Some advice to my friends out there who are approaching senior-citizenship

[Contrary1]

Make your final move while you are still agile and physically up to it. We are getting there, but it has been so hard.

Get rid of your junk as you go along...don't hoard it for 40 years as we have. Makes it so hard to part with. Most of it is better off forgotten. (Like the leather mini-skirt that fit me back in '72)

We are back and forth. My kitties, all 6 of them are still at the old place. Doing a 50 mile round trip daily, until we have a place for them ready in the barn.

Hoping I can trap the female feral (who I suspect is the mother of 4 of the 6 mentioned above.) She is cage-smart. I've been feeding her for 12+ years. Her longevity is very rare with ferals. I don't think she will survive, if I can't bring her along. Wish me luck.

If I'm not online in the next couple weeks...Happy Whatever to all of you!!!

[Enthusiast]

1. This is some excellent advice, Contrary1.

Too late!

Unfortunately we have used our 40 years accumulating life's detritus. I am not up to carrying much of anything. I told my wife years ago we should abide by the rule, "Never bring anything into the house unless you remove an equal amount of "stuff" from the house." It isn't working.

Good luck with the move and happy holidays and stuff.

[formercia]

2. Funny you should mention this

I've been working on this very issue for a while now. It's amazing how much stuff one can collect. I guess it's partially because, not having much income, we tend to pick up things at yard sales that might come in handy some Day, and it just piles-up over time.
Perhaps it's why most wealthy folks have sparse furnishings and little clutter. If they need something, they just buy it or have someone make it for them.

[No Elephants]

5. My older sister shops that way. She has a four bedroom place and about 4 storage units.

She thinks she is a bargain hunter.

The last time I helped her move, I saw--wait for it--unused PAPER coasters that I remembered seeing when she was a newlywed. And that is just one example. Some of the dinnerware that she bought while on her honeymoon is still wrapped in the original papers it was first packed in to ship to her.

I tried to tell her that, even spending a dollar on each item means a thousand dollars for a thousand items. Not to mention the moving costs and storage costs and human costs she has expended on all this over her lifetime.

However, denial seems to be her middle name.

[No Elephants]

3. Deleted.

[No Elephants]

4. Remembering the leather mini skirt is fun, but a photo will suffice.

And, once you de-clutter, you will have more time to look through old photos.


Thanks for the good wishes, Contrary1/ Happy whatever to you too and good luck with the ferals.

On the bright side, you have accomplished a lot of the move already, so you should be very proud. And, as you said, you are getting there.

And just think how easy with will be once you have "de-accessioned."

Nothing like starting a new year with a lot less clutter, as you are about to do.

I have never witnessed it, but, supposedly, on New Year's Eve in Italy "out with old" is done very literally and people throw old furniture and other things out of windows. And my former partner used to purge his files and desk drawer every New Year's Eve before leaving the office. Good tradition!

Also, think of it this way. Your accumulated stuff is, in a way, a tribute to your longevity and that of your marriage, and to your life in general.

People who are homeless or who live in tiny apartments don't get to accumulate a lot of stuff. Or a lot of nice memories about leather mini-skirts. And people who get divorced and need to sell their homes in order to sort out the financial part of their divorces generally have to both de-clutter and down-size at that time.

So, kudos to you, your marriage and to all you have accomplished toward this move.

Blessings.