Large home in Villages = 2000-2500 sq ft. on a slab. Large home in Pennsylvania = 5000-6000 sq ft on a full basement. So we're starting with trying to put 20 or 30 pounds of "stuff" into a 10 pound bag. As someone that just did that kind of downsizing, I can tell you that you have at least two more iterations of getting rid of stuff to go. tchotchke's (chotskies), books that look great is all those bookcases you have, boxes of stuff "for the kids", and sturdy furniture that has no place in Florida .. 75% needs to be left behind.. The day before the movers came, I filled up 1 3/4 16 foot step vans with my last pass of stuff that didnt make the cut. That was after selling stuff, trying to donate good furniture to Salvation Army (never again), etc and finding that furniture, no matter how good of condition its in, is of zero to little value.. the younger generation likes put together IKEA over Ethan Allen and THomasville. We had bought a turn key designer several years ago (2100 sf) and have decided to build in Monarch Grove (2900) later this year. So we still filled a 26 ft truck with stuff that will allegedly go into the new house. (i doubt it). so I secured a storage space at Extra Space Storage .. what appeared to be a monster space of 10x25 .. hired a company called ZIP Moving, and scheduled a 2 stop move. First to the storage facility, then to our existing house. Our final moving cost was about what we initially figured, but about 3K over their initial quote. Couldnt believe how many boxes we ended up with .. We must have enough towels and pillows to fill a small hotel. About half of the boxes we dropped off to the house have already been returned to the storage locker, which is now about 85% full .. and good luck getting to the back of that locker.. You've just built a new house .. probably your last one .. why pay to move furniture that will look out of place down here .. Leave it .. save money on the move, and put it towards making your new home look fresh and new with furnishings too .. you asked for Tips .. thats my opinion. See you at Everglades later this year
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