One of the challenges of purging items for our future full timing life, is making sure we purge enough and do not get rid of things we will need later. It's not going to be an easy task.
I think part of the reason we have so much stuff to purge, is because we didn't get rid of things during the years, for fear we may need them someday. Isn't it always the way it is, once you get rid of something, you find you need it?
Yesterday when we were shopping and I was carrying my big heavy purse, I wondered about my nice small lightweight little leather shopping purse? When we got home, I looked and looked for it, but couldn't find it anywhere. I guess it's gone. I think I must have taken it to Goodwill. Wonder if I can go to their store and buy it back?
So guess what I was doing this morning? Yep, looking on Ebay for a new purse! Of course I couldn't find one quite like I wanted. Oh well, I guess it's not the end of the world.
Al is headed back to Tampa for a few days, so my plans for this week are:
1. keep the house clean and ready for a showing since he won't be here to help.
2. go through the kitchen and sort some things to take to the garage sale. I have to make some decisions on which cookware I'll keep, as well as bowls, etc. I have a lot of cast iron that I definitely use and want, but it's so heavy. I'll have to purge some of it, I guess.
We have sold a lot of stuff at our weekly garage sales, but now it's time to start weeding out things that I am actually still using occasionally. This will be the hard part. Do I still need my blender? Can I take it with me in the motor home? I do like frozen margaritas, so maybe I ought to find a place for it? Will it fit?
Should I go ahead and empty out the freezer and try to sell it? It certainly won't be coming with us and we actually have a small freezer for the motor home. It may take us years to sell the house and do I want to be without my freezer? Do I sell it now when I have the time to hold out for a fair price, or use it until the house sells and hope I can sell it quickly?
I have some of the old style corning ware that I like and use occasionally. I want to get some of the new lighter weight corning ware, so maybe I need to purge the old stuff? Or should I wait until the house sells?
What about dishes? I use Corelle and have a set for the rv and the house. Should I sell it now and divy up my home set between the house and motor home?
Whew...there are a lot of things to think about and actually do before you start living full time in your rv. I know others have done all this and we can too, but wow, it's going to be tough! Lots to think about!
I think our 2 1/2 month trip to Florida this winter will help us make some decisions about what we really need long term and what we have room for. The motor home is currently stocked well enough for long camping trips, but not for living full time. I guess it will be a good practice run.
In the meantime, the purging needs to continue and decisions have to be made. We don't have any children to give stuff to, so we really have to make some tough decisions. There will be some sentimental family items that will have a new home in one of my Mom's closets. She just doesn't know it yet :)
Our goal is when the house sells, to quickly get rid of anything remaining that we don't need, and just leave.
However, realistically, we're wondering if that will be possible. There are things we won't sell before the house sells and closes, like the lawnmower and golf cart. We can sell all the furniture, and just live on the property in the motor home, but sure don't want to sell the lawnmower and then have the deal on the house fall through and be here needing to go buy a new mower! So, we decided, worse case scenario, if we still haven't sold everything, we can rent a storage facility and hang around this area until it's all sold. I don't want to leave Georgia with a storage building full of stuff. It's even possible we could rent our Rv pad from the new owner and possibly even the garage, which is not attached to the house. Sounds like a plan, huh?
Well, anyway, that is my plan for the week. Let's see how much I actually get done.
Gee, maybe purge the blender and buy a magic bullet? smaller? Or maybe one of those blender sticks, but hmmm, can they handle ice? Or maybe get used to margueritas on the rocks? Ha. I so remember this purging thing. Even though I am not full time, I still retired and moved to a shared home and went through this last year. It's hard. Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteLots of decisions to make for sure. One is interesting - renting an RV pad from the new buyer? Personally, after selling a house, I think I'd want to get as far away as possible just on the chance that something might go wrong - like a leaky roof etc. Just think of the complaints you'd have to listen too! Just my thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI guess the big question is do I need to "sell" something or can I just donate or trash it?
ReplyDeleteI've been looking around at some of our things and thinking about how it has given us good service and value for a number of years. Maybe I don't need the few dimes on the dollar it might bring in a sale.
I was wondering about the golf cart and lawn mower.
When we moved from a country house in Wisconsin to a suburban home in Texas we sold our riding mower-snow-blower to the buyer of the house. They needed it for the property. We had also gotten a "back-up" bid from a neighbor. He would buy it if our new owner didn't.
I think Craig would like to try to sell his very expensive audio system to the new buyer of this place, but I highly doubt it would work out very well.
What about maintenance while you are gone for 2 months? Will Al pop back from time to time to check on the place?
Rick,
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're right. Not a good idea to rent the rv pad. If necessary, we'll just go to a campground nearby.
Malone,
Yes, such a decision with the blender huh? I do have the magic stick and it won't crush ice, and I do like Margaritas on the rocks too!
Rick,
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're right. Not a good idea to rent the rv pad. If necessary, we'll just go to a campground nearby.
Malone,
Yes, such a decision with the blender huh? I do have the magic stick and it won't crush ice, and I do like Margaritas on the rocks too!
I would make a list of the big things that could be bought by the new homeowner..and have it available for the realtor to tell the clients. That is what a friend did..freezers, lawn mower..weed eater..hoses...wheelbarrow..bar-b-que pit...and some other stuff. The new homeowners bought all the stuff. Much cheaper for them than buying new..good for you ..you can keep it till the last minute.
ReplyDeleteNever ever live on the property afterwards...they will drive you crazy with problems.Experience talking here! lol
Cindy and Walker
Decision..decisions... I remember this stage very well. I did keep my blender. It was an item that I was not sure about. It has been used it a lot.
ReplyDeleteI also kept four wine glasses and did not really want to drink out of plastic. I have not used them at all. I'm sue there are folks that use them all the time.
We plan on going through everything again soon. Goodwill knows us by name!
There are sure to be some things you give away or sell that later on you wished you had kept...and vice versa. Just know it's part of the process and a bit of a learning curve.
Oh I remember those days well. We kept a lot of furniture to the last minute and then the buyer wrote a lot of it into the contract. She wanted it but didn't want to "pay" for it. Of course you might find a buyer willing to pay for stuff in addition to the purchase price of the house. We left the pool furniture, gas grill, and garage refrigerator as a selling point. In hindsight we should have had buyers lined up for them when the house sold.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing we have bought that we should have kept is Roger's grinder (I have no clue what he uses that for),a cutting board, a beach towel (only because I couldn't find the 3 I kept...and later found).
After a year I plan to get rid of a large cooking pot, a George Foreman grill, some glasses and coffee mugs, wire dog exercise pen, two skillets, 4 cameras. I brought too many clothes, but as I wear some of them out I'll toss them and not buy anything to replace them.
We thought about asking the house buyer if we could rent our RV parking pad when we returned to TN, but decided that would be a BAD decision.
We lined up a buyer for a golf cart prior to selling the house and that worked out well. We were going to sell our very nice riding mower to our son...but he ended up getting it for free, oh well.
ReplyDeleteIf I were you I would start usuing up everything in your freezer and start getting use to just using the smaller freezer in your fridge. It will get you in practice for the smaller freezer in the RV then.
ReplyDeleteWhen we sold our house, we too sold the house along with a number of items that the new owner wanted. If they don't want them, then usually you will still have some time before you have to be out of the house in order to get rid of some of the bigger items.
Again for the cooking pots, pans and dishes, try getting use to using what you think you might use in the motorhome for a few weeks and then you will have a better idea of want to take and what to leave behind.
Kevin and Ruth
www.travelwithkevinandruth.com