Our house is not huge but we DO have a basement and a small attic I have many times promised myself that I would get to work at de-cluttering....but it's largely undone.

Our problems:
- I have records from my old business, but I was bought out in 1998! Jeez....no legal reason to keep that crap.
- I am the repository of all OLD stuff from my side of the family, so it's hard to throw out those momentoes...
- neither of our adult kids has their own household yet....so THEIR stuff is still here

Nevertheless, we DO talk about downsizing in next year or two...so that should force the issue

 

good suggestions Bill

I tried the "bag at a time" routine but only had ONE BAG

 

A little bit at a time works well. While I had some unexpected free time last winter I made a "to do" list. Organized and decided what would stay and what would go in clothes closets, linen closets, grandkids toys/stuff. Donated what was still good, tossed the rest.

I had a bunch of wrapping paper and Christmas stuff I didn't need or no longer used. I gave that to my sister, who loves all things Christmas. I still have one box left in the basement with Christmas stuff to go through.

 

We have a 17' X 30' garage and there is only enough room for the S and work benches etc. We "inherited" a bunch of stuff when the Plant Pixie's folks down sized and I have been after her to go through it for a while. But at least the S is a "garage queen". We have a neighbor a few houses up the street that has almost $200K worth of cars sitting in their driveway because their two car garage has a few hundred dollars worth of junk in it.

I am amazed by the multi-billion dollar self storage business As George Carlin would state American's just have too much "stuff".

 

Off topic but this struck me as odd.....

You sold the S partly due to the +1's back issues but her passion is horses? She doesn't ride the horses does she? Unless the horses are a source of income and not just a liability or just an expense it just seems odd to me.

 

We sold or donated or gave away TONS of things when we moved to the beach area. We still have too much "stuff". We DO use the garage for our two sports cars and there is no more room to store things we do not need. I am no longer interested in owning lots of clothes and only want to have shoes that are very comfortable to wear. I do not want to have a cellphone that keeps me tied to a communications line wherein the latest updates on FB are ticking away or clicking away or beeping at me. I'm worn out with constantly being barraged by information that realllllly is unimportant and I've reached the stage in life that I am uninterested in tucking silly data into the memory cells of my brain. I DO enjoy having a computer and a cellphone so my mom, kids, etc. can reach me if they need me, but I'm ready for a simpler life.

 

^ I like that plan...living in a condo makes for a pared-down existence, simply because there is limited storage. But we've still weeded out clothes, kitchen stuff, etc. The hospice store loves us. Not that much left to get rid of now, though.

 

I got rid of alot of clothes and books last year. I donated them to the Disabled American Vets (DAV). I still have tons of books and this Winter, it is my mission to get rid of the remainder that I'll never look at again.

 

The books are a killer. I know I'll never read or re-read 80% of what is in my bookcases.

 

I know it does seem odd but YES she does ride. Even now when she has a horse with hip issue that prevents her from riding it, she rent's a ride! She has been looking for a new horse for several months but it has to have a smooth gate. Sadly we paid BIG BIG bucks for the Friesian she has now - for that very reason - and now it is not worth 2 cents. And, she can ride in the MGA without any problems. The S2000 combo of hard buckets at a bad angle, short wheelbase, and very stiff suspension combined to make it impossible for her. It took her a year to recover from our first and last long trip in it when new. When she did go in it I put in so much seat padding her head was above the windshield.... not good.