Before you set sail, how did you eliminate all your STUFF?

[GaleWinds]

Like most couples who have been together a decade or two or so, we have a lot of STUFF and we want to leave it all (nearly all) behind to live aboard. We don't want to store more than a couple small tubs of sentimental items (baby/family pictures, that sort of thing) with family, because we do *not* want to pay storage unit fees! We will not maintain a permanent address anywhere. So that means we need to sell, toss, or give away probably 90% of our worldly possessions.



So for those of you who have already done this, how did you do it? Did you sell a good portion of your stuff? How? Especially if I loath garage sales? Can you make enough money to make it worth it to bother trying to list stuff on craigslist, ebay, etc.? Or did you find that such a hassle that you wish you'd just rented a dumpster instead?

[a64pilot]

I sold what was of value and would easily sell, gave away what I could and threw a bunch away.
However we still have stuff in storage, one day we may decide to toss it, but neither of us was willing to just toss all the good antique furniture etc. Our plan is to not die on the boat, one day we will come back ashore, that will happen likely faster than we think. Seems like yesterday I was 30.
You’ll likely find that your doing good to get 10 c on the dollar for stuff.
How much used stuff did you buy from random people selling it?
Me either. The market is just not that great for random stuff

[boatpoker]

1994 - Sold the house "as is" including cars, motorcycles and tractor in the barn, all furniture and paintings on the walls. Took clothes and family photographs and left. What a sense of freedom

[chris mac]

We are in the process now. Anything of value, like tools, sell easily on kijiji, Craig's list, whatever is big in your area. Furniture seems to hold little value so that will go to the kids, or the dump.
There are also charity garage sales which work well for items of some value that you don't have the patience to sell, but don't want to throw out. Donations like good will or salvation army are good too.
I'm with you on holding a garage sale, I find them annoying as well. Strangely, kijiji is fine. Lots of wasted emails, but I just don't take anything serious until someone actually shows up.
The tough part is selling what you can, but holding onto what you still need until it's time to go.
We started about 2 years out. So there is lots of time to be systematic, downsizing without hurting our day to day lives.
The acreage is up for sale as well. A lot of our stuff is for a larger house and yard, so moving to a small house, or rental allows us to sell off more stuff.
It's what works for us. You will find what works best for you.

[Bean Counter]

Years of accumulated junk went in to 7 dumpsters. We took 4 suitcases on a plane and moved onto the boat half way across the world. We left some memorabilia in a storage unit, but 3/4 of that could go now. In the 6 month lead up we sold everything possible on E Bay, musical instruments, old surfboards, kayaks, etc - gave furniture to charities that wanted it, and then the cars and small boats were sold on car and boat specialty web sites - no garage sale - not worth the hassle. Sometimes we would find people rummaging through the dumpster taking stuff - good luck to them.

[JPA Cate]

Galewind,

I think your OP contains your answer. However, just in case, some people hire someone to do the "garage sale" for them, for 10% or so of the profits. That might give you a little cash you weren't expecting. If it sounds like too much trouble, then, sell the easy stuff, donate what you can to charities; and then, take the rest to the dump. Most dumps nowadays, also recycle stuff. Just let it go. You'll keep what you need of your history in your mind, and the rest really won't matter.

When *it* is surplus to your needs, best to let someone else use *it*.

Ann

[Sojourner]

We're doing it in stages... after we got the boat, we downsized our apartment to something maybe half the size, and threw out bags and bags of things, and even that felt soooo great! When we move onto the boat in January, we'll have a storage unit for furniture and personal memorabilia and hopefully that's about it. Selling used things is great in the US, but here in Italy, ain't no such thing as 'pre-loved', and ain't nobody got time for my junk

[conachair]

Originally Posted by GaleWinds

So for those of you who have already done this, how did you do it? Did you sell a good portion of your stuff? How? Especially if I loath garage sales? Can you make enough money to make it worth it to bother trying to list stuff on craigslist, ebay, etc.? Or did you find that such a hassle that you wish you'd just rented a dumpster instead?

Ebay for the bits that seemed to make sense, lots to charity shops, given away to friends, down the dump..

One of the most liberating experiences of my life

Can't think any of it that I miss.

[RaymondR]

I've told the story of how I discovered a great aid-to-mindset on the forum a number of times before and as the frog philosopher Descartes advised it's often easier and more practical to change your mind when you can't change your circumstances.

To get yourself into the most advantageous mindset you need to perceive the disposal of the offending articles as "disencumbering" yourself of them.

[Steve Bean]

I use "Freecycle," to offer or request items.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

1994 - Sold the house "as is" including cars, motorcycles and tractor in the barn, all furniture and paintings on the walls. Took clothes and family photographs and left. What a sense of freedom

Same here in 1993. Came back in 1997 and started over on dirt living.
After being married for 27 years at that point, it seemed like being a newlywed because we had no furniture, cardboard boxes with a hunk of cloth for a table etc. It was fun buying new and used stuff with a clean slate for style !
To this day, there are only a couple minor things I wished we'd saved.

[a64pilot]

We did the hire someone to sell stuff.
They cherry picked the easy to sell items and that was about it. Less than 10% of total stuff to sell.

[belizesailor]

Hired someone to run my Mom's estate sale, commission only. She knew the local market and did great job. Big garage sale, local word of mouth and classified adds. Almost everything went fast. Rest went to GoodWill.

[sailorboy1]

I sold almost all my”stuff” in less than a month on Craigslist. I priced it cheap really and looked at it as people paying me money to hual away stuff I would have had to pay to take to he dump otherwise.

So much stuff people hang onto is worth very littl except in their minds.

[Nightcrawler]

Met in December '15. Bought Shangri-La in April '16 during which we got rid of two households and a vehicle. Moved on in May. Our 5x8 shed with what we thought was important - will be emptied this year. Sold the last vehicle in Sept '16. Consignment stores worked for us. They came and got the furniture, checks dribbled in over the next year. The rest was donated, sold at a garage sale or became early inheritances for the kids. It really is a mind set - we miss none of it.