Senior Moving Misery

DGS49

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2012
15,661
13,010
2,415
Pittsburgh
Having lived in this house since 1987, I had reached the point where I thought I would die here. Not that there's anything bad about that, but...

Unpredictably, we learned of a nearby townhouse/Condo that has everything our tired old bones might like (including an elevator), at a very nice price. It appears that we can sell our house, buy the Condo, and pocket enough for, say, a new car - not that we would do that, but just sayin'.

But the move will be torture. We have accumulate so much STUFF since 1987 that it will take six years to dispose of it properly, while we have about a month to "de-clutter" our house for sale, and probably another month to empty it out. We will be quite foolish in keeping much more stuff than we will ever need (the Condo has a shitload of space), but even so, there is a mountain of stuff to be,
  • Sold (good luck with that),
  • Donated to H4H and the Veterans groups,
  • Tossed in the dumpster, and
  • Given away to anyone who wants it.
There is a lot of "good" stuff that has no value. We have a "home entertainment cabinet" that is beautiful but has no value or purpose in today's world. We have a very good video camera that no one will ever use. We have dozens of music CD's, cassette tapes, floppy discs, not to mention a mountain of BOOKS that have no value. Throw them in the dumpster? Painful.

I have tools up the wazoo that I will never use again. Gardening tools woodworking tools, mechanical tools to work on cars, a good snow blower, an edger, electric chain saw, a couple of weed-wackers and blowers. I have an ocean of fluids...brake fluid, automatic transmission fluid, Armor-All, antifreeze, weed killers, bug killers, paints and spray paints, charcoal lighter fluid (4 cans). Nobody wants fluids, you know. Don't throw them in the dumpster (which we will have to rent, by the day). I have unused, and partly used lumber, moldings, firewood.

I'm too old for this shit.
 
Have garage sales, then an estate sale, then give away stuff, then call gotjunk.com, and finally just leave stuff for the new owner to deal with. Then buy new furniture for your new home.
 
I've actually been thinking about this; about how it's like a graph of accumulation going up and up until it hits it's peak - which is where I am now - and then declines as you stop buying tools, etc, and look to de-clutter. I'm in the same boat, re: CDs, my old Nikon that has been around the world with me, tools, old keyboards, amps, speakers. One option that may help you is Facebook Marketplace. Sometimes called Facebook Online Garage Sale. I cannot stand Facebook and only log in once every 4 months, but I did sell a collectable fairly quickly on there.
 
Having a month does make it hard. Don't throw away the books. Give them to SOMEONE.

Good will has books. I believe you can get a receipt and use it against your taxes?

Mmm, all those tools and equipment? You might make some people shopping in Good Will because they are poor (or cheap), very happy.
 
I always try to keep my house 'de-cluttered'. I was raised that way though. Every year growing up (hated it) we would spring clean and remove any useless, unused, broken or obsolete items. Good Will, Salvation Army, neighbors, and broke relatives were all recipients.
Good luck with your new pad though! It's never too late for new I say. These kind of things keep you young.
 
Having lived in this house since 1987, I had reached the point where I thought I would die here. Not that there's anything bad about that, but...

Unpredictably, we learned of a nearby townhouse/Condo that has everything our tired old bones might like (including an elevator), at a very nice price. It appears that we can sell our house, buy the Condo, and pocket enough for, say, a new car - not that we would do that, but just sayin'.

But the move will be torture. We have accumulate so much STUFF since 1987 that it will take six years to dispose of it properly, while we have about a month to "de-clutter" our house for sale, and probably another month to empty it out. We will be quite foolish in keeping much more stuff than we will ever need (the Condo has a shitload of space), but even so, there is a mountain of stuff to be,
  • Sold (good luck with that),
  • Donated to H4H and the Veterans groups,
  • Tossed in the dumpster, and
  • Given away to anyone who wants it.
There is a lot of "good" stuff that has no value. We have a "home entertainment cabinet" that is beautiful but has no value or purpose in today's world. We have a very good video camera that no one will ever use. We have dozens of music CD's, cassette tapes, floppy discs, not to mention a mountain of BOOKS that have no value. Throw them in the dumpster? Painful.

I have tools up the wazoo that I will never use again. Gardening tools woodworking tools, mechanical tools to work on cars, a good snow blower, an edger, electric chain saw, a couple of weed-wackers and blowers. I have an ocean of fluids...brake fluid, automatic transmission fluid, Armor-All, antifreeze, weed killers, bug killers, paints and spray paints, charcoal lighter fluid (4 cans). Nobody wants fluids, you know. Don't throw them in the dumpster (which we will have to rent, by the day). I have unused, and partly used lumber, moldings, firewood.

