Moving to a TINY HOUSE (condo). How does one go about DOWNSIZING????

[NYC_SKP]

Sorry for the caps but I am frustrated!

I'm trying to move from a 950 sf house with outbuildings to 450 sf with only 81 sf of storage.

The current outbuildings are filled with a lot of valuable or useful materials, most of which (by volume) I'd give away.

But I don't want to throw them away. I would have a yard sale, have done it before, and the nearest Goodwill that got the bulk of my last purge has closed.

I'm happy to give away agricultural and industrial items to local museums, and I'm happy to give away scientific and other goods to science teachers, but it still leaves me with nobody to help do it.

Other than Estate Sale liquidators and Organizing consultants, what strategies or services or assistance can be found to help me handle the mess?

I don't mind parting with it, but the mere labor and movement and such just freezes me.

Has anyone else gone through this kind of thing?

TIA

[grahamhgreen]

1. Anything you haven't used in a year you don't need.

[NYC_SKP]

2. I like that one, I definitely use it with clothing. It's harder with tools.

I may not use a soldering iron annually but I have several, so need to keep one, I guess.

In any event, that's a great tip, thanks!

[cbayer]

3. I took what I really wanted and could fit in my car.

I told my kids and friends and other family to go in and take everything they wanted.

I told them that they could either have a yard sale or call Good will.

I haven't regretted a moment.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Well yeah! I love you and your life, trying to copycat, frankly.

And I moved twice from NY to CA and everything I owned fit into a pickup truck with camper shell.

However, in the 34 years since I returned, I've had 3-4 different careers and accumulated a lot of tools and examples of work, mostly flat work and prototypes, which could fit back into a truck probably.

My need is for labor and sales strategies: do I take pics of my lathes and hand tools and antiques, etc, and sell on eBay? Go to the depressing flea market with this shit, or what????

Like I said, I think, you don't own property, your property owns you.



But for my personal creations, many of which I can just record digitally, I don't need to keep very much and all of the furniture in this house is free shit, except the little oak desk I'm at now that I bought on the sidewalk on 3rd Ave or the Bowery as a student. It's small and awesome.

What I need is a SERVICE like students with an organizing angle to whom I'm happy to give 50%.

Ideas?

[cbayer]

5. So what do you want to do with all those tools and examples of work?

Store them with the intent of pulling them out at some point?

Display them so you can look at them now?

If you are not sure whether you will eventually need them or when you might need them, maybe put them in a pod or other storage facility.

If you want to sell them, then I can't help you, except to suggest that you find someone interested in doing this and give them a commission.

It's hard to do, but well worth it to just walk away.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Digitally archive flat work, donate most of the tools

Selection is not so hard, finding physical helpers is harder

[cbayer]

7. Is there a school nearby?

Or how about Craigs List?

[NYC_SKP]

8. I'm thinking craigslist, and you know me and schools.

I have a van load each to give to my favorite two teachers, or three if you count girlfriend.

I would like to see, for the rest of it, if there is such a thing as an estate buyer who would come over and remove everything.

Craigslist for 500 items means a lot of calls and downtime and meeting people who might not show up.

I'm thinking better some kind of one-day sale with lots of Craigslist and other listings, but even that sounds tough after surgery and on a homesite with no parking.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. Why are you opposed to estate liquidators?

If you would be overwhelmed by the work involved, and you have things of value, this would be the way I would go. They get a commission, you get something out of it, and since you said that you would be willing to give away most of it, I see this as a win/win.

When I moved, I did a little of everything. I had a yard sale and a few friends helped me with that. What was left, I donated to charity. This was before Craig's List or eBay or FreeCycle, or I would have used those resources as well.

[NYC_SKP]

10. I spoke with three firms last year with my parent's estate, only one was available.

And they kind of screwed us in selling things that weren't authorized, removing and replacing other goods, but I won't write off the idea.

One problem is a lack of parking, they typically work one weekend, but everyone needs to park someplace.

It's work a try, I'm thinking about it and wondering if any services exist that would take it all off site to sell, just to have more time for prep and better presentation.

Thanks!

[Curmudgeoness]

11. We do have firms that take it off site here.

These firms are auction houses, and they clear out everything and put it in their auctions. I am sure that the commissions are higher for this service, but what do you have to lose? And since you have some experience with them, you will know what to watch for. You may have to sort through everything ahead of time to get what you are keeping so that they don't take it.

