Downsizing - Page 2

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

@Mominohio wrote:
@151949 wrote:
I love love love when there is extra room in a closet. My DH is the opposite - he seems to take comfort in being surrounded by clutter.

I think this is one of life's sweet little pleasures, opening a closet and seeing that you have just what you need, just where you need it AND NOTHING MORE!

I have only one closet that fits that description right now, but someday....someday......someday!

When I need something I want to know exactly where it is and just go there to find it. My DH spends an extraordinary amount of time looking for things because he never puts anything away, just heaps of stuff everywhere in his den and garage. I think it is a difference in how people are raised - my Mom worked and we lived on a farmand she had 5 kids so she did not have time to be searching everywhere all the time. She would be very angry when we would leave things lying around and not put them away because she just did not have time in her days for us to act like 2 year olds. My DH's mom was a stay at home and he was her only child.So he was waited on hand and foot.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@giddy up wrote:
@151949 wrote:
All my married life my DH the semi hoarder would have to go away every spring for a week long sales conference so I would take a weeks vacation that week and spring houseclean. It was best he was away because I would go through every cabinet , drawer and closet in our home and really throw away a lot of stuff. I would put the trash bags over at our neighbor's house so he didn't realize I was throwing so much away. He never missed any of it. The only area I did not clean was his garage. When we moved it , literally, took him 2 months, working every day, to get that garage cleaned out. That was the first time he had cleaned it in 28 years. I had NO sympathy. Now I am seeing signs of our new house's garage starting to accumulate so I go out there and start organizing and when he sees me in his "things" (junk) he is almost crazy to get me out of there, so he comes out and helps me get it cleaned up. He goes thru the trash bags and takes out every item I threw away - things like empty spray cans and empty containers of stuff like car wash soap and if he finds even one drop in there - back on the shelf it goes.
I need you to secretly come over my house and get rid of the excess superfluous redundant pieces of Temptations that I have collected over the last few years....STAT

I'd ask that @151949 come do the same thing at my house, but it would kill an army to go through mine and get them under control. I just can't do that to another poster!LOL

homedecor1 · ‎03-09-2010

Something happened to the "retail therapy part" of my brain on 4/9/16....I got rid of so much home decor, kitchen, holiday decor, furniture (accent), clothing, etc.at our community yard sale that I really had a moment when it was over realizing I made good $$$$ BUT nothing near what I paid.

Sadly, most of my items were impulsive or brand new things I "thought" I'd use in my new home still in orig boxes that made the trip with me when I moved south..obviously not!!!

I have not purchased 1 home item since. come to think of it I bought a new pair of vionics sandals that's it!

And love I can go in a closet, cabinet and it's neat, organized and empty. I even cleaned out my pantry & donated excess food to our food drive which is given to families and sr. Citizens in need (nothing expired or stale). I now go to food store & buy only what I need on a weekly basis!

This week I'm tackling my master bedroom walk-in closet (my stuff is even in my spouses walk-in🙄) it's a mish mash of linen/clothing closet. I have sealed containers of "winter" clothing from my move south. Don't need them obviously!

Then to the garage🙄😳🙈...

PS: my spouse has no "excess" seriously!!!

Nomore · ‎09-09-2010

I've been decluttering/ downsizing for three years now. I go back through each room and find lots more "stuff" to donate. My husband still hasn't tried to tackle the garage.

My goal is to get back to less than what we had during his Army career. When I first got my civilian military job, single & out of college, my first long distance move, I only had 11 line items, only one was furniture.

I know I can't get back to that little, but I think we had 11,000 lb limit on pcs moves, with 2 kids in tow. We had just enough, we always had a large storage room where we lived, and it was mostly filled with seasonal suff only and empty boxes for things to be repacked on the next move.

So my thinking is get down to no more than 7000 lbs, since we won't have kid stuff and their furniture. We want a smaller house definitely, this one at 1800 sq ft is not big for some, but we lived in 1000-1200 sq ft easily then. Living in a larger house for 16+ years, it was too easy to accumulate things.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@Nomore wrote:
I've been decluttering/ downsizing for three years now. I go back through each room and find lots more "stuff" to donate. My husband still hasn't tried to tackle the garage.

My goal is to get back to less than what we had during his Army career. When I first got my civilian military job, single & out of college, my first long distance move, I only had 11 line items, only one was furniture.

