ye olde stuffe

At the start of my SLSR plan five years ago, one of the tasks was to minimize the belongings in my three-bedroom condo.  I had moved frequently and every move provided a forced downsizing—the six years I lived in the same apartment from 2006-2012 was the longest period I have EVER stayed in one location since moving out of my family home.  Despite all of those previous purges, I was surprised how much stuff I had to sort through before moving back to Nova Scotia in 2017.

BUT since moving back, there have been three more major purges (I shared the load with my brother and sister-in-law on the first two): 1) the storage unit with 50-years-worth-of-stuff-from-my-parents’-house, 2) old stuff still in the farmhouse that my maternal grandmother lived in for over 50 years, and 3) the storage unit in Ottawa full of stuff, including antique furniture, I’d left behind in 2006 when moving to WA.  We kept a small amount of family items (including a select collection for my niece) and sold some antiques, but donated most of the stuff.

For the past two summers, we’ve had a sale on the front lawn of the farmhouse as part of a community yard sale.  The evening before the sale last year, we remembered there might still be junk in the (stifling) walk-up attic and carried down load after sweaty load of trunks and other things.  MOMN sold items from their household, my brother managed larger items from the farmhouse, and I sold smaller antiques from my parents’ house.  This year, we’re not participating in the yard sale—I’m happy to report there’s just not much left of the old to cut loose.

Most of the larger items that didn’t sell in the yard sales (or I’ve since dragged out of the farmhouse) were plopped at the roadside and picked up before the garbage truck rolled by.  I have been particularly impressed by the strength of women of all ages to load large and/or heavy items, like a spindle headboard and footboard, single-handedly into their cars’ backseat.  I do a little dance when something is diverted from the landfill for reuse.

Selling to antique dealers has been a lesson in supply and demand.  Items that might have had value 10+ years ago won’t fetch much now.  In offloading the antiques (furniture, china, silver), my brother and I have joined our generation in flooding the market with our parents’ stuff.  Demand is limited and young people don’t want these old things (unless considered collectable vintage).

The $ from the family items that we sold in the yard sale and to dealers all went into my eight-year old niece’s RESP.  It’s a double gift for her future that makes me feel good: giving $ towards her education and not bestowing upon her all ye olde stuffe.

References and related links:

• SLSR: simpler living semi-retirement.
• MOMN: Mother of My Nieces, my sister-in-law.
• RESP: Registered Education Savings Plan.
• human : cup (post #25)
• heirloom (post #29)