support thread for serious decluttering/moving? - Page 14

[EarthyMamaofDaisy]

Glad to see everyone is making so much progress.  Yay for homes being sold and rented!  Zebra, hope you can find a job soon.  We've lived with the parents and it was really tough.  I sympathize.

Last time we sold a house I had an infant.  She was 9 months old when it finally sold.  I remember the realtor was really pushing for the house to be perfectly clean at every showing.  It was really unrealistic.  I had some hoarding issues back then and it was a little 750 square foot condo and it was packed so I remember feeling frustrated at constantly having to straighten up for the last minute showings.  Plus I was working part-time back then too and up all night with a baby and had PPD.  I've actually been practicing for when the house goes on the market though.  I've been trying to pick up messes right after they are made and keep on the kids about not leaving laundry on the floor and toys out. I think it will be easier this time around with owning so much less stuff. 

Due to rainy weather every weekend we were finally able to have our yardsale last weekend.  It coincided with a town wide yardsale so I'm glad the other weekends were rained out.  We were at a friend's house on a main road so we had tons of customers.  I sold quite a bit.  I was really proud of my Mom though, she sold off lots of her dish and pottery collections.  She looked like she was about to cry a couple of times but she is excited for our duplex to eventually be sold.  We're actually planning another yard sale for towards the end of summer. 

[Choose2Reuse]

We finally managed to unpack & put away nearly all the stuff in the boxes that had been languishing in the second bedroom after our move!  DH played with DD and I unpacked like a fiend.  There are still several boxes of books (no bookshelves yet) and a pile of pictures-to-be-hung, but other than that the room is actually livable and looks nice.  Which is good...because MIL arrives for a two-month visit in just a couple of weeks!
 

[lunarlady]

We move in 2 days and things are crazy. DH is already working in our new town so it is just me and our two girls doing all the last minute moving stuff. I feel crazy. In addition, I'm having a hard time emotionally divorcing from our home. I never really loved it but I've invested years of time in trying to make it better, both my girls were born here, and basically it is packed with memories. It is hard to say goodbye.

Under all this stress it is no wonder depression is rearing it's ugly unwelcome head. I've struggled against it's tide my whole life. Pills of the right sort help immensely, but I've been avoiding resorting to them while childbearing and breastfeeding since they aren't known to be safe. In the meantime I just struggle along gallantly.

I've started throwing things away like mad. I want a clean start at my new home. I'll be there in less than 48 hours. Hard to believe.

[journeymom]

Lunarlady, at this point you're almost there.  Maybe next time you post you'll be moved in to the new place.  Hang in there!!

[worthy]

Today I cleaned/organized a lot in my garage.  THE PILE is gone.  Whew.  There is stuff to re-tidy and put-in-the-right-bins around the perimeter, but I could actually put my car in my garage if I wanted to.  First time in YEARS.  I am amazed.

I am still caught in a sense of wonder -- will it really stay that way?  I think so, because I'm decluttering a decade's worth of clutter in this house from a failed marriage, and a lifetime's worth of clutter that my mother or I thought needed to stay in boxes (no longer!)  My house is not spotless but it's in good used shape.  The bits of clutter that are out could get put away quickly and I wouldn't be overwhelmed -- there are no boxes of junk to sort through, everything has a place, etc.

I need to better stack the bins in the corner of the garage and also go through and declutter the craft bins.  Need to do the same for the art shelf in the dining room.  Also the laundry room has more dirty and clean stuff piled up than I would like, so I want to get that managed soon.

Oh, I lied.  There is one bin in the kitchen of things that all need putting away, and another bin under my desk in the bedroom.  But they've been de-junked and now just need to be dispersed.

I have a box here of unlabeled VCR tapes that I need to go through quickly to figure out which few can't be parted with (kids first steps, etc).  Will try to do that tonight.

Also a pile of empty gallon maple syrup jugs in the kitchen that need washing and sterilizing for future years (we live in a sugaring town and every year I save $3 for every jug I reuse, so they are worth storing.)

I mowed the backyard and it's looking good.  Have to do the front yard now, but it's been very hot...tomorrow or the weekend.

All of my cabinets and shelves are decluttered and organized except the art shelves (easy to do).

The garage has only things in it that I'm positively keeping.  Amazing.  It literally took me a year to de-junk and de-clutter our house.  XH left just shy of a year ago.

Our CD collection is disorganized and needs some time spent on it, but that's an "easy" self-contained project.

I think I'm really done with all the major decluttering.  Doesn't seem possible, but it seems to be true.  I am sure I will be getting rid of random little things here and there, but all the major going-through-everything-and-getting-rid-of-all-we-don't-use-love-or-need has been done.