I know I can't get back to that little, but I think we had 11,000 lb limit on pcs moves, with 2 kids in tow. We had just enough, we always had a large storage room where we lived, and it was mostly filled with seasonal suff only and empty boxes for things to be repacked on the next move.

So my thinking is get down to no more than 7000 lbs, since we won't have kid stuff and their furniture. We want a smaller house definitely, this one at 1800 sq ft is not big for some, but we lived in 1000-1200 sq ft easily then. Living in a larger house for 16+ years, it was too easy to accumulate things.

This says it all! The more space we have, the more things we will find to fill it! And sometimes, that tipping point from "I have enough" to "somebody call the crew from 'Hoarders' " seems to sneak up on us with no warning!

DCGIRL · ‎05-08-2010

Sarasota County? - i have been looking there - one of the realtor's I've been working with is with DWELL realty. I was down there a few weeks ago looking but we were over on the other coast by Juno Beach -- i need to come and check out the gulf side. I just retired from the Government in March and live in No. VA - i love florida though - i cant wait to be there again. But yes we are def downsizing too. Way too much "stuff!" The older you get the less you need all that - its just more to clean...

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

@151949 wrote:
All my married life my DH the semi hoarder would have to go away every spring for a week long sales conference so I would take a weeks vacation that week and spring houseclean. It was best he was away because I would go through every cabinet , drawer and closet in our home and really throw away a lot of stuff. I would put the trash bags over at our neighbor's house so he didn't realize I was throwing so much away. He never missed any of it. The only area I did not clean was his garage. When we moved it , literally, took him 2 months, working every day, to get that garage cleaned out. That was the first time he had cleaned it in 28 years. I had NO sympathy. Now I am seeing signs of our new house's garage starting to accumulate so I go out there and start organizing and when he sees me in his "things" (junk) he is almost crazy to get me out of there, so he comes out and helps me get it cleaned up. He goes thru the trash bags and takes out every item I threw away - things like empty spray cans and empty containers of stuff like car wash soap and if he finds even one drop in there - back on the shelf it goes.

@151949 I don't know if going through the trash is a man thing or a hoarder trait but my husband is the same way. He could be a serious hoarder if I allowed it.

When I do get rid of something, I make sure I do it the day the trash can gets put to the curb.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

@CelticCrafter - OMG this spring before we snowbirded north to Pa I cleaned out my pantry and donated anything that would expire while we were away over the summer and some things that already were expired I tossed. He was actually rooting through the trash can of expired food until I stopped him.Then when we got to Pa I shopped and the bill was > $200 and he about had a stroke because I had thrown away things like catsup and mustard and then bought ones up here. Meanwhile if we had brought that stuff it would have needed refridgerated, and they were almost empty!

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

@DCGIRL wrote:
Sarasota County? - i have been looking there - one of the realtor's I've been working with is with DWELL realty. I was down there a few weeks ago looking but we were over on the other coast by Juno Beach -- i need to come and check out the gulf side. I just retired from the Government in March and live in No. VA - i love florida though - i cant wait to be there again. But yes we are def downsizing too. Way too much "stuff!" The older you get the less you need all that - its just more to clean...

Everywhere in Sarasota County is lovely. It is a tourist destination and so everything is beautifully maintained. Our taxes are low, and where we live is not incorporated so we only have to pay one property tax to the county and they provide our police and paramedic services. Within the county, of course , there are communities where they do pay city taxes and some of those are quite high so one must be conscious of the tax situation before buying. We have friends who bought a villa in North Port the same sq ft as ours and their taxes to the city plus a special tax they have to pay for the development of their area makes their total tax hit 3x ours. I don't know why they would build without finding out about taxes before signing.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

@151949 wrote:
@CelticCrafter - OMG this spring before we snowbirded north to Pa I cleaned out my pantry and donated anything that would expire while we were away over the summer and some things that already were expired I tossed. He was actually rooting through the trash can of expired food until I stopped him.Then when we got to Pa I shopped and the bill was > $200 and he about had a stroke because I had thrown away things like catsup and mustard and then bought ones up here. Meanwhile if we had brought that stuff it would have needed refridgerated, and they were almost empty!

My only saving grace is that even though he is collecting his pension, he's still working so I can do it while he's not here.

He likes working and feels he's too young (62) to just sit home but I don't see it happening for much longer, the commute knocks the heck out of him and he's starting to realize that maybe it's just not worth it anymore.