I'm too old for this shit.
Going through the same thing. Got rid of all the lawn stuff and tools. To move into condo then at last minute decided I like gardening and tinkering in garage. Bought big house in small town close to schools and talked daughters family into moving in with me. Now I will have my grandchildren to walk to school and take fishing and hunting. Some one to wipe my ass when I am longer able and some one in my house to watch over it when I go south for a couple of months. I am fond of my son in law. Like my own son but unlike my son he actually takes my advice from time to time.
 
A garage sale seems appropriate, but also would be a giant pain in the butt. Imagine selling things like my electric chain saw...what would it bring? $20? Worth the bother? Probably not.

I think most of the tools will go to Goodwill.

The hidden message here is that with two incomes and no kids (in the house) for the past 20 years, we just bought whatever we wanted, even when we already had one of whatever it was. Very foolish and wasteful.* One thing I didn't note above was kids' toys that my wife bought for the grandkids. They are only here a couple days a month, but they have more toys here than they have in their home. And they have one by one grown out of them. Toys that are in good shape will go to Goodwill, the rest to the dumpster...which is being left here on Monday.

All in all, it's a depressing process that will lead to a nice new home with minimal clutter. I hope.


_____________________
* The upside being, I have a tool for just about everything I want or need to do around the house. It is so nice to have the right tool for a job.
 
A garage sale seems appropriate, but also would be a giant pain in the butt. Imagine selling things like my electric chain saw...what would it bring? $20? Worth the bother? Probably not.

I think most of the tools will go to Goodwill.

The hidden message here is that with two incomes and no kids (in the house) for the past 20 years, we just bought whatever we wanted, even when we already had one of whatever it was. Very foolish and wasteful.* One thing I didn't note above was kids' toys that my wife bought for the grandkids. They are only here a couple days a month, but they have more toys here than they have in their home. And they have one by one grown out of them. Toys that are in good shape will go to Goodwill, the rest to the dumpster...which is being left here on Monday.

All in all, it's a depressing process that will lead to a nice new home with minimal clutter. I hope.


_____________________
* The upside being, I have a tool for just about everything I want or need to do around the house. It is so nice to have the right tool for a job.


Don't be depressed about throwing away stuff. Focus on the stuff you are giving to good will.


Those toys? Will be a GODSEND to struggling young parents. I recall when we were tight with debt and a young child, and we got some used kids stuff like that at a yard sale, (good will works just as well).


It was very much appreciated.

Some of it was so durable that we handed it down to another family that really appreciated it.


There was the single mom working the phones at one crappy job I had. My child had outgrown this, and so I drove it over to her crappy little apartment, where her two small children were in the postage stamp back yard.

She told me later how much they loved it, and how the children played on the little slide till dark.


Feel GOOD about this.
 
As I spent the entire day "cleaning out" my garage, I realize that since I will not be a traditional "home owner" in the future, I will not need a couple dozen gardening and digging tools. tools to cut, chop, and trim trees and bushes, or make minor concrete repairs.

It occurs to me that it might be wise to keep this stuff and at least offer it to whoever buys the place. If he is a first-time homeowner (not likely at this price point), they would be invaluable.

I would truly like to sell these tools as a package to someone - or even just give them to a person who can use them.
 
As I spent the entire day "cleaning out" my garage, I realize that since I will not be a traditional "home owner" in the future, I will not need a couple dozen gardening and digging tools. tools to cut, chop, and trim trees and bushes, or make minor concrete repairs.

It occurs to me that it might be wise to keep this stuff and at least offer it to whoever buys the place. If he is a first-time homeowner (not likely at this price point), they would be invaluable.

I would truly like to sell these tools as a package to someone - or even just give them to a person who can use them.
If you're really having trouble deciding what to keep, you can always rent a storage unit. I did this a few years ago when facing the big downsizing move. After about 6 mos of paying rent on the storage unit which I never even visited once, I call up a second hand store and they hauled the junk away and gave me $50 bucks.

Here's a couple of suggestions. If you are as old as I am, hire someone to help you move, even it's just for packing boxes. Keep only things that you know you will need and those that bring back fond memories. When we sold our place and bought a smaller place we had a tidy sum left over so we hired a local moving company to do everything, packing everything in the old place and unpacking it at the new place. All we had to do was tell them where to put the stuff in the new place. If the new place needs painting, carpets, or whatever, get the work done before you move in. It will save you money and the hassle latter.

