Need Help From Other Women

[Time2Go]

Scan all your photographs and all important papers
to a USB drive and a few DVD backups
and take it with you
If you go the storage route
take pictures of the contents of each box
and label everything with cross reference
makes getting rid of them later much easier
Cheers
Neil

[conchaway]

Put your stuff in secure storage for a year or two. By then, you may have had enough and go back to living on shore. If not, then you can have someone sell it for you.

[hamburking]

Give your collections to family, relatives, or friends. But you may find out that no one values these items except you.

No offence, but you own the stuff...don't let the stuff own you. Give away, donate, or sell. Storage is a waste. You are just putting off the hard decisions.

Recently I had some big life changes. Suddenly all the crap in my house did not mean a thing to me. What matters to me are the people in my life, our shared experiences, and our memories. All the rest is just accumulated crap. I'm selling or giving away everything I don't absolutely need. I can always buy more crap, but I can't buy more life.

Have you ever gone through the possesions of a dead relative? Its highly educational...all the special items they hung on to mostly go into the trash...nobody wants them. Choose a few special items and ditch the rest. I recently sold a huge collection of family tea cups for next to nothing. The ladies in my family collected these for decades. But they mean nothing and have no value at all. I can always buy a new teacup if I need one...and I think I never will.

What I value are the tools I need to maintain my boat and my bike. A couple momentos from past generations. Its all just stuff. Don't let the stuff weigh you down. You can buy more scrapbooking stuff when the time comes you need it again. Give the ornaments to your kids...they'll keep them in a box for 50 years then throw them out.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Give your collections to family, relatives, or friends. But you may find out that no one values these items except you.

No offence, but you own the stuff...don't let the stuff own you. Give away, donate, or sell. Storage is a waste. You are just putting off the hard decisions.

Recently I had some big life changes. Suddenly all the crap in my house did not mean a thing to me. What matters to me are the people in my life, our shared experiences, and our memories. All the rest is just accumulated crap. I'm selling or giving away everything I don't absolutely need. I can always buy more crap, but I can't buy more life.

Have you ever gone through the possesions of a dead relative? Its highly educational...all the special items they hung on to mostly go into the trash...nobody wants them. Choose a few special items and ditch the rest. I recently sold a huge collection of family tea cups for next to nothing. The ladies in my family collected these for decades. But they mean nothing and have no value at all. I can always buy a new teacup if I need one...and I think I never will.

What I value are the tools I need to maintain my boat and my bike. A couple momentos from past generations. Its all just stuff. Don't let the stuff weigh you down. You can buy more scrapbooking stuff when the time comes you need it again. Give the ornaments to your kids...they'll keep them in a box for 50 years then throw them out.

Hi, again, katherine,

The implications of what I put in bold are, for me, that unless someone dear to you wants them, it is far, far better to even GIVE them to a charity like Salvation Army, St. Vincent, or Goodwill, where someone will choose them for their merits, and enjoy them as long as they are able. Mainly doctors don't shop at charity shops, but are able to buy nice stuff for scrapbooking. Don't assume someone less fortunate wouldn't love a scrapbooking bonanza, or a wonderful electric train or Christmas ornaments.

Speaking only for myself, but I really think re-cycling our possessions through charities solves a problem in a positive way, and it's easier than selling it.

Ann

[Lambretta]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Give your collections to family, relatives, or friends. But you may find out that no one values these items except you.

No offence, but you own the stuff...don't let the stuff own you. Give away, donate, or sell. Storage is a waste. You are just putting off the hard decisions.

Recently I had some big life changes. Suddenly all the crap in my house did not mean a thing to me. What matters to me are the people in my life, our shared experiences, and our memories. All the rest is just accumulated crap. I'm selling or giving away everything I don't absolutely need. I can always buy more crap, but I can't buy more life.

Have you ever gone through the possesions of a dead relative? Its highly educational...all the special items they hung on to mostly go into the trash...nobody wants them. Choose a few special items and ditch the rest. I recently sold a huge collection of family tea cups for next to nothing. The ladies in my family collected these for decades. But they mean nothing and have no value at all. I can always buy a new teacup if I need one...and I think I never will.

What I value are the tools I need to maintain my boat and my bike. A couple momentos from past generations. Its all just stuff. Don't let the stuff weigh you down. You can buy more scrapbooking stuff when the time comes you need it again. Give the ornaments to your kids...they'll keep them in a box for 50 years then throw them out.

