Downsizing - 2 yrs and counting

[MilesandSmiles]

I'm two years and one day away from my planned retirement, and transitioning into full-timing. My wife and I realize that we've got a LOT of downsizing to do as we'll move from a 4 bedroom house to a Class A.

My questions are: How long did it take you to sort and get rid of stuff before going full-time? And, how did you get rid of your stuff? Estate sale? Auction? We're sure that we'll give much to charity, and put some in storage for our kids when they get out of college, but that leaves a lot to dispose of.

Please share your experiences -- and what you'd do differently!

[rekoj71]

Yard sale three weekend in a row. Just too much stuff. It worked but was a lot of work. Probably should have done the estate/auction style instead.

[2gypsies1]

We decided to full-time in May and took off with everything gone in August. Once we started it went fast and was a VERY good feeling.

Start a room at a time and put aside things you'll take along. You'll probably look at those piles a few times and still eliminate some things - especially kitchen stuff and clothes.

Then we asked the kids to take what they wanted. It was just a few things because they had their own 'stuff' and tastes.

Then we sold big items by advertisements.

Then the garage sale, Goodwill and finally the dump. What a relief!!

We never had a feeling later that "we should have kept.....". We had everything we needed in our RV.

Good luck in your new lifestyle. We thoroughly enjoyed our travels and volunteering for 16+ years.

[Old-Biscuit]

WE told family.....come get what you want NOW!

Then we told friends....come get what you what NOW!

Then we put the basics in our 5vr.
Then we put what we wanted to keep in our 5vr (being extremely conservative)
Then we put what we thought we might need in our 5vr.


THEN Estate Sale.....
Contacted auctioneer. He came out---we told him EVERYTHING goes. And we want it know that it leaves day of auction.
He advertised for 3 weeks prior to auction date.
Workers came out week prior and sorted/boxed items up into 'lots'
Day of auction 130 people showed up (out in the boonies of So. CAL. High Desert -----1 mile of dirt road to house from asphalt road)
Auction started at 9AM......5PM EVERYTHING was sold.

Some things went cheap...some things went for more......some for a lot more.
Auctioneers cut..25% (Advertising/sorting/boxing/handling sales/accounting)
Our cut...75% and we didn't do anything but sit back, watch and be entertained by folks bidding on our junk.

Easiest chunk of money I ever had placed in my hand.

[Artum_Snowbird]

I would think many ponder the question, and I ask for some clarification first.

It's stuff, but is this an experiment, have you spent months together in a small space before? How much are you willing to sell off now and say goodbye to forever, or will you want to store just to be sure?

Will you have a base somewhere, where some good things could be kept while the rig wanders, or will it only be what is inside the rig?

In any case, I think we would make a huge list of stuff first, then put a bunch of values to it. Some would come up as easy to dispose of, others would have sentimental value or perhaps just $$ value, and be more difficult.

If it's worth it for you to get maximum $$, then you have to spend the time on e-bay and other buy/sell sites, but if it's not, others might appreciate your charity.