My father is sorting items in his huge houses, 2 of them, to sell, give away or dump as a hopefully previous step to downsizing, which took me to think about how much stuff of my childhood sits there wasting space, stuff I could try to sell or give away, because after my parents die I don’t plan to move back there: I’ve made my life elsewhere and down there there are no decent jobs.
The items: A huge collection of 300 or so music CDs and 50 vinyl records I bought between ages 15 and 25 of my favorite bands back then. I don’t believe I’d get even 2 bucks a piece, not even for the vinyls (no special editions), my library with 250 or so books I bought and received as presents during my childhood, including a complete encyclopedia, clothes that are already too small for my physique.
I moved out 10 years ago and I’ve rarely visited. Those items are more something I remember than something I need: I digitized the music library years ago, the books I like I can get online or I already have them, I could save some clothes that fit and toss the rest, I could also use my old bed and study table, because those things are actually useful. I don’t even have a CD or a vinyl player (my father does).
I know that stuff is only stuff and when I die, it will all remain here on earth and most probably be sold or destroyed, but I I just can’t bring myself to throw them away, even though I know it’s the logical choice as a previous step to sell that old house.
Moving the stuff in with me makes me a hoarder, so no. Plus I don’t have that much space. And what would I move the stuff in with me for? It would sit there in boxes wasting space.
What worked for you?
I used to be super sentimental and a bit of hoarder, but when my parents split and were talking about selling the house I had to start getting rid of stuff. It was hard at first, but got easier over time.
First I got rid of junk in bad shape. Then I started donating stuff in good shape I would never use or display again. Then I got rid of stuff I hadn’t used or wanted to use in a very long time. Then I got rid of stuff that I had used or would want to use again that I thought I could easily replace. Throughout the process I would put aside anything I struggled to put in a garbage bag or donation box. When I finally had to go through that stuff, I had been desensitized to getting rid of sentimental things and got rid of more than half of it.
Now, all my stuff would fit in one moving truck. All I really kept were: books, games and consoles, records and my player, tools, some useful tech stuff, camping gear, instruments, some plushies, probably like a tenth of my clothes, a couple basic furniture items, and only a box worth of small sentimental items.