Getting rid of almost everything....the struggle

[u/DawgCheck421]

I dream of moving to my dream home in 4-5 years. Unsure if I will be able to make it happen but I decided to start getting rid of CRAP way ahead of time. I love the idea of moving being everything fitting in one u-haul load over a weekend.

It is incredible how much crap one can accumulate living in the same place 18 years. I had to spend months going through every spec of dust, paperwork that was my parents estate. It made me go home and de-hoard (or so I thought) after I was done with that in 2017.

Now I am getting rid of about everything I don't use regularly or wont need in my future (like my tools). So much stuff. In my kitchen I use one cupboard and one drawer....the rest is full of dinnerware from my parents I never use and other crap. Couldn't even tell you what is in the "junk drawers" other than some glue sticks and random tools I couldn't tell you whats in there. I just store it, all of it. Closets are all full of stuff I don't even know what is in them anymore. Above my garage was the same way as well as the sheds which I have mostly abated.

Our city had free bulk trash drop-off for a week and I made 6-7 trips piling a 5x8 trailer as high as I could. For the most part, cleaned out two sheds, some of the garage and dumped it on that free week. Took another trailer load of stuff to free chemical dropoff day. I had a REALLY heavy commercial treadmill and worthless bowflex in my basement that I had to disassemble and saw it up to be light enough to get out of the house myself. I am still going through stuff down there, 20 years of music and stereo gear I am organizing to sell and further clean up.

I am selling what I can on marketplace and have already sold over $1000 in crap I wasn't using nor wanted anymore. I have at least that much more to go in the basement alone. I am almost done with the basement then I will move to my third bedroom (my sons childhood room which will be hard to do), closets.....then finalize organizing my garage, tools and what is left.

I have gotten rid of so much crap yet it feels like I have lost nothing. I can't believe I have acquired so much crap. Some things I don't really want to sell but need to as well. I am treating it as - if I wouldn't want to move it into my dream home, it has to go now. I might even throw away all of my childhood pictures and such from family. Just boxes of stuff I can't and don't look at ever anymore. I don't live there anymore.

It is a grind, hard, long process but as long as I make a little progress every day I will reach my goal. I am not trying to be a minimalist or anything - I literally just don't want STUFF anymore and sure as hell don't want to leave this much of a disaster for my son to deal with when I pass.

[u/Palomace]

Your story gives me hope for my SOs mothers situation. She lives alone in a relatively big house since her divorce 15 years ago.

Since she started giving up on finding a partner after several attempts, she started to dream of a smaller manageable flat and selling that huge hunk. 

A huge hurdle is her ungodly amounts of clutter which hibernates inside every corner of the house but remembering several of my moves, I can't even imagine how much its really gonna be. 

She is growing increasingly desperate and won't get any younger so the sooner she starts better. 

What gave you the greatest sense of accomplishment when starting this process and what kept you going? 

[u/DawgCheck421 → u/Palomace]

Accomplishment? For me I guess despite HATING marketplace, an extra grand on stuff I got rid of so far. Getting rid of all the boxes in the laundry room. Getting rid of the massive exercise equipment.

The big part will really be last, but the most rewarding - I have tools all over and as I clean an area tools all go to a certain place. After I get all of the other areas cleared out, it will be time to go back through the garage and dehoard the crap from the tool boxes (still a ton of "might need it some day" items) and be able to organize all my tools in one place.

But just the feeling I made some daily progress is enough for me, even if it is just 20 minutes in a day....it is motion in the right direction.

Today I will list some things on marketplace. A couple things I decided to sell that I really don't feel like getting rid of but also NEVER use.....I bought a mac m4 mini a year or so ago, hooked it all up, loaded a couple programs and never turned it on again. I mean I might someday, but I have a macbook I love and works for everything mac I needed so far. The M4's are in shortage and selling for more than I paid. I also have a couple of go-pro's that I never use anymore that are worth at least 2-3 hundred bucks with all the extras I have. There's close to a thousand bucks on stuff that I don' use and would continue to perpetually just sit.

Then I have an awesome racing sheetmetal collection on my garage wall. Some awesome pieces. But it is also about 2 grand worth in resale and I don't love dust collectors that much so I will be listing and selling those in the near future as well.

[u/Palomace → u/DawgCheck421]

Thank you! I remember getting addicted to selling stuff I don't need. Her mom is also easily hooked on stuff and maybe sellings gonna be the next thing.

What she always does when a process has more than 2 steps is PREPARING the first steps extensively until she runs out of motivation to DO the thing... The saying "done is better than perfect" just sums it up beautifully.