We've been trying to sell our house for a year now and it finally happened! My husband took a job in Phoenix 18 years ago and while we have made many friends, I admit I've never gotten used to the heat, the cactus and the scorpions. So now comes the overwhelming job of packing up a 4500 sq ft house with 18 years of accumulation!
As you know I'm a "collector"
( I prefer that term to "hoarder").
It's been a challenge to decide what to part with and what to keep. I've never read Marie Kondo's best seller The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up but I've heard enough about it to understand the basics. Her philosophy of keeping the things that bring you joy and getting rid of things that no longer serve a purpose for you (but might to someone else) is very helpful.
My best advice regarding prepping for a move is to start early! I thought I had done a pretty good job of decluttering the house and staging it to sell, but now that I am actually packing boxes I realize I have way too much stuff. I don't need dozens upon dozens of Sharpies, pens, pencils, paper clips, old photo frames, duplicate snapshots, 3 sets of measuring cups, 8 dozen mason jars, etc.
You all have drawers like this, right?
Our move is complicated by the fact that we'll be living in our vacation cottage while we build our new dream home so most of our belongings will go into long term storage.
Three years ago we built our dream vacation cottage in the charming village of Midway up in the Utah mountains. We liked it so much that we decided to move there full time.
The cottage is little smaller than we would like so the next step is to build this...
And off we go!
I like to join these parties
I'm curious as to why you need so much space. Is it your love of antiques and needing space for your business? Do more than just you and your husband live there? We own an 1800 s.f. ranch with a one-car garage, and we think we have one too many rooms, so we could work with 1700. We use the master as our craft space. We are kind of stuffed in there, but we make due. We just need to make more stuff! Before we moved here, we pared down quite a bit. We had to bring it with us, because we needed a better location for a garage sale. We moved here about a year and a half ago. We still have items in boxes, because we weren't sure what kind of decor this house could use from the old houses. We need to paint the living room, then I can open those boxes. Then, we'll have another garage sale to get rid of the rest. Then, just maybe, I'll set up a wood shop! So, I'm just curious about your need for space.
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