Comments on: We’re downsizing our apartment!

By: Angie

Angie — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:58:53 +0000

Anne–Tag sales are easy and fun. Borrow some baby barricades or put “do not enter” signs on doors. Move all items you don’t want to sell into one room if possible. Advertise on Thursday for a Saturday sale. Don’t put your phone number in.

Hang any clothes you can. Try to weed out the spotted clothes unless they are large sizes–many smaller women wear these for “cleaning clothes”. Try not to go over $20 for any clothing items–only the best–and expect customers to try and get those for ten. Books in this area usually go for $2, unless it’s a coffee-table with large pictures. Decorator items, furniture, and power or cordless tools fetch highest prices. If you are a china bric-a-brac fan, you are not likely to fetch over 2-3 per item unless they are Hummel etc, in which case they probably belong on eBay. Tag everything and expect some people to switch tags or take the tag off.
There will be leftovers,unless a flea marketer comes by and offers a set price for them. Have fun!

By: Traci

Traci — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:45:00 +0000

My husband and I are moving from Northern Virginia to Colorado this month, and we are doing the same thing – only we are moving into a bigger apartment. We currently have a storage unit that we are paying $125 for. The only things we really need that are stored in there is an extra bed – everything else is junk. What a waste. We are getting rid of everything except things we use, need or love. It’s hard, because I keep coming back with, “Well, we might need it sometime?” When you consider only the things you use or need on a daily basis, it really isn’t much.

By: tony

tony — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:46:28 +0000

I just recently separated from my wife of 10 years. One of several reasons for our separation and soon divorced is she is a pack-rat. She is the sentimental types who holds on to her father’s stuff and his mother’s stuff. She has a storage unit that she pays $120 per month for the last 8 years. (About the the time her father passed away)Our house is full of stuff and pictures on every flat surface. I just moved into a 1 bedroom apartment and it took me one week to move a few items in. There will be no pictures on the wall. I have one picture of my 5-year old son on my shelve. My place is so empty you can hear the echo. I love it. So peaceful.

By: CyntheaD

CyntheaD — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:43:07 +0000

There must be something in the air. I am in the process of moving my office into my home, and find myself dealing with lots of “delayed decisions” aka clutter.
Not only items from the business (it’s been in the family for 35+ years), but all those “empty nest” items that have been lounging in the kid’s old bedrooms. Now it all has to be sorted, used or moved on. It’s exhausting but wonderfully liberating.

By: Jez

Jez — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:17:10 +0000

If you do want to use a computer program to help with layout, a real easy one is SketchUp. (now owned by Google and is free)

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:31:02 +0000

I *just* made this same decision. I’m moving from a teeny apartment to a bigger duplex unit. I also made the decision to shell out some of my savings to have both places for the whole month of June. My main reason for doing so was to be able to move without relying too much on others. My new place is between work and my current home, so I already drive past there twice a day. Stopping by the new place to drop off a box is a snap. I’m also trying to unpack as I go, so I can use fewer boxes. I hope you post more about your move as it is ongoing!

By: Nina

Nina — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:10:30 +0000

I moved 2 years ago for the first time after having lived in the same apartment for nearly 20years. I knew we were going to move a few months before we did and I am glad I had the time to really go trough everything, especially things with sentimental value can be tough to sort trough and I think it’s good you are also starting early.
I gave most of the things I didn’t need to charity and a bunch of things I threw away (we had a lot of broken things in the cellar to get rid of). In the end it was a kind of cleansing experience and now after living in the same place for 2 years I find myself getting rid of more things I don’t need. But I do agree that moving is a great motivation to finally sort trough all the stuff you accumulate over the years.

By: Cynthia Friedlob, The Thoughtful Consumer

Cynthia Friedlob, The Thoughtful Consumer — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:01:06 +0000

Love the overlapping leases! What a luxury to be able to leave behind the items that need to be sorted and not have to rush. Also gives you a great spot for a garage sale that’s not restricted to a garage, for eBay sales, and for one-stop charity pick-up of the items you’re donating.

Good luck with your move!

By: Helen

Helen — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:52:07 +0000

Chris Johnson – I envy your ability to pare down so much.

In two days, I’m moving to a much smaller place and have managed to ditch one third of my stuff so far. So more will have to go after the move. The reason? I don’t have a spare room any more to fill with wall-to-wall shelving and clutter. I’ve sold the shelves and have bought a single tall cabinet into which everything the spare room once contained must fit. This means that I have to keep to the one item in / one item out philosophy! And I’m rather looking forward to it. LOL

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:32:32 +0000

have a few questions?

What are you going to do with the stuff left?
A huge tag sale or estate sale?
I think I become overwhelmed with the getting it really gone out of my house…
perhaps due to being in Cali, and the rules of what Goodwill takes and how they take it drive me crazy…it’s all free take it!!!
I am truely interested and how you finish the declutter where it lands…and the clutter bug in me has a bit of desire to go thru it…ha ha

By: Simple Zack

Simple Zack — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:54:54 +0000

I agree with LivSimpl, some pictures would be awesome. I’m currently living in a small 4 room, 1 1/2 bath apartment alone. I don’t have anything to fill it and it will only be for a few months, but boy is it a lot of room for just me.

