Decluttering the Homestead

As I've shared before, we are preparing for an interprovincial move and our current country home is for sale.  Our own recent house hunting experience taught us that it's difficult to see past clutter to assess a home's condition so we've been on a mission to seriously purge our home and property of items we won't be taking with us.

We moved into this house 6 years ago with 5 children in tow (from young adult down to kindergarten age).   Clothing, furniture and personal items for 7 people is TRULY a LOT of "stuff" (not to mention shop contents, gardening equipment, homeschool books/supplies, sports equipment and hobby items).   Oh my!  Fast forward just 6 years and two of our adult kids have moved out (with a third soon to follow).  We just don't need most of the stuff we had accumulated so it was time to get to work!

We began with a trailer, a LOT of boxes, a determined attitude and a heart of generosity.   Hubby tackled the garage and I began in the house.   We asked ourselves if every item we picked up was worth paying to move it.  Most often, the answer was no and what resulted was hundreds of items being given away, many items being sold and trailer loads sent to the dump (some things for disposal but a lot was able to be recycled).

Canning jars (all bought used for pennies or given to us via free cycle) and the second water bath canning pot

rebar (useful, but FAR too heavy to move!)

potting benches (again, useful, but too bulky and heavy to move)

We're selling our patio furniture because it's bulky and heavy (the table is stone and the chairs don't stack).  It's almost 10 years old, so it's not worth paying to move it (especially when the table is likely to crack on such a long journey).  

I could go on for pages....  trust me when I say that we got rid of a lot of stuff!   Through the purging process, fear and loss turned into strength and clarity.  Having a rural property often means more space to store things.  This can be a positive asset but also a huge negative if not kept in check!  Stuff starts taking over because it's easier to store something rather than make a decision to get rid of it through donation or a sale.

 Since we are facing extremely high moving costs (inter-provincial is always expensive), we must be very choosy about what we pack in order to keep costs as low as possible.  Most of our furniture is at or very near the end of its useful life span so it makes no sense to pay thousands of dollars to move it.  Key pieces of good quality/sentimental furniture will come, but the 10 year old, now extremely uncomfortable sofas will be sold (good riddance and yes, these are a fine example of getting what you pay for).   The 17 year old threadbare, ripped basement furniture will be taken to the dump (it served us well as our only furniture for many years).  We desperately need a new bed but will wait until after we relocate (why pay to move an old, uncomfortable mattress?).

I did some homework/research and have discovered that we can easily buy (used) what we need once we get to the new house.  It will take some time, but I enjoy the challenge and am happy to slowly poke through second hand shops and online ads to find furniture to replace items we won't be taking.  In a beautifully elegant realization last night (on the phone with my folks), my parents are downsizing in this venture, so they have extra furniture no longer needed.  We are happily "inheriting" some of their pieces, so it's a win/win all around.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about the specifics of purging, decluttering and storing "stuff" in the family home.  We have done a LOT of that over 25 years of raising a larger family....   From clothing, bikes, toys and sporting goods to furniture and equipment ~ we've seen it all and had it all!  Until then....