All the recipes are online. I never use a cookbook anymore.

You seem to have given a lot of thought to this. Why would you seek advise from others who do not know you or what you have. I had and have a lot of STUFF. I held 6-7 garage sales, reminder I had a lot of stuff. My typical garage sale I made 2-4,000 a day. I sold several hundred items on ebay. Some sold for shocking amounts of money, far more than what people will pay at a garage sale. It is far more difficult to do now as you must collect and pay TAX. Metals I took to a recycling place. I had many spools of wire, if, I recall scrap o copper was around 2.00 a pound.

Assuming you have STUFF with value that you don't want you can hire a prof? to price it and sell it for you. They will take roughly 1/3 but you will get 2/3rd more than the nothing that goodwill will give you. Tax deductions? Today under the new tax code fewer people itemize so tax deductions are worthless.

We bought new furniture when we bought our house. We brought somethings from home but we still have our northern home. If we ever get to a point where we can sell it we are bringing our new bedroom set, our select number mattress, a few wall hangings and photos/paperwork etc. everything else will be fair game for the kids and anyone else that wants anything. A couple items might go up to our camp. We will keep the car and drive down. We will need need to decide about my truck and second camper. One of the things my wife loves about our Florida home is there is no clutter and we need to keep it that way. Good luck and enjoy.

This is key, i love our FLA house does not have clutter

Can’t imagine getting rid of books, of any kind. I still have all my books, including my college text books as well as all my notebooks. Got rid of all the old furniture.

Sounds about right to me.

Sounds like a good plan. I brought wayyyy too much cold weather clothes but had a hard time getting rid of some. After this first winter I will see what I wear and what I don’t.

We brought only our bed and a high top table, just beware that furniture still has a long lead time to get in some instances so be prepared to be sitting on the floor.

Welcome and good luck!

Just curious, why do you keep old books? Do you plan on reading them again? Great if you want to keep them for decorative purposes but otherwise I think they feel like clutter. I have been using the library a lot since moving here.

Definitely agree that an estate sale prior to Goodwill a good idea.

Agree. Books require place to store which requires space that could be better used. My wife has a very extensive library on her iPad.

Just a thought…..there are several consignment and thrift stores that have furniture. We bought a few pieces to use while waiting for newly ordered furniture to arrive. Once the new furniture was delivered, the other furniture was either consigned or donated back.

Good planning. I live alone. When I moved here, I brought CDs, DVDs, books, about 50 paintings, one chair, two 4x8’ bookcases, musical instruments, some tools and kitchen things. I bought a 1600 sq ft house, furnished, with dining for six and a pool. I thought I’d be throwing dinner parties. That didn’t happen. I thought family would visit. That didn’t happen, either. So, I’m downsizing to a 1200 sq ft courtyard villa. No room for the very nice furniture that came with this house, so I’m leaving it behind and cutting down to a new Queen-size bed, a day bed, a couple arm chairs, a dining table for two. Cutting and cutting. There still isn’t enough room.

Bear in mind that if you are buying a 1200 sq ft courtyard villa, it’s not much bigger than an apartment in a retirement center. You can’t take much there. You’d might as well get into the habit now. If you aren’t outgoing and a great entertainer, you’ll be lucky to have one person come over at a time. I’m involved with various musical activities and have some acquaintances, but we meet at the activities. Many thousands of people here live pretty solitary lives, especially if they are single, divorced, or widowed. I still love it here, though.

However hard your downsizing effort seems to you… YOU’RE STILL BRINGING TOO MUCH STUFF!

Even a relatively small storage unit here will cost you $100 a month.

On a related note: I urge you to consider another organization for donating. Please read below about the alternatives, which do much, much more good than Goodwill. The very best organizations are at the end.

THINK BEFORE YOU DONATE!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU MAKE
CONTRIBUTIONS: As you open your pockets to do a good thing and make yourself feel good, please keep the following facts in mind:

The American Red Cross
President and CEO Marsha J. Evans' salary for the year was $651,957
plus expenses

MARCH OF DIMES
It is called the March of Dimes because only a dime for every 1 dollar is given to the
needy.

The United Way
President Brian Gallagher receives a $375,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits.

UNICEF
CEO Caryl M. Stern receives $1,200,000 per year (100k per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE. Less than 5 cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause.

GOODWILL
CEO and owner Mark Curran profits $2.3 million a year. Goodwill is a very catchy name for his business. You donate to his business and then he sells the items for PROFIT. He pays nothing for his products and pays his workers minimum wage! Nice Guy. $0.00 goes to help anyone!
Stop giving to this man.

Instead, give it to ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

GO "GREEN" AND
PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE IT WILL DO SOME GOOD:

The Salvation Army Commissioner,Todd Bassett receives a small salary of only $13,000 per year(plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization. 96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.

The American Legion National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Disabled American Veterans National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Military Order of PurpleHearts National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Vietnam Veterans Association National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

Make a Wish: For children's last wishes. 100% goes to funding trips or special wishes for a dying child.

St. Jude Research Hospital. 100% goes towards funding and helping Children with Cancer who have no insurance and cannot afford to pay.

Ronald McDonald Houses. All monies go to running the houses for parents who have critically ill Children in the hospital. 100% goes to housing and feeding the families.

Lions Club International. 100% OF DONATIONS GO TO HELP THE BLIND, BUY HEARING AIDES, SUPPORT MEDICAL MISSIONS AROUND THE WORLD.THEIR LATEST UNDERTAKING

We enjoy 25 to 30 people at our courtyard villa ,large parties on the birdcage and patio ,sometimes 10 to 15 inside in bad weather. 4 to 6 for dinners .we built our home to entertain as a vacation home, works perfectly.