By: Cliff

Cliff — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:32:17 +0000

I’d highly suggest a “landing spot” in your new place (or in between new and old …) for things which will require dealing with. For instance, large furniture which you’re getting rid of, can’t simply sit n the old place. Someone has to come with a truck … and … and … so forth.

If I EVER have my own lifestyle, and own a small home, then I’m going to dedicate one room of it to the “EBay corner,” where things go in but only come out if they’re ready to be shipped away (to a buyer from the internet; to the donation brigade coming from Salvation Army or Goodwill; etc.).

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:19:54 +0000

We are considering a move to much smaller digs too. We have two walk-in closets in the master, so while we are trying to decide, we combined all our clothes into the smallest walk-in (because it’s the size of the closet in the new master should we decide to buy the condo.) I didn’t think it would work but it’s working out beautifully!

I envy your taking four weeks to move and think it’s a great idea!

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:51:23 +0000

oh yeah I forgot about the couch. We burned it like the horrible couch that it was. It was so therapeutic watching the most uncomfortable couch go up in flames. Don’t try this in major cities. We live in the Midwest and have lots of room. I recycled all the metal after for the green people out there. I can’t see it going to a better place and gets recycled what we can.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:48:00 +0000

Me and my soon to be wife (of 5 more days). Has decided to stay in our apartment. Unfortunately we have to downsize our stuff. All the while we are planning on starting a family but can’t at the moment. The problem is getting rid of the office for a kids room. So we have consolidated what we have.

The solution we moved the office to the dining room. The office was 1/2 of the library and the game room. The games got moved to the bedroom along with the TV. The Couch got swapped out for the futon from the office (more on that later). And then the books will go in more and better bookcases into the main library in the living room. The desk we are selling. It is an old school desk that the feet are cut off a little so we could fit into a door. We got a great desk from Ikea. The vika series with the customizable top and legs. Wow, we picked the glass top with the black round legs (don’t recommend because the legs are not for that vika top). I like the cluttered look on my desk but the surface is clean. I can see the clutter underneath. I am a firm belief that some clutter is not bad. But how can you work with clutter on everything. Someone once said that all the great thinkers had a cluttered desk but how can you work. With glass on top and easily accessiable stuff under the glass I have my semi cluttered desk and clean organized desk at the same time.

I had to redo the home network and all went fine. Now we are trying to organize for all this stuff from for the wedding before we got it. We got the things we needed or the things that were going to be replaced. And now everything is coming along great and just doing final planning. I think my soon to be wife want to write the vows now so talk to you more about everything later.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:55:32 +0000

I’ve never been a fan of overlapping leases beyond a couple of days myself. 1) You ought to prepare ahead of time and 2) when you’re rushed you’re a lot more likely to make better determinations about what it is you actually do need.

By: Ann - One Bag Nation

Ann - One Bag Nation — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:14:14 +0000

I can only hope that if we moved, we’d be sensible enough to toss a lot of stuff!

At the moment, though, I’m focused on clearing the way (literally and figuratively) for more enjoyable and efficient use of this house, starting with my horrible basement.

By: Kathy@brazoscowgirl

Kathy@brazoscowgirl — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:59:46 +0000

Moving forces you to part with clutter. As a child I went to six grade schools, my parents could pack up the entire house in a few days. It would take me a month or more because I haven’t moved. You will not miss what you think is clutter at this location.

By: Adrienne

Adrienne — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:13:43 +0000

Your post really rang a bell with me. It is exactly what I wish I did when buying my condo…..allow me to explain. My girlfriend and I agreed long ago that if we moved again the leases would overlap by 1 month to give us time to get rid of a bunch of stuff that we no longer need, want, or use. Well, that plan went up in smoke…..we decided one Saturday morning to look at a few condos and townhouses in the area to see what was available. At the end of a 4 hour trek through 8 different places I found myself signing preliminary paperwork to purchase a condo that we fell in love with. The only problem was that we had 1 week to pack up our old stuff in preparation for the move (due to a previously planned overseas trip during the remaining escrow period). Needless to say ALL of our stuff got packed and we still haven’t gone through the boxes (2 years later) in our ‘new home’. It is time to work on this issue once and for all as it causes too much stress.

By: Adam Fortuna

Adam Fortuna — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:36:39 +0000

There are a lot of ways of planning out furniture for a new place, but the one I’ve always stuck with is old fashion graph paper. You make cutouts of all the rooms in graph paper, and scale representations of your furniture, then it’s simple to move things around and rotate them all you want. I’ve tried quite a few programs for this, but nothing compares with graph paper — and once you have the furniture cutouts you can use them at a new place if you move again once you have room dimensions.