Well it turns out that we are only moving a handful of books so all 3 bookshelves need to find new homes! In addition to the books that left the house a lot more decorative items/gifted items left to find new homes too. We only kept about 20 books including cookbooks and a dictionary.
We also curbside donated the old white plastic patio furniture. Space is appearing in our home quickly. This is good as you want your home to look as spacious and light as possible to potential buyers.
We did decide to redo the main floor bathroom so that is on the to do list for sure.
I found a table cloth we don't use that will make an attractive crate cover. Much better than a striped beach towel!
While on vacation next week we will be driving by houses that are currently for rent in one of our targeted areas. We are slowly narrowing down where to look for housing in the huge Southern California area. I think it will help if we decide our new "jobs" are frequently spending time with and helping my FIL while our sons and DILs will be who we drive to see. After all the 4 of them work all week!
I am being sure to get receipts for all of our donated items and logging them into Itsdeductible.com
as this will be our highest income year for a while and maximizing our deductions just makes so much sense.
We have let parts of the yard get away from us the last couple of years which is easy to do with the crazy growing season we have here in the South. My husband started major pruning on Sunday. With a year to fill back in we can cut bushes quite a bit and know they will look great next Spring.
And of course there is ongoing maintenance as well as an upcoming vacation and then a family visit to keep us occupied.
Very good progress. Books are heavy. We moved boxes of books from Texas to Oregon for our son. I culled my personal library before we moved. Since living in Oregon I've gone almost totally digital for books. No more packing and moving books for us.
ReplyDeleteI agree! