We are moving/downsizing in the spring and are currently getting rid of a lot of stuff. It isn’t worth the cost of moving a lot of things we don’t use on a regular basis and aren’t sure we will ever use again.
I do love photos though I went through the boxes of prints a year ago and tossed the copies/blurred ones, etc. The photos will be moving with us.
This.
Good tips above.
When contemplating a possible future move, book sorting might give the best bang for the effort. (same for other heavy, bulky items that would be pricey to move). Since retirement I’ve sent off about 10 boxes of books, and the remaining ones are getting shelved by like category for easy future inventory / decision making. Yearbooks are gonna be hard - the doubles from our college may have to go back to our college at next reunion.
If you are not quite ready to give things away, I suggest at least gathering into labeled boxes, so you can chuck it quickly if needed. This year we sorted through a lot of son’s old papers from school (and had fun looking at it all with hubby along the way.) We discarded a lot but still have a lot… ah, especially love all the concert and recital programs. I’m thinking of putting the best of the best in my hope chest or at the bottom of drawers. Then if we do move someday, won’t need to sort.
One victory this year was getting many of my dad’s old home movies digitized. Need to work more on that project.
One of the best things you can have is a friend who moves/downsizes before you! Good friends of ours moved this past summer and they were the ones who told me about Buy Nothing groups as well as a local foundation which takes book donations. I currently have close to 400 books to donate as I am only moving a few. I have gotten rid of a lot with Buy Nothing.
An added bonus is that H did not really believe me when I told him we need to start getting rid of stuff several months before the current house goes on the market. But when our friends said that he went all in!
We asked our kids if there was anything they wanted…including old school memorabilia. DS wanted his All State plaques, and DD wanted her swimming one. Each chose toys they wanted…DD her American Girl doll and all its accessories. DS…Legos and a Brio train set.
They told us everything else of theirs could go!
I chose two pieces of their artwork that I liked and had those framed. The rest…took pictures and tossed the originals.
Great tips and encouraging to hear how others have gone through/are going through the same processes!
I like the idea of digitizing photos and then having them play on a loop. I find I don’t really look much at photo albums- would be fun to have those old pix appear on a screen unexpectedly! We got a photoframe for my MIL that does that - now I think there are ones where people can add photos from their phones, even thought they are far away.
I remember my mom’s house - she had boxes and boxes of things (e.g., Christmas cards received going back decades - neatly bundled). When I helped her organize, I realized she wasn’t getting any joy from those cardboard boxes filled with papers and photos stuffed under tables in the basement. I took out a few photos and framed them for her - she got a lot of enjoyment from those.
Agree that hearing about others succesfully culling helps with motivation! I’m looking to February to start, after we sell a property. These tips will help me figure out a plan to do it right!
My brother got my parents a Skylight that does this. You send the photos via e-mail (which you can do from tapping phone photos) to their Skylight account which you create when you install the frame. They love randomly getting new pics as we think to send them.
I have a Nixplay photo frame which works similarly. DH and I love it when our kids send new pictures and videos of our granddaughters to the photo frame. Best grandparent gift ever!!
We like the Nixplay as well. Gave one to the grandparents and we update the images every quarter.
We upsized and downsized. We moved into a very big house (described above) but we are doing significant construction on roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of it. We moved into the in-law suite (large BR, large sitting room that now is our dining room as well), small kitchen, smaller BR that is my office (best view imaginable, looking right down the river as it bends). Demolition started a couple of weeks ago and construction will start soon. Redoing LR, kitchen, turning a screened in porch into a dining room, lots of other changes. Plumbers were here today. We have a storage unit (where things may be permanently lost), and are using several BRs that are getting light renovation for storage. We can’t find our cleaver or super sharp cooking shears. I can’t find my Gore-Tex pants.
On photos, I sent boxes of photos to something like scanmyphotos.com (I think that’s it). Got it back on the cloud and on a thumb drive. I store them a couple of ways in the cloud.
With respect to things generally, I found I was keeping a lot of objects because of the memories they brought up when I picked them up. But, I get the same memories from a photo of the object. So I photographed the object put it in the cloud and threw it out.
Thanks for those photoframe links! That really seems like such a great idea - my parents would have loved something like that when they were alive.
Good luck with the rehab, shawbridge - sounds like you’ll be getting exactly what you want.
I’ve heard of shipping off your pix to a company that digitizes - I was always too worried about losing pix before, but if it’s a good reputable company, I suppose that’s less of a concern. Plus I really just don’t care as much about those hundreds (thousands?) of old pix these days (after not looking at them for 15+ years!).
Seems like all these recent suggestions are setting out a great path for next steps:
Thank you!!
The expecting kids gave us a Facebook portal. I guess it works like a digital photo/video thing lol
@Jolynne_Smyth, we have sent photos to be digitezed three times. The pix came back with no problem.
In one case, we sent a VHS of our wedding so that ShawSon’s fiancee could see it (and so that we would all have it). We got mp3’s but the VHS itself came back.
If you have Apple TV, you can set up your TV to cycle through a folder of photos. So, you get the memories. Probably doable with FireTV or Roku (I have not investigated because we want the TV off when it is not in use). Samsung has a TV designed for something like that if I’m not sure. I think it is called the Frame.
Most smart tvs have the capability to locate files on your home network storage. We use our LG to cycle through various still image directories as well as playing back video footage that we have stored. We digitized photos a while back as well as capturing video from several different formats we’ve used. Had work to get caught up, but easy to add new stuff now. We have stills and video from 1987.
We’ve decide up re-upsize. The downsize to 2400 sq ft isn’t working. We’ll be waiting until the market cools off, however. I think a one story 3500 sq ft will work.
Curious, itsgettingreal21 - what factors made you decide that 2400 sq ft wasn’t working?
I had settled on something between 1400-1800 sq ft w/a deck/patio as ideal. Wondering if I’m missing something…!
DS and I downsized to 2400 sq ft nine years ago. We have rooms we never go into.
Everyone wants larger bedrooms like we had before and I want a hobby room and more storage. We can’t seem to avoid collecting stuff.
The Facebook portal has been great with our now 4 yr old grandson. They live in another state and while couldn’t visit we had weekly “play dates” with him. The portal has interactive games and stories built in. Much more than just photos or video. When we did finally get to visit we were not strangers.
I got rid of many many booka. I kept a WORD document with titles, and that made the loss bearable. I can always get any one of those books at a library. I now rely almost entirely on our public library for reading, unless a book is really obscure and hard to get. I just got a $50 gift certificate to a book store and it will feel weird to buy a book. Sorry bookstores!
I gave away my son’s extensive Lego/Duplo collection. A family had just adopted a 4 year old from South Korea. He came over and played for an hour and the look in his eyes was worth it.
My grandmother traveled the world and sent me a doll from each country. I visited an antiques dealer and offered them to a local doll museum but ended up giving them all to a family with three young daughters. They may play with them, but whatever.
Otherwise- antique dealer, then upscale consignment, then local thrift store.
I am in 500-600 sq. ft. and, as I wrote above, rent seasonally and move twice a year. My problem now is that I get exhausted contemplating renting something long term (let alone buy). I will have to buy furniture including bed and mattress, kitchen stuff and basically accumulate all over again! I just don’t seem to want to do it.