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Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

I don’t think the songwriter was referring to houses, but I’m finding that “breaking up” a home is also extremely hard to do.
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Gradually over the last year, we’ve been preparing to move. For a move to another country, this means getting rid of things. A lot of things. I’ve never really had to whittle down so much before. In previous moves, even cross-country, we’ve been able to move everything. Not the case this time.

The first battle was emotional. Everything comes with memories attached. Furniture, pictures, books, clothes. . . they all have stories to tell, recollections to trigger.

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I’ve finally whittled my list of what I absolutely need to take with me to a manageable size, and now I’m stumbling over the logistics of paring down. Initially, I thought between eBay and Craigslist we could get rid of anything and everything. Wrong! In the midst of economic chaos here in the US, too many people are trying to downsize at the same time. EBay is drowning in listings, but not many people are bidding and buying. (More on this here.)

I’ve had good luck in the past with Craiglist for selling furniture and furnishings, but they’re suffering the same issues — too many listings, not enough buyers.

The other aspect of breaking up the household is getting the property ready to sell. We’ve done some routine tasks like repainting rooms.

We’re also in the midst of a major undertaking, namely, replacing the roof. This is something my husband decided to do himself, with the help of a part-time assistant. Because my husband has to work on the roof in addition to his job, it’s been dragging on for over a month now and he’s been more exhausted than I’ve ever seen him before. I’m hoping they’ll have it done in another week. . . or maybe two.

After the roof is finished, we have some landscaping tasks and some little niggly things to take care of inside.

Then, I suppose, we’ll have to get really serious about Craisglist, EBay, and other venues for selling the contents of the house.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to buy an upright piano, a very solid oak, lion claw dining table, or a bunch of Asian-themed decorations, let me know!


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Do you have any tips or recent experiences with downsizing you’d like to share? Click the Comment button below.

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  1. We moved abroad in 2005 and got rid of almost everything we had accumulated in 20 years of marriage. We left with a backpack each (my wife,four kids and myself)and left behind a 5’x5′ storage unit. It took us less than six weeks.

    We took pictures of things we liked before we sold or gave them away. Now, every once and awhile we will look at the pictures, smile and then close them. Way easier than storing the actual item!

    The relief I felt upon landing in Mexico with just a box and backpack per family member was one of the greatest feelings of my life. I was free!

  2. I’ve moved across oceans and continents a number of times and actually love getting rid of stuff! Once you get into the mindset of not wanting to be burdened by possessions it is really freeing, like Tom said above. (Hi Tom, fancy meeting youe here!)

    Yes it is difficult in the US to find a place for your possessions, but most of our moves were from poor country to poor country. This meant that we could give away anything and everything we didn’t sell to people who were happy to have it. That was always very satisfying.

    I’ve learned to appreciate experiences over possessions, but in our materialistic western culture, we’re taught to worship at the altar of the god of stuff.

    • Well, I’ve given up that worshiping at the altar of the god of stuff stuff, for sure. It’s just that getting rid of it is logistically not that easy unless we want to haul it all to the dump — which disturbs my environmental conscience.

  3. Just took a break from ‘sorting’ a houseful of ‘stuff’ prior to our move next week and logged on to twitter and found your link to this article – made me giggle and resolve to just get rid!

    I remember when we left our home in the UK 5 years ago, I loved the place once the packers had gone – we rent it out and so had furniture, bedding and kitchen stuff still there but the clutter of life had gone – fantastic – now I have a goal for this relocation!

    Struggling to part with the baby clothes and toys though….! A phase of life now truly over for us.

    • The baby clothes are hard to give up, for sure. . . so many memories. I still have one or two teeny little items from each of my infants’ wardrobes.