[BRN_RI_FL]

Originally Posted by Duppa

It's an old story. Worked 30 years for the same company, planning for more years, but the boss had other ideas (that did not include me). I'm okay with that; I've had a severance offer on the table for six years and I've come to the point where I've accepted that I'm not really "god's gift" to the business... so, yesterday I took the offer, I turned the page. Now, TV. We've been coming to TV since 2012. Watched a TV commercial on Fox's Hannity, next thing we knew we were on the all-to-familar "life-style visit"... drinking TV cool-aid. After several years of renting, bought a "starter" home in 2016; been back and forth ever since... Now, TV's no longer a back and forth destination, it's going to be home. Next step? Another old story, thinning the massive accumulation of "stuff" to a respectable and reasonable TV size that fits our new TV life. That job looks to be daunting. It seems I can face (enjoy and settle into) a sunny Florida life, but "thinning" that accumulation of a life-time of stuff seems more than daunting; it feels absolutely paralyzing... If I did anything wrong in the past, it was certainly rooted in the madness of saving everything, and I mean everything... and I heaped curses on myself even more by having a Northern home with way-too-much storage space! While things are not "hoarder" looking, but now, I feel like I need "American Pickers" to thin my heard, but fear I'll only say "Not For Sale" to every offer... While I was perfectly happy to keep the stock-plie of everything, shifting back and forth from North to South, but now? For the first time in my life, it's where-to-start that stymies... It's not really things that matter, it's the memories attached to the things... You sit down with a box and suddenly you are transported to another time and place, to your younger self, your growing family, all too many Christmas's past... and then it hits you, and hits you hard; it's all too precious, how could I possibly separate the things from the memories? How could I let go of any of it? And now to you, oh wise and sage TVers... while I think I've got a handle on what may be the other two retirement "issues" (no longer working, leaving friends and family), I could really use, and welcome, any and all wisdoms on this "stuff" transition thing.

We recently purchased in The Villages but still have a place up north. I can’t offer any advice as we have some of the exact feelings that you have. We raised three kids in the same small house we had built in 1981. There are so many memories in our house it will be hard to let go of it but I know we eventually will have to. We also have accumulated so much stuff over the years. My wife has recently gone through boxes of our kids school papers that we saved. After 31 years I took an early retirement from Hasbro as I could see they really didn’t care if I stayed or left. Good luck on your transition. I think we’ll need a bit of that luck on ours also.