A lot of respect!

[cpd520]

I posted this over on the RV.NET site and thought I would post it here also. The process of transitioning to full time has been an eye opener.


Well, we have finally made the decision to pull the plug! Read that "The wife has caught up and is ready to retire!". I retired a few years ago.

We are a couple weeks into the purge or a life time of "STUFF". I don't remember acquiring all this STUFF. Why would anyone need so much STUFF. We gave the kids a lot of STUFF. We had a big sale last weekend and got rid of a whole lot of STUFF. The problem is there was a lot of STUFF left over. I have STUFF for sale on craigslist and on ebay. We hauled a load of STUFF to Habitat For Humanity. We still have a lot of STUFF. There is another large pile of STUFF waiting to be hauled to the Mission. We have boxed up the good STUFF, which will be stored in a container at the daughter property.

Once the battle against STUFF is over, I will fine tune the stix and brix, it then goes on the market. The wife will give notice as soon as the house closes and we will start the next phase of our life together!

I have a brand new respect for those of you who have already won the battle over STUFF. We hope to see you all on the road by the end of the year.

[cpd520]

The process is going well. We have had our big garage sale. We have had the kids in. We have given to local charities. We are now wading through all the paperwork we have amassed as well as boxes of papers, pics and videos left by the MIL. Still hope to have the houses on the market in 3-4 weeks.

EXCITING!

[cpd520]

Thanks for all the good wishes and positive input. The process has been a lot of work and much more cathartic than I anticipated.

Been a productive week. Lots of STUFF gone! Once the STUFF is out of the way I can get on with the cleaning, paint touch and general prep to get the house ready to sell.

I goofed, meant to say I had posted it on rvnetwork.com also.

[Don_Shar]

The STUFF we had was things we thought we needed to have a good life and a bunch of memories packed in boxes in the holes we could find to put it. When I retired we had 3 children and 6 grandchildren. The Grandchildren were at the age they were starting to get married and move out. We told the family what we were doing, come and get what they wanted and what was left we would hold a yard sale......NO SALE NEEDED. The family came to our house and completely cleaned it out.
Baby clothes in boxes, to photos in boxes(god a lot of photos)a bunch of memories and now the kids have to take care of them.....WE ARE FREE of STUFF.

[bilmarde]

Our house sold in one day last year and we had to get to our summer jobs. We took what we wanted and our daughter took what she wanted. Had a couple of garage sales and then called an estate sale person. We left things in drawers and closets and cabinets. They had the sale, sent us a check and disposed the remainders. It was simple for us but if we didn't have to head to our jobs, might have done it differently. We did store a few boxes in our daughter's barn.

[SCR]

Shiny STUFF ... If it Shines or has more then two lights on it it's gold. If at least one light blinks it's a best seller.

The retailers sure have people trained. Kind of sad when you stop to think about it.

[ITguy]

This is the new "American Dream". Whatever ails ya', the cure is more "STUFF".

Work stressing you out? Get a bigger TV. You wouldn't be stressed if you could watch your sitcom re-runs on 6 more inches of screen. But don't throw the old one away, put it in the "guest room". See a commercial on TV for a cool gadget that you'll use once every 3 or 4 years? Better buy it, wouldn't want to be without fresh baked "organic" buns when you finally (you never will) invite the neighbors over to grill burgers... How embarrassing to grill a burger and serve it on a store-bought bun. God forbid.

"STUFF" is a trap. We live in a world where we are taught from birth that the measure of your value as a human being is how much stuff you can acquire. I fell for that for many years. I didn't get rid of my "STUFF" by choice, it was forced upon me. But I'm grateful, I've never in my life been happier and slept better at night than I have since I didn't have all the "CRAP" to worry about.

[2oldman]

cpd520 wrote:
I posted this over on the RV.NET site and thought I would post it here also.

This is the same place.

[Dufus]

We got rid of STUFF and sold the sticks and bricks. Now we live full time in a fifth wheel full of STUFF. Oh well.....

[Barbilou_and_Fu]

When the kids didn't want hardly any of our STUFF, we made the mistake of thinking the rest of our STUFF was too valuable to just give away. Rented a storage unit for it, visited it every summer to swap out STUFF, paid $90/month for 5 years. All of that STUFF together was worth way less than that.

[SCR]

retispcsi wrote:
Stuff is funny. Nine years ago my wife and I sold her home and my home in the Midwest and got rid of a lot of stuff. Sale, donation etc. So we moved to Fla. and I had an 8 x 24 Ft. car hauler full of stuff. Then we built a new house 4 bedrooms 3 car garage etc. and we filled it with stuff. Well last Friday we closed on that house and are once again full timing. We sold stuff. Gave stuff away to neighbors and friends. Donated the rest. Had the Salvation Army come over with a 20ft. Box truck. They filled in from front to the back door. We still have a 10x20 storage room to clean out over the summer and winter. We leave for the road in the spring when DW retires. Oh yea and we are still fine tuning the stuff in the fiver. How many pens does one need. Anyway we will conquer our stuff. My rule now is if you don't use it in the next 6 months you don't need it.

You never need it till you get rid of it, that's the nature of STUFF.

[retispcsi]

Stuff is funny. Nine years ago my wife and I sold her home and my home in the Midwest and got rid of a lot of stuff. Sale, donation etc. So we moved to Fla. and I had an 8 x 24 Ft. car hauler full of stuff. Then we built a new house 4 bedrooms 3 car garage etc. and we filled it with stuff. Well last Friday we closed on that house and are once again full timing. We sold stuff. Gave stuff away to neighbors and friends. Donated the rest. Had the Salvation Army come over with a 20ft. Box truck. They filled in from front to the back door. We still have a 10x20 storage room to clean out over the summer and winter. We leave for the road in the spring when DW retires. Oh yea and we are still fine tuning the stuff in the fiver. How many pens does one need. Anyway we will conquer our stuff. My rule now is if you don't use it in the next 6 months you don't need it.

[lfcjasp]

It's all because of the STUFF that I doubt we'll ever full-time. DH, bless his heart, is a hoarder and he HATES to throw ANYTHING out...really. We have old toaster ovens, coffee pots, etc. that can be fixed or canabalized for another appliance cluttering up the garage. He still has his over-40 year old Navy uniforms...even if he could get into them, they are no longer legal. It is crazy.

[SCR]

The battle with STUFF is never over. The very first thing STUFF does is hide to protect itself. It takes constant vigilance to root out and keep STUFF under control.

Even after all these years of full timing the STUFF war continues for us, there is no end to STUFF.

[pegdiver]

I have to get rid of stuff - keep saying that but haven't made a dent! Been in the house for close to 50 yrs and a few yrs ago brought stuff over from my parents house. Going to get rid of all the 'stuff' that was too good to throw out but broken and can be fixed. Never fixed so out it will go! Then will start on the rest...