This is excellent advice
IMHO
But each to their own

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by drkatherine1

I am getting ready to sell my home and move aboard with my honey. I have amassed a number of collections over my 62 years. I need help with two of them. I have a large scrapbooking material collection. Anyone else have similar? How do I downsize it and store it so I can work on completing pages? The next collection I have is a huge Christmas collection. I have over 500 vintage and collectable ornaments. I guess my 1940s train will need to be sold We are moving onto a 47 foot Beneteau. I just need some guidance

Lots of good insights have been posted on this thread. I, too, have surpisingly found that possessions I thought I could not do without have not been missed, although at the time it was hard to let go or leave behind items that were of sentimental value. If you are finding a clean break traumatic, particularly with the thought that you will want certain items again when you return to a shore based life, one option is to temporarily store objects you cannot bear to part with and deal with them at a later date. This does involve time and money, but I bet you will find that after some time on the water that they are not missed and you will be able to easily part with them then. The cost may be worthwhile if it minimising the difficulty involved in parting with them right now.

Ann Cate's suggestion of keeping a few favourite small items on board is an excellent one. I, too, have a very small plastic watertight container (similar to a Lock & Lock) with a few old Christmas decorations, some from childhood, wrapped in bubble wrap).

Also, consider that a scrapbook does not have to be composed of a hard copy. Photograph all the items you have. You can then cut and paste the photos and create a paperless version of a scrapbook. There are even apps available for this. There are huge advantages to "going paperless": savings of weight, space, and no worries about trying to prevent damage from moisture and mould and insects. It is also very easy to then work on the scrapbook anywhere anytime, and in addition share the scrapbook with other family members. Nowadays, a hard copy is less likely to be preserved well for future generations or even kept at all.

SWL

[ArmyDaveNY]

I would only add that you may want to add some desiccant or other moisture absorbing material in with your items. In particular the trains. Good luck with your move!

[Nani Kai]

A wise friend changed my life when he told me "Possessions are tools. Use them to build your life, not become your life." I humbly suggest considering how you might enhance someone else's life by selling or giving away some things, keeping a few, small precious items, and letting go of everything you can replace at a later date. Store the scrapbooks off the boat, lose the scrapbook materials. Take one or two Pendletons on board, donate the rest. You will make someone very happy. Cruising is Freedom. Be Free.

[flblowfish]

Originally Posted by drkatherine1

I am getting ready to sell my home and move aboard with my honey. I have amassed a number of collections over my 62 years. I need help with two of them. I have a large scrapbooking material collection. Anyone else have similar? How do I downsize it and store it so I can work on completing pages? The next collection I have is a huge Christmas collection. I have over 500 vintage and collectable ornaments. I guess my 1940s train will need to be sold We are moving onto a 47 foot Beneteau. I just need some guidance

Katherine:

I have been steadily downsizing over the last 7-8 years. I finally let the lease go on my condo and put a few pieces of large, irreplaceable furniture, my dads Christmas train, grandmas mink coat and family photos into a quality climate controlled storage facility. I've been back to the unit several times over the last year and haven't found anything chewed on or dead bugs in anything.

As for the scrapbooking, if you have the space, use plastic storage bins with locking lids. Keep silica gel packets in each one and change them out frequently.

I like to cross stitch and will be keeping my current "project" in a sailors duffel bag (recommended by the Boat Galley.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

[LoudMusic]

I don't think you have to give up on scrapbooking, but it certainly won't be the same on the boat.

I'd look into what others are doing for things like sewing hobbies. I'm sure that group of people have figured out some stuff for their machines and storing bulk amounts of fabrics, threads, and adornments. I realize it's not the same as scrapbooking but surely has some similar challenges.

One thing I found super useful many years ago with my Lego collection was to use an "under the bed" storage container. They're typically shallow and wide which helped spread out the parts without making a mess all over the floor. I wonder if some similar kind of containers could be useful for spreading out the various accoutrement of scrapbook knicknack.

https://www.containerstore.com/s/und...&q=under%20bed

[JPA Cate]

Tackle boxes are good for sorting groups of small items, too. Search out all plastic, metal bits will go corroded and nasty.

Ann

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Tackle boxes are good for sorting groups of small items, too. Search out all plastic, metal bits will go corroded and nasty.

Ann

That's a good point. I have several of the Stanley Professional Organisers in both regular and deep versions, but not the "FatMax" style. They were very reasonably priced on Amazon and do great for sorting ... ermm ... Lego bricks I'm sure they'd be great for other crafts. I intend to sell/bag/store the Lego stuff and transition them to boat spare parts containers when the time comes.

[zeehag]

back in 1990 when i first moved on board i sent all my antiques to my sister.
i sent my momma my jewelry.
as my family has longevity issues--ie--we donot die, those items are safe for posterity.
aint movin back to land, never ever. so.
for my scrubsets and other stuff, i rented a storage unit in 1996 or so, and kept it..hahaha my gonna keep it a year..hahahahaha for 10 yrs or so,.. 1999 to 2011. in 2011 i decided scrubs went to neighbor, the rest filled a dumpster. hot dog..good diving for someone.
figure out what you in reality will use over a years time. winter stuff and summer stuff.
it is always winter when night sailing, even in tropics.
then dumpster the rest.