What have you given up that used to seem important?

does that mean you haveing a yard sale,

Such a wonderful post ..!

The process is called "deliverance from the status quo" .. it is only painful if you choose not to cooperate with what your mind says "this is my new lifestyle"..

I retired about 5 years ago at the "ripe old age of 55" and when I did ..I "off loaded the accumulation of what made that other world go round and round".

My wife and I packed the van 11 times and went to the Salvation Army depot and gave them a surprise store restock ! (yes..I got receipts for the tax write-off).

Our modest 1700 sqft ranch gained a dining room, a new den (Br#1) and a wonderful guest room (Br#2). We can actually sit in front of the open fireplace in the FR. I was able to make room for two new recliners and a new 42" LCD TV in the LR.

There is even room for my wife to access the kitchen from her wheelchair without calling me to move the table out of the way.

Downsizing is a gift in disguise ..don't fight it !

Froggy

Sale? Hell, I'll be giving stuff away by the boxload. Last time we moved, we filled 40 boxes with books and persuaded a charity to take them off off hands. The guy from the charity ask, "Do you guys own a used book store?"

What I would give to be in a situation to downsize! There is not enough equity in our home to sell it and even pay it off - if there was I'd love to. We have a nice, large home; but one thing I've found since we got our home seven years ago, is the more room there is, the more distance can come between those in it. Now we each have our "own space", when once we used to share space and be together. Now we feels miles apart and truly are. I would give anything to have a smaller home, with just what we need on a large piece of land.

We have to de-clutter and get rid of "stuff" so that we can put our house on the market this spring. I thought that now that we were empty nesters we wouldn't need as large of a house--I was wrong. We need more room for when the kids and grandkids all come over. (I also sold my van and bought a sportscar, but I had to sell it and get a sedan with room for carseats for the grandkids).

I keep putting off the de-cluttering project--it seems so overwhelming. There's a sentimental story to everything we have, but I need to "just do it" and toss!

My game plan is to downsize in a few years. Last summer I started cleaning out stuff. I have a giant pile of stuff in my garage & another one in my basement. The thought of waiting till I NEED to do it just freaks me out. I see this with my clients and the stress and panic is scary.

While telling my clients what to do with their stuff and how to get rid of it, the message seems to get filtered & lost on me. It is overwhelming just like booboo puppy said. I'll get on a kick & lose momentum, then lose interest. It's funny because I've written articles on this and even have handouts for clients and realtors to give out.

Game plan: one room/area at a time. This weekend is my office. I'm thinking one spot per week with timeout for good behavior might work.

Then the problem is what to do with all the stuff. There is lots of really good stuff. Oh yeah, I wrote about that as well. Maybe I should go read what I wrote & take my own advice.

Rona--what in inspiration you are to the rest of us! I envy you the freedom you will soon enjoy. In 31 years of marriage, we have lived on the same farm and moved 100 yds to the west then 300 yds to the east. The last move was into the main farm house fifteen years ago when the inlaws retired--my mother-in-law's comment as they pulled out with a loaded moving van was, "We took what we wanted, you kids can have the rest." So, not only did we have our own stuff, we inherited their 35+ years of "treasures." In two years, we will be relocating our entire farming operation to another farm 45 miles from here. Not only will we be moving two separate households, we will be moving everything clear down to the the bins of nuts and bolts, fence posts, and all those little pieces of things "you might need someday" to repair something else. The family farm will be bulldozed down and houses will crop up in fields that have always yielded corn and alfalfa. Sad as it is, we didn't have a choice but to sell because of the development all around us. You know--folks who move to the country then complain about the country smells and noise of the farm work that goes on at odd hours.

So, NOW is the time--before the pressure of time is upon me-- to de-clutter, de-junk and reclaim space that has been lost for years.

I don't have control over the barnyard but I can take control of the house! Thanks for being such an inspiration!