We also have people who buy up estates and take it all, I think they have stalls at flea markets and antique stores, etc. I do know that these people pay very little, but they do take it all.

[NYC_SKP]

12. The going rate for our locals was 40%, they sell everything and get rid of the rest.

And it's worth it.

If not for the parking restrictions, I would take what I want plus a few precious things I prefer to sell online, and put all that in a secure spot and have them sell the rest.

An auction house that removes things would probably take the cream, but that might be worth it to do in advance of an ordinary estate sale onsite.

Thanks.

[Curmudgeoness]

13. Auction houses "want" the cream

but they have to take the whole bucket of milk to get that cream. Most of the auctions in this area have different sorts of buyers and sell the crap in boxes full of junk. Usually, the flea market and perpetual yard sale crowd buys the junk. Not that it matters to you if they will take it all.

[hunter]

14. If you are me, you stuff it all in a storage place...

... and then discover it's easier to pay the bill every month for a long, long time than it is to sort all the stuff out.

Don't do that.

Some communities have awesome recycling facilities like this:

http://www.mrwmd.org/programs-services/last-chance-merchantile

It's a blast to visit, and odd stuff that lands there does find a home. I bought my current laptop there for $10, and a couple of film cameras that were unobtainium to me when I was a kid.

In our family inherited crap ends up on my brother's small farm. He has a huge metal shed and a bunch of shipping containers. But he also gets a thrill selling stuff, even if it's stuff that belonged to our great-something-grandparents. Frustratingly, most in our family hear our ancestor's voices in our heads scolding us not to let their stuff go.

My parents fled the family burden of stuff (leaving it with us kids) to live simple in a tropical rain forest. They drink and bathe in water that falls on their roof and they eat food from the local market.

[NYC_SKP]

17. Thanks for that link. We don't have that but we do have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore

And I can bring a lot of hardware and furniture there.

[WhiteTara]

15. I hire help when I need it.

If you live in a city, go to Home Depot and there is always someone who is looking for work.

[NYC_SKP]

16. Thanks, one needs to find help with the lifting and moving, etc.

The sorting and selecting is a bit tougher!

[WhiteTara]

18. Yes, well only you can know what to keep

and what to get rid of! And yep, it's the hard part. I know, I'm there too! Our place is much too big for me to take care of anymore, but the idea of the work it will take to move makes me just sit right down.

[IrishAyes]

19. To a certain degree I've been through similar.

Went from a huge house on a ranch in AZ to a merely big house in the Midwest. But then I had the added incentive of trying to stay alive when it turned out my cash buyer was a drug dealer who tried to force me out early because he wanted to move in wayyyy before my time was up. He started telephoning and harrassing me, even drove up and down the road waving a shotgun out his vehicle window. I put a no trespassing sign on the gate so I could shoot him if it came to that.

Everything possible went wrong. I'd been packing for weeks but on moving day we had to load the van with that fool driving by and watching us. Made things very nerve wracking. We'd dragged everything out in the yard because we didn't know exactly how much could be crammed in the Penske, and I'd promised my friends anything left over. But they were in such a hurry to leave that we simply took what wouldn't fit in the van and made a nice little bonfire. Even the volunteer fire department didn't show up for that one because everyone knew the situation.

From what I heard later, the buyer didn't exactly thrive. The Hells Angels HQ was less than a mile from the ranch. They didn't appreciate competition or the way that nutjob riled everybody around. People like that have a way of disappearing. He also got hit by a severe flash flood because he tore down the berms that slowed ingress and egress on the property. For some odd reason he wanted to be able to do that rapidly at will. I pretty much figured if the law didn't get him, the HA's would soon enough.

Anyway, instead of paralysis, I wound up downsizing in a frenzy!

[NYC_SKP]

20. Wow, I'm glad you got out of that alive!

It's amazing how nutty people can be.

There's a lot I'll be giving away, but even that takes effort in sorting through it.

I'm not particularly interested in selling the valuable things if there are friends or even strangers who can use the useful things they can have them.

Your bonfire ending reminds me of my uncle John who, upon hearing me say "look Uncle John, there's a Victorian house downtown that's free to anyone willing to move it" replied, "I'll move it. I'll move it with a match."