<p>I find it easy to bag up clothes, purses, shoes, etc. and try to remove an old item for each new item that comes into the home. </p>
<p>What I can’t find a way to reduce, is anything inherited from family members. Little has any monetary value. It consists primarily of memories – that take up lots of space. Included are numerous boxes of photos, films (as in 16mm movies (and projectors I have no clue how to use), slides, 8mm, Super8, VHS videos, negatives, floppy disks, etc. etc. It would cost a fortune to digitize or update, or a lifetime to do so myself. Plus who knows what formats will be needed in 20 years. Add more boxes of letters, artwork, needlework, crafts, etc. I somehow became the family archivist. </p>
<p>I have an entire dresser and half a closet devoted to “things saved for posterity” - that doesn’t even include furniture, fabric, dishes and glassware. </p>
<p>Has anyone hired one of the franchise hauling services such as 1-800-GOT-JUNK or JUNK KING? Are they worth the cost? In a couple of months we may need to quickly dispose of a variety of things, from leftover building materials to mattresses and box springs to computer components. I haven’t found any local reviews, but reviews from other cities indicate that most customers pay around $400 - $500. That seems awfully steep.</p>
<p>Kjofkw - I have that same problem with items from deceased family members. None of it has any value, but I somehow became the storage place for things from my mom’s apartment that we didn’t want to throw away. Someof it has sentimental value, some of it doesn’t - we just thought it belonged somewhere. My guess is she felt the same way about some of it…things from her parents, or whatever. I have it in boxes in my garage right now. I’m sure my kids will toss it someday without a second thought, but for now…it just sits there.</p>
<p>Oregon101, thanks for the feedback on the expense; I was afraid of that. Dh is opposed to having strangers come to the house to buy items via craigslist and our neighborhood does not permit garage sales. </p>
<p>I just ran across a charity that supplies used furniture and household items, including beds in good condition, to people who are transitioning from shelters to other residences. Most charities won’t take beds since they cannot resell them in their thrift shops, but I guess this group can because it doesn’t actually sell anything but only provides transportation and temporary storage. I’m waiting to hear back from them.</p>
<p>For the next month or two, I’ll haul whatever we can dispose of now that will fit in my van to a nearby thrift shop. A guy there suggested taking old computer components and TVs to Best Buy. It’s possible that what’s left to be hauled to the dump will then be able to fit into a pickup truck and I can hire someone to do that for <$50. </p>
<p>Yes, around here there is a church that will haul anything that folks want to donate and give it away to charity for free (haven’t checked recently as to whether they still do so).</p>
<p>If the TVs and electronics still work, perhaps the charity will want them too? I believe whatever is donated to BestBuy is sent for salvage and recycling and NOT used in its current form by anyone, which is something to consider if it matters to you.</p>
<p>They take old iPods and provide them to Alzheimer’s patients. I finally sent mine off to them and am feeling quite virtuous. The thing took up almost no space in my house, of course, but at least I got rid of it.</p>
<p>Another story: During the 1930s, my father worked for a printing company that would print small editions of “keepsake books.” My sister and I, going through our father’s things, found one of these books that was a 1939 history of the town we grew up in. I was in that town last Saturday and stopped by the library to give them the book. The librarian was thrilled and said that if the library didn’t want it, it would go to the town historical society.</p>
<p>It feels really good to get rid of something that someone else might really value.</p>
<p>That’s great, VeryHappy. Yesterday, I did a toss of many, many obsolete kitchen pots/pans/single-function utensils and other nonsense. Some will go to charity but most were unusable.</p>
<p>H and I are also the repository for things his uncle no longer needs - why I have no idea! We call the various pieces “unc junk”.</p>
<p>We have an annual rummage sale at our church. It is amazing that some people can’t tell the difference between what to donate and what should have been tossed a decade ago, but they can’t. It’s part of the service to the congregation that the team of volunteers sorts through the donations to sell what we can and get rid of the rest. Every now and then we get a donation that someone doesn’t realize the high value of, and we try to get it back to the donor, or find a way to sell it a different way if they don’t want it back. </p>
<p>Haven’t posted on this thread in awhile. Spent part of the last couple of days cleaning some drawers In both girls rooms. 2 bags of stuff to the teen cousins. Numerous bags to the trash of old socks and underwear. Several bags to go to the goodwill. A lot of stuff just went back into the dresser. Both girls still have way to much stuff here. I barely made a dent. </p>
<p>Does a bag of returns to Neiman count? Hauled in a few nice catches at their last call sale, cleaned out some old stuff out of the closet, and now after taking the returns back, it will be a net negative number of items in the closet! :)</p>
<p>I don’t think our Goodwill has a drive-thru, but another charity shop nearby does. Rotator cuff problems are keeping me from lifting and toting anything heavy, but I can drive. Dh has filled my trunk twice and the teen volunteers at the shop unload it. Today I saw the floor of the downstairs guest room closet for the first time in five years, and one dresser upstairs is completely empty now. It’s only a small dent but it’s nice to see some progress.</p>
<p>I have been reading this thread off and on since it started, though I don’t think I have ever posted.</p>
<p>We moved from a three bedroom half of a duplex to a two bedroom apartment a year ago. I work at the apartment complex and was offered a rent discount that was too good to give up. It does mean a lot less space and that D does not have a bedroom when she comes home.</p>
<p>We did get rid of a lot of stuff at a series of yard sales before we moved. And, there is a lot of stuff in a storage unit. We need the storage unit to keep D’s bedroom set, it is hers and she wants to keep it. The storage company just built some units that are half the size that we have rented, so we are working hard at getting rid of some stuff so that we can move to a smaller unit.</p>
<p>I did talk H into selling our washer/dryer and lawnmower. We put them on craig’s list. And since they are at the storage unit, people go there to look instead of our house. We have sold the mower and washer, still have the dryer. (it was not a matching set).</p>
<p>I plan to go to the storage unit tomorrow to see if I can get through some of the boxes without H and S and either combine or get rid of stuff. It would be nice if it was only the dryer and D’s stuff, in there, but it will be awhile before that happens. There is a goodwill between our house and the storage unit. I hope to have to stop there before I get home tomorrow.</p>
<p>Bajamm, I hadn’t thought about putting stuff into a storage unit in order to sell it on Craigslist. That might work for dh. I’d want to first make sure that one of the charity shops will pick up from a storage facility if we couldn’t sell everything within a month since we do not want to do long term storage. </p>
<p>By the way, just a reminder to be sure to check everything thoroughly before you donate (pockets, purse compartments, inside book jackets, etc.) This morning, I ran across a small bin filled with new (still in packages) stockings and tights. Tucked in the back flap of one package was a bank envelope with $1K in $20s. I withdrew the cash after a large storm knocked out power at nearby gas stations and grocery stores a few years ago, then forgot all about it. I nearly dumped the lot into a donation box, but stopped to check to see if a pair of tights might suit D1. </p>
Hauled in a few nice catches at their last call sale, cleaned out some old stuff out of the closet, and now after taking the returns back, it will be a net negative number of items in the closet! :)</p>
I think I threw away the 8 mm one he recently bought at a garage sale… </p>