Moving when you're old is a real pain. You might want to spend a bit of that new car money on your move.
 
update: We have sold our house and despite trying to sell a bunch of stuff that we can't use, we still have toooooo much stuff. The new house is terribly cluttered, and we still have a hundred boxes of stuff to be distributed about the new place.

Some things are astounding about the accumulation of stuff. I like baseball caps and when I see one that I like the look of, or maybe it has a logo or a saying that I like I will buy it. Well, I'm 72 years old, and I have a large box of hats and visors. And every one of them was picked up because I liked it at one time. And I still do.

My wife has the same habit with purses and shoes. After 48 years of marriage, that is a LOT of purses and shoes. And jackets. And golf shoes and visors and outfits.

I have enough motorcycle garb to outfit a pussies version of Hell's Angels. I have motorcycle clothing that is perfect for every ambient temperature from 20 to 95F. Helmet, gloves, jacket, pants, shoes/boots. And I'm selling my MC.

I tell myself that over-consumption is good for the economy, but there is a price to be paid. In many ways.
 
update: We have sold our house and despite trying to sell a bunch of stuff that we can't use, we still have toooooo much stuff. The new house is terribly cluttered, and we still have a hundred boxes of stuff to be distributed about the new place.

Some things are astounding about the accumulation of stuff. I like baseball caps and when I see one that I like the look of, or maybe it has a logo or a saying that I like I will buy it. Well, I'm 72 years old, and I have a large box of hats and visors. And every one of them was picked up because I liked it at one time. And I still do.

My wife has the same habit with purses and shoes. After 48 years of marriage, that is a LOT of purses and shoes. And jackets. And golf shoes and visors and outfits.

I have enough motorcycle garb to outfit a pussies version of Hell's Angels. I have motorcycle clothing that is perfect for every ambient temperature from 20 to 95F. Helmet, gloves, jacket, pants, shoes/boots. And I'm selling my MC.

I tell myself that over-consumption is good for the economy, but there is a price to be paid. In many ways.


Last time we moved. I was DETERMINED that the basement would be usable living space, not storage.


Not as old as you. But still, it was HARD.
 
Having lived in this house since 1987, I had reached the point where I thought I would die here. Not that there's anything bad about that, but...

Unpredictably, we learned of a nearby townhouse/Condo that has everything our tired old bones might like (including an elevator), at a very nice price. It appears that we can sell our house, buy the Condo, and pocket enough for, say, a new car - not that we would do that, but just sayin'.

But the move will be torture. We have accumulate so much STUFF since 1987 that it will take six years to dispose of it properly, while we have about a month to "de-clutter" our house for sale, and probably another month to empty it out. We will be quite foolish in keeping much more stuff than we will ever need (the Condo has a shitload of space), but even so, there is a mountain of stuff to be,
  • Sold (good luck with that),
  • Donated to H4H and the Veterans groups,
  • Tossed in the dumpster, and
  • Given away to anyone who wants it.
There is a lot of "good" stuff that has no value. We have a "home entertainment cabinet" that is beautiful but has no value or purpose in today's world. We have a very good video camera that no one will ever use. We have dozens of music CD's, cassette tapes, floppy discs, not to mention a mountain of BOOKS that have no value. Throw them in the dumpster? Painful.

I have tools up the wazoo that I will never use again. Gardening tools woodworking tools, mechanical tools to work on cars, a good snow blower, an edger, electric chain saw, a couple of weed-wackers and blowers. I have an ocean of fluids...brake fluid, automatic transmission fluid, Armor-All, antifreeze, weed killers, bug killers, paints and spray paints, charcoal lighter fluid (4 cans). Nobody wants fluids, you know. Don't throw them in the dumpster (which we will have to rent, by the day). I have unused, and partly used lumber, moldings, firewood.

I'm too old for this shit.
I went through the same thing a few years ago. My suggestion is that if you have not signed all the papers give yourself extra time. Secondly, use just a little of if the new car money to hire someone to help with the boxes and trips to garbage, the dump, and Goodwill, maybe a friend or relative. You still have to make the decisions but you don't have to do all the work. Lastly, you are really helping your kids or whoever you're heirs are. Estate planning is not all about assets, wills, burial instructions. No one knows this stuff better than you.
 
update: We have sold our house and despite trying to sell a bunch of stuff that we can't use, we still have toooooo much stuff. The new house is terribly cluttered, and we still have a hundred boxes of stuff to be distributed about the new place.

