generation that would inherit isn't at that point of needing their own house) that I inherited from my family(and dh is in agreement).

We know at some point we will settle back into a S&B. And having the furniture already will make settling easier. You simply can not buy the quality we will be storing.

Yes, we know it will be expensive to store but replacing it is impossible.

[Superslif]

Looking to sell home items. 5 years ago Craigslist was the way to go. The problem now is two fold. There are now 10-15 online selling options. So what used to be Craigslist for your large items of lower value like: furniture, ladders, mowers, tools, household items. And Ebay was for your smaller items of more value like: antiques, collectables, higher value tools....that can be boxed and shipped.

Now you have CL, Ebay, OfferUp, LetGo, Etzy, Facebook......and many many more. Yes with the advent of the smart phone all these are possible. The problem is if you have the same set of buyers, now their spread over 10 different selling platforms. You just don't get the traffic from one selling site.

Personally being a very active CL seller for 5 years, (FeeBay for 16 years) As far as CL, I see a trend which I'm not sure what to call it otherwise: Someone will set up a time to look at an item, but never show up, never call or text....Used to be 1 out of 5 would be a no show, no call. Now it's like 3 of 5 will not show, call or text if they can't make it. I even make it a point. Hey if for any reason you can't make it, please text me, so I can get on with my day. Or they will text you and ask if XXXX is available...and never hear back. Do not reply to Gmail accounts. 90% are scams....

Today's society is ever changing with the technology forced upon us. It's like if you don't change and follow the herd, you will feel like your being left behind.