The garden is another story -- WEEDY! -- but the house is in good shape.  I am kind of stunned as I feel like I have been working on it forever and it doesn't seem possible that this day has come.

As far as the house sale goes, now it's on hold, which is actually a relief.  Too complicated to explain, but the earliest it will go on the market now is fall, so I have some breathing room to finish some projects (like painting exterior trim and shutters, etc).

Still no idea where we're going next.  Still hoping to have help buying a particular house, but I'm at the mercy of the person who is considering helping me, and I just have to be patient.  Might otherwise be moving to a rental; not thrilled at the idea of moving twice, but I really feel I need to get out of this house and move on after the divorce.  We'll see.

[AfricanQueen99]

Great job, worthy!!

We close on our new house one week from today ... so that means that I finally had to start packing and the absolute best reason to start throwing junk away! I had a huge charity pile about two months ago and I thought I was done donating. At this point I have at least twice as much as before. Go me!! And I can already see a ton more to stick in the pile.

We move in 1.5 weeks. Packing while keeping the house show-worthy while keeping the three kids occupied and out of the way... Eeks!

[worthy]

I just want to say that I love my Shop Vac.  I vacuumed a large portion of my garage this week and it is awesomely clean.  I can even walk barefoot in it (never would allow that before).

Today I'm taking a bunch of compost and recycling to the dump.  Yesterday I dropped two big bags of packing materials off for someone in town who has an ebay business and is grateful for them.  Hmm, maybe I'll do more in the garage today if it isn't too hot.

Love the snowball effect!
 

[lunarlady]

Well, we made it! finally we are moved. We accidentally brought a few things we shouldn't have from our old house (like paint). And left behind a couple of things we did want (like our recycling bins.). But the vast majority of our belongings were safely moved from old home to new one. As I am unpacking I am continuing to de-clutter. We simply have so much stuff! We also down sized by about 800 square feet, so everything is in a different arrangement.

As we get settled in I feel better. I'm a cancer so being homeless (emotionally, not physically) is super hard for me. And, of course, the stars are contributing to major upheaval. 2012, a year for the death of the old and start of something new. I hope we all find joy in changes.

[worthy]

lunarlady, I'm so glad to hear you've "landed"!  Keep us posted as you get yourself settled.  I like to think of moving as a new beginning without clutter.  (After the piles-of-boxes stage, of course.)  It's an opportunity.

My mantra for today -- I don't have to get it all done today.  I ended up doing some spontaneous social things yesterday that cut into my time at home.  Not sure whether I made the right call about that.  But the reality is, the world won't end if I don't get X, Y, and Z done today.  (Though I do absolutely have to get A, B, and C done...)  Prioritizing is hard when I want it All Done Now.

It's so hard not knowing when/where we are moving.  I am in kind of a holding pattern and it's uncomfortable.  I expect I'll be able to make progress on that plan within the next month, but even that feels like a long time.  Breathe...
 

[journeymom]

Lunarlady, your success give me hope.   I can imagine doing the same- continue to declutter while unpacking. 

[allisonrose]

I am coming into this thread when it is pretty far in. My family is in the process of moving. It was not a hoped for move but something dumped in our laps. The biggest problem is that we never fully unpacked from our move a year ago! My hubby is a bit of a packrat: wants to keep stuff just in case we need it down the road. I understand where he is coming from but we don't even know where things are when we do need them. This move is really challenging because we are moving across the street which seemed easy until we started doing it. Hubby is now on board with decluttering after moving tons of boxes that haven't been opened in years.

If anyone has any tips for maintaining motivation - both his and mine - I would love to hear.

[AfricanQueen99]

I'm not sure if this will work for you, but my main motivation for decluttering ruthlessly is that I am paying an HOURLY rate for movers. More boxes of stuff = more money. It really helped with perspective. Plus, to keep costs down I've been packing a box and then moving it into the garage. And, frankly, I'm too lazy to move unwanted things into the keep pile.

We closed today and move in four days. Eeks!! So much left to do!

[sk8boarder15]

So I'm back I was active in this thread back in April, then our home sale fell though so I left. But now we have a renter! We just bought a house in Portland and will be renting out our chicago house while its still on the market. This is great for us! 

Anyway, we are thinking we are leaving here around July 27th. Not sure on the exact date. Closing in Portland is July 31st. We won't be at closing, but we would like to get out there soon after to get in our new place. Now... I have a nearly 3,000 sq foot house to clean/organize/pack. We've already gotten rid of truckloads of stuff. But we still have a lot more to go. We are downsizing about 900 square feet! Plus we want to start fresh and just have less stuff in general. We both used to be the "save everything types" not quite hoarders, but the "Hey I'll probably use this again" types. We are working toward only keeping things we really need.... not quite minamilests,  but close. We have so much stuff for our son and our dogs and our music that we don't have much space for anything else anyway! 

