The Weekend Pundit and his lovely Fiancee are getting ready to combine their households - moving to a new place entirely in the process. I'll bet a bunch of people can feel their pain at having to pare down what they keep and what they discard.
This is the first place we have ever lived at for more than 3 years (or was it 4). At none of the other places were we doing well financially, so we never collected a bunch of stuff (except my books of course and I got rid of about 1/2 of them when we moved to the Northeast). We moved here the smallest U-Haul box truck - the room mostly needed because we brought our 6' long deep freeze, and easy chair and a couch with us (all of them very used). The rest of the stuff probably would have fit in the back of WS's old Ford truck.
We have been in this house 16 years and at the same time done better financially. Naturally that means we have collected a bunch of crap. We have pretty much decided that if we ever sell this place, we are selling it lock, stock and barrel. The buyers will have to get rid of all their stuff because we aren't taking ours.
I like that plan, Bogie. I've been worrying about where I could store all the kitchen equipment, books, and quilting fabric and accessories in a smaller house. I wouldn't mind leaving everything else except the oak table, the trestle table, and the family antiques. How nice it would be to start all over in a new home!
Posted by: Buffy | March 20, 2005 at 09:51 PM
Susie & Doug, the friends with whom Bogie, Dudette, and I flew the grand canyon, did that when they left Wichita in about 1979. I still have a couple of tea towels, somewhere, that came from them. I think that the pots/pans that they gave me have all been given away.
The woman from whom I bought a house in 1977 took her living room couch and chairs (left the coffee table--which I still use in my bedroom as a bench), took one plate, one cup, one saucer, one glass, and one set of flatware with her when she moved into an assisted living facility (at age 54!--Too late she realized her mistake.) I bought her dining room table and chairs (Hunky Husband took it to Philadelphia with him in 1991, Bogie got it in 1993, and she just got rid of it a couple of years ago), her bedroom set (think that it went to Bogie in about 1985-1986 and the bed has been disposed of, at least), her garage-full of tools and Boy Scout tents (most has been sold in garage sales along the way--I still have some of the tools), and her kitchen full of dishes/appliances/etc (I still have a few casseroles and bowls--the stove was sold with the house in 2002--the other appliances were replaced by 1980). In addition, there were boxes of stuff up in the attic--including a trunk with her wedding suit and her husband's Air Force uniform and flight logs. She said that she wanted none of the stuff from the trunk and that I should just dispose of it. I got word to her former husband that he could have the trunk and contents if he would come pick it up (which he did). It would be tough for me to throw all of this stuff out! (HH is worse than I am!)
Posted by: Cop Car | March 21, 2005 at 07:56 AM
Cop Car - I had forgotten that your house came "complete" when you bought it. The bed wasn't disposed of, it was a casualty of one of our moves (the short move of 13 miles did it in). We still have the rest of the set though.
Posted by: bogie | March 22, 2005 at 04:32 AM