[tbsoccer]

My wife and I just finished our second Preview Week (a week last July and a week this August). A special thanks to all of the TOTV contributors and residents for all of their helpful advise but I still have one question - What to do with our current belongings.

We will buying a home smaller than ours in Pittsburgh, it will be a single story instead of two (with a basement), a much smaller yard (won't need the riding tractor and all of the tools in my shed) and the weather will be warmer. Would you suggest turning all of the furniture, tools and stuff over to an auctioneer for an estate or moving sale? Hold garage sale? Move the essentials in a POD and donate the remainder to charity? Or sell or give away the left overs after we get to TV?

Based on your recommendations, I think we will lease in TV for a few months before buying. We're interested in the previously owned homes but it doesn't make much sense to look at them on these preview vacations. Through our visits and this chat room, we comfortable with the this new life style.

[jojo]

I think most of us who have moved to TV have gone through the downsizing process. Our experience is recent. We hired a tag sale team - they came in and worked for a week to mark things and conduct the tag sale. They had a following of people which also helped. The tag sale people recommended an auction group who then came in and took what did not sell to auction and/or donation. They were a turnkey operation - they brought three vans - one was for auction/donation, one for clean-out and one for Florida. They then drove the van to FL with those possessions we decided to move. The auction team set everything up in our new house when we moved in. I was travelling and working up until the tag sale day. We were going to do the PODS but finding a local mover saved us 50% of the cost of the PODS.

[SW908]

When my wife and I moved here two years ago, we sold almost all of our furniture before me moved. We tried an auction service, but we didn't have enough (or expensive enough) stuff for them to take it on. We sold most (including a 2000 Camaro) over the internet--Craig's List and Live Deal.

And once we were here and had other stuff to sell, we used Bargains and Treasures consignment stores. Very painless. What wasn't furniture and didn't sell, we donated.

[graciegirl]

If you haven't sold on ebay this may be your time to start. You need a decent digital camera.

I have sold a lot of things on ebay, including used curtains and a bathtub that we removed while renovating our master bath.

It was a built in ordinary jacuzzi and it was 18 years old. Built in ...in that it had a tiled surround. I took pictures of it before and after the tile and walls were removed and told the absolute truth, It was 18 years old and we don't bathe much......(Whoa now, we do shower ;D) I put it up because we needed someone to simply take it away. I listed it for ten dollars and local pick up only. Now listen to this.........It sold for $350, there were 32 bidders, and someone from 150 miles away bought it.

After that when I changed things in my house I would list the curtains and pictures and vases and candlesticks and I have sold almost every one. AND the more honest you ae to point out nicks and repaired places and tell the truth of an items age, the better they sell.

[JohnN]

Our plan is:
1-take what we want to a much smaller place
2-put a few things aside for the kids
3-charity

[downeaster]

Moving to The Villages was our fourth downsize. Our most dramatic was when she, a widow, married me, a widower, and we combined two fully furnished homes.
We gave some to kids but they were not as interested as we thought they would be. We had yard sales with moderate success. We sold some items by advertising, auto, lawn tractor, boat, dinning room set, etc. When we got here we still had too much so more garage sales and Bargains and Treasures ( a local consignment store).The rest went to Goodwill and Salvation Army.

DC

[njgranny]

Gracie,

I sold quite a bit of stuff on E-bay before; but, lately nothing I've put up has sold. Congrats to you for selling the bathtub.

My brother made his living selling on E-Bay, and he was always very honest about what he was selling. I think people do appreciate it.

I want to have my TV house light and bright.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by njgranny

Gracie,

I sold quite a bit of stuff on E-bay before; but, lately nothing I've put up has sold. Congrats to you for selling the bathtub.

My brother made his living selling on E-Bay, and he was always very honest about what he was selling. I think people do appreciate it.

I want to have my TV house light and bright.

Jan.

I just can't wait until we all get down there together. I bet your house will be a dream.

I haven't sold nearly as much in my ebay business, which is little girls dancewear this year back to school as years past. The economy is really down.

But it keeps me busy at least for two or three months, keeps me out of bars and puts some dough in the grandkids college fund.

I really enjoy it.


gg

[rshoffer]

We used an auctioneer who came to our Pa. home and hauled EVERYTHING away and sold it at his auctionhouse. We also used huge trash dumpsters to throw things out. We gave to charity boxes and boxes of clothing. We thought we were in great shape prior to our move into our Camillia. After all, we only had "boxes", a few pieces of fitness equipment, some bicycles to move. WRONG! I had no idea how much "stuff' we still transported (by Allied) and how much space we still needed. Now we regret not having a golf cart garage (we have 2 cars). Your challenge is ... just when you think you've downsized to the bare bones, downsize some more. You are doing a VERY smart thing by leasing first.

[faithfulfrank]

We are on a three year plan to get rid of almost everything before we move down there for good.
I'm bringing my tools, my Mac, some pictures, and my wife.......not listed in order of importance..... ;D

Our Florida home is already furnished, so I do not want to bring much.

The saying, "How do you eat an elephant?...One bite at a time" fits here. I'm selling things on ebay, on Craigslist, and having a yearly garage sale as we pare down. I already have people begging for my snowblower, etc. (big 13 hp. Ariens Professional model.....overpowered is generally adequate )

This paring down will help sell the house, and be quite liberating. My 3 boys will take stuff. They used to tease me about having over a dozen different power drills....now they realize they all will get some, it seems to be ok.....

One shelf a day, one drawer a day......we'll get there. We've always been organized, so it isn't bad, but we have a big house, going from almost a 4000 sq ft home to one less then 1/2 that size will take commitment. They call them possessions, not because we own them, but perhaps because they own us........
1035 days to go !

Frank D.

[rshoffer]

Originally Posted by faithfulfrank

We are on a three year plan to get rid of almost everything before we move down there for good.
I'm bringing my tools, my Mac, some pictures, and my wife.......not listed in order of importance..... ;D

Our Florida home is already furnished, so I do not want to bring much.

The saying, "How do you eat an elephant?...One bite at a time" fits here. I'm selling things on ebay, on Craigslist, and having a yearly garage sale as we pare down. I already have people begging for my snowblower, etc. (big 13 hp. Ariens Professional model.....overpowered is generally adequate )

This paring down will help sell the house, and be quite liberating. My 3 boys will take stuff. They used to tease me about having over a dozen different power drills....now they realize they all will get some, it seems to be ok.....

One shelf a day, one drawer a day......we'll get there. We've always been organized, so it isn't bad, but we have a big house, going from almost a 4000 sq ft home to one less then 1/2 that size will take commitment. They call them possessions, not because we own them, but perhaps because they own us........
1035 days to go !

Frank D.

We had to do it on a "3 month plan" when our house sold the day after we asked for a market analysis. A very stressful 3 months. Just remember.... no basement and essentially no attic... if you can get by with one car you'll save a ton of space.

[fizzbyn]

I just packed 78 boxes of "stuff I can live without basically forever". All that's left are the things we need, the furniture and the decorations. I guess I didn't do such a good job of downsizing after all. Hope it all fits in the new, smaller house. :