Today I went though my old paperwork in my office and was able to throw about 95% of it out!! And probably half of what I saved will be staying here with this house! I'm trying to get my office packed first since that is the room I use the least! 

What order are you packing in? I'm having a hard time figuring out what to pack when....  Any tips?? We have 4 weeks! 

[journeymom]

Originally Posted by sk8boarder15 
What order are you packing in? I'm having a hard time figuring out what to pack when....  Any tips?? We have 4 weeks! 

Good question!  One of those things I wouldn't discover until I got into it. 

[worthy]

Yay, I love seeing people's activity in this thread. 

My kids are going to their dad's today for a week, and unlike other times when they have been gone, I have nothing planned (except the usual -- work, housework, decluttering, cleaning, preliminary packing, etc).  I've been so overwhelmed with all the other stuff I'm juggling, this feels like an oasis...I hope to get myself moved further down the track of being ready to leave here when the time comes.  I hope it will not be long.  Too much to go into the details, but late next week there will be meetings that will likely determine whether I get the house I want or have to keep looking.  Either way, I'm aiming to move before the winter holidays (so before Thanksgiving).  That means buy a house or secure a rental in that timeframe, which is already feeling tight even though it's months down the road!

Good luck to everyone, and keep posting about your progress.  So excited for those who are moving forward and into new homes.
 

[journeymom]

Either way, I'm aiming to move before the winter holidays (so before Thanksgiving).  That means buy a house or secure a rental in that timeframe, which is already feeling tight even though it's months down the road!

I have got to keep this in mind. 

[LitMom]

Haven't been here in a while, but wanted to come back to say... we accepted an offer on our place! Hoorah! Closing won't be until September (cooperative board, so the buyer has to go through a board interview and stuff first), but it's great to have that done!

Now we have to start looking for a rental, and start thinking about packing for the rest of our stuff. We are sending a bunch of baby things to my sister in law and brother who are having a baby soon. 

[worthy]

Looking at a house today, and I'm really excited.  It's in a great neighborhood, affordable, sweet, nice yard, quiet, looks like a solid house.

It's...modest.  We'd be cutting our square footage almost in half (which is admittedly more than we need -- we have 2400 and this house is 1400) and losing virtually all of our storage space.

ACK!
 

I'm trying not to get ahead of myself.  If we get this house, it will be a great and wonderful thing.  I'm just use to having abundant storage space and using it wisely but freely.  I am the queen of Rubbermaid tubs, LOL.  This new house doesn't have a garage or shed or outbuilding, the basement is dirt, and it looks like it has no attic (it's a cape).

I'm trying not to get ahead of myself.  If I have to solve this problem, I can do it later, and first thing's first...

Wish me luck on the house.  I have seen it from the outside and it looks great.  My realtor thinks it will be "small" for my family, but it has 3 bedrooms and with a little remodeling the house would be space-efficient.  We'd definitely add a shed, at least, for garden tools and other storage.  It would make it easy to get rid of some big things (like lawnmowers and snow blower).

Once I know where we are going, I can declutter accordingly.  It's been hard not knowing what level to declutter to.

[AfricanQueen99]

We moved on Monday. Eeks! Since we haven't sold our old house I only half-assed packed and that is biting me in the butt as I take daily trips "home" (it's only 3-4 minutes away). There is a killer donation pile over there and I keep taking more each day I go back. When we are 100% moved I'll call for a truck and be done with all that junk. Isn't it freeing to not carry the weight of junk around? I love it!!

Worthy - what's the status of the property/home you really love(d)?

[worthy]

Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99 

Worthy - what's the status of the property/home you really love(d)?

Thanks for asking.  It's unaffordable.  My parents were trying to work things out so we could swing it, and it isn't possible.

I shifted from Plan A (big house, acreage, out in the country) to Plan B (smaller house, yard, in-town) over the past week or so, and I'm feeling very strong about that shift in our plan.  Suddenly realized that living in town would mean saving a ton of money (gas and mortgage/taxes) and time (driving), would allow my kids to walk or bike to classes and playdates, and would plant me near a number of very supportive friends. 

We looked at two houses in town yesterday, the one I was expecting and another one.  The first one is still a good possibility.  My realtor has another house in the same or similar neighborhood coming on the market very soon; he can't tell us anything about it but we are hoping he can get the sellers' permission to show it to us on Sunday.  He thinks it's similar to the one I like but better for us.  The main difference I'm aware of is that there is an additional bedroom.  We'll see how it feels when we see it.

I am dying of excitement and impatience here.  LOL.