Cleaning out Houses - RV-Dreams Community Forum

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Cleaning out Houses

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gene,

I feel your pain. Linda and I both went through cleaning out our parents houses just before we went full-timing. We did have auctions, but still had tons of stuff to get rid of.

There's no easy way. At my parents house we started in the room farthest fromt the front door and just worked our way towards that door, one room at a time.

You'll get it done, one spoonfull at a time. smile

Jim

janni · RV-Dreams Family Member

I feel your pain. It was a huge emotional and physical undertaking for me. I am happy to be free from it all. We are still working on our organizing skills.
Yesterday I saw a tractor move a storage shed in behind a coach. It made me shudder!
One step at a time...........

Cindy T · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gene,

I understand since we just moved into the RV a cople weeks ago. Felt bad about all we had bought but hardly used. Take it slowly. a room at a time. You'll be thru it eventually & it will be positive to get out from under all the stuff.

Cindy T

Old Snipe · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gene,

We found a company that has locations all around the country, Caring Transitions, to handle our home furnishings. They come in, clean out junk, stage the house and hold an estate sale for you. Anything left over after the sale is donated, with you getting a tax receipt or disposed of, leaving your home broom clean. The charge a percentage of the sales proceeds.

I'd Google them to see if there is a franchise in your location. It's been a blessing for us, we had accumulated "stuff" over the years and even had stored things that our kids no longer wanted. They are handling everything for us, a huge load off our back as we get ready to hit the road FT, we close on our house 28 November.

Good luck, I know it's hard.

Paul

-- Edited by Old Snipe on Sunday 30th of October 2011 02:52:37 PM

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gene,

In our area there are several thrift stores run by church groups and halfway houses. I have called them and had them come out and pick up items I felt were still useable but I didn't have time to do a garage sale. I hated to throw items like this away, so hopefully the thrift store will be able to sell the items and use the money to help others.

Good luck in your clean up.

Waggin Tails · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gene,
We decided to use a professional organizer who also handles estate sales. (upscale garage sale). This person knows what sells and what wont. She charges a nominal fee to stage, mark and organize stuff plus gets a percentage of overall sale. Regardless of the expense associate with her work, for us, it made sense. It took removed us from the equation thus the success of the sale is based on estate sales experience, not emotion. All we needed to do is take the things that we wanted in the RV and she does the rest. After the sale, she also handles getting stuff to charity and thrift stores.

It became apparent to us the we tend to place value on stuff that has little or no monetary value. As an example, when my dad was 16 (1932) he built a small desk for his dad to use in the family blacksmith shop. The desk has passed from my brother and I several times. For the last 8 years, it has become a dust collector in my wood shop. It was worn beyond repair. So as I delivered it to it final resting place, I said, "Dad, thanks for the memory."

A friend once told me, that stuff has intrinsic value proportional to the amount of space for storage.

Good luck on your cleaning out process.

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks everyone for your ideas and support, much of the advise in this thread has given me ideas that just might make my job easier. We continue to PUSH toward our dream one spoonful at a time. G

dczrose · RV-Dreams Community Member

There is also teh Yahoo Group www.freecycle.org that has groups around the U.S.

Mike and Gloria · RV-Dreams Family Member

Genecop wrote: "sometimes it feels like I am emptying a beach full of sand with a tea spoon"

Boy, can I relate to that statement! Just emptying out our house felt like that; I can't imagine having to deal with 2. Just keep chipping away at it and eventually you'll be finished.

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just wanted to follow up on an old topic and SCREAM out loud, the battle of me VS's stuff continues. Most days it feels like I lose the battle, I am optimistic however that I will win the war. We continue to consolidate and throw away......the money that has spent on nonsense over the years is Astonishing. We bought into the brainwashing HOOK LINE AND SINKER. We purchased every cooking gadget, every cleaning product, every new fashion, every new tool, every new anything, what was I thinking....Thanks.

Loretta · RV-Dreams Family Member

Oh boy, Can I relate to this. We finally made it out of the house and while cleaning out I found things I never knew I had or forgot that I had and bought another. Now we have everything in the RV and are still downsizing. You will be surprised at what you can live without. Good luck, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Ann-Hank · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've had 2 yard sales in the last month and I can tell you I will never again buy anything without looking at it and thinking "If I have to sell this at a yard sale tomorrow how much will I get for it". The answer is not even pennys on the dollar. People will pick up an item that has never been used, that you paid $25. for and have marked $1.00 and ask if you'll take .50.

Saturday I took 2 car loads of stuff to the Goodwill. When the house sells, I will take the advice here and have someone come in and do an estate sale. It just too over-whelming.

Got my little St Joseph today, gona plant him tonight and keep my fingers crossed. : )

Old Snipe · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gene,

Don't be too hard on yourself, many of us have done the same thing. Even spoonful by spoonful, you WILL get there. We did it and don't miss any of those things. In fact, we don't even miss our old house. We are very happy in our RV and comfortable, don't need much to keep us busy or happy.

We recently visited some relatives and we both thought to ourselves: "Look at all this JUNK!"

Best Regards!

RVKevi · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, we are on the countdown to getting rid of everything! lol, I called my son yesterday and told him that it was another getting rid of everything call! I was asking him if they wanted some stuff I'd unearthed! With every load that goes out the door, I feel lighter! We'll be moving into our Big Horn on the 24th or 25th. We'll be static full-timers until Kev retires, no later than mid March, 2013. So just 6 months static, and then we'll be on the road.

Of course, we were fortunate enough to sell our house 20 months ago, so we got rid of a lot then and moved the rest into this apartment. But now we're to the point of getting rid of the furniture and things that we use, but won't want in the RV or already have duplicates of in the RV. I'd love to have a yard sale, but don't have a good place to have one, and not sure I'll really have enough to sell in one, as so much is going to the kids and a lot already went to the thrift store.

It feels so strange to get rid of things that I've had for over 30 years. The newer stuff I don't have the same feelings about, but there are items that I had even before I met my husband, and we celebrated our 31st anniversary yesterday! Some of them, I haven't even used in a long time, so there is no point in adding them to the RV, but it still feels strange to let them go. But I'm doing it! We ask ourselves questions like, "How long has it been since we used this?" and "What is the likelihood that we'll ever want to use this again?" and even "How many of these can we use at a time anyway?" And more quickly than seems possible the stuff is melting away! We'll be ready!!