Some things are astounding about the accumulation of stuff. I like baseball caps and when I see one that I like the look of, or maybe it has a logo or a saying that I like I will buy it. Well, I'm 72 years old, and I have a large box of hats and visors. And every one of them was picked up because I liked it at one time. And I still do.

My wife has the same habit with purses and shoes. After 48 years of marriage, that is a LOT of purses and shoes. And jackets. And golf shoes and visors and outfits.

I have enough motorcycle garb to outfit a pussies version of Hell's Angels. I have motorcycle clothing that is perfect for every ambient temperature from 20 to 95F. Helmet, gloves, jacket, pants, shoes/boots. And I'm selling my MC.

I tell myself that over-consumption is good for the economy, but there is a price to be paid. In many ways.
When we moved, we keep only what we really needed and what brought back great memories, our photo albums, my sons first baseball glove, my old coin and stamp collection, the wife's handwork, some home movies although I don't have a working projector. I got rid of about 90% of my tools because I wasn't going to be building much in my condo. We got rid of all the old furniture and bought new with only a few exceptions. That was about 5 years ago. Of all the stuff we got rid of we only miss a few items. It was well worth it.
 
DGS49 I feel you, we have a house that's already too big for us now that we are empty nesters. But we love it here and will stay until we can't keep up with it, or get the trash cans up and down the hill. The widow next door doesn't want to move either but she is starting to lose it. We found her sitting on her driveway a month ago because she feel backwards and couldn't get up. Yikes.
 
DGS49 I feel you, we have a house that's already too big for us now that we are empty nesters. But we love it here and will stay until we can't keep up with it, or get the trash cans up and down the hill. The widow next door doesn't want to move either but she is starting to lose it. We found her sitting on her driveway a month ago because she feel backwards and couldn't get up. Yikes.
We had a 5 bedroom house which was perfect when we had 4 kids at home but after they left for college and jobs, they came home less and less. After a few years it become just a Christmas and vacation visit and as time pasted those visits got fewer and fewer. One day the wife said, looking at those empty bedrooms, just makes me feel said. The next day we put our home for 29 years on the market and moved to a condo. For us it was the right move.
 
Having lived in this house since 1987, I had reached the point where I thought I would die here. Not that there's anything bad about that, but...

Unpredictably, we learned of a nearby townhouse/Condo that has everything our tired old bones might like (including an elevator), at a very nice price. It appears that we can sell our house, buy the Condo, and pocket enough for, say, a new car - not that we would do that, but just sayin'.

But the move will be torture. We have accumulate so much STUFF since 1987 that it will take six years to dispose of it properly, while we have about a month to "de-clutter" our house for sale, and probably another month to empty it out. We will be quite foolish in keeping much more stuff than we will ever need (the Condo has a shitload of space), but even so, there is a mountain of stuff to be,
  • Sold (good luck with that),
  • Donated to H4H and the Veterans groups,
  • Tossed in the dumpster, and
  • Given away to anyone who wants it.
There is a lot of "good" stuff that has no value. We have a "home entertainment cabinet" that is beautiful but has no value or purpose in today's world. We have a very good video camera that no one will ever use. We have dozens of music CD's, cassette tapes, floppy discs, not to mention a mountain of BOOKS that have no value. Throw them in the dumpster? Painful.

I have tools up the wazoo that I will never use again. Gardening tools woodworking tools, mechanical tools to work on cars, a good snow blower, an edger, electric chain saw, a couple of weed-wackers and blowers. I have an ocean of fluids...brake fluid, automatic transmission fluid, Armor-All, antifreeze, weed killers, bug killers, paints and spray paints, charcoal lighter fluid (4 cans). Nobody wants fluids, you know. Don't throw them in the dumpster (which we will have to rent, by the day). I have unused, and partly used lumber, moldings, firewood.

I'm too old for this shit.

Why not just turn it all over to an estate liquidator?
 
Flopper I could see that in the future. We aren't quite there yet, we do love our location and privacy but maybe having more people around wouldn't be a bad thing.
Condos are often advertised as great places to meet new people and participate in new activities. Well that is true to a point. Many condos are just upscale apartments. Your closer to your neighbors but they will likely remain strangers unless you take the time to interact with them. Other Condos have organized activities such as monthly get getters, potluck dinners, trips to shopping malls, casinos, plays, and local attractions. Most of these condos are pretty large, over a hundred units. The size of a condo often determines available activities. There are over 350,000 condominiums in the country with the number of units ranging from a half dozen to over 5,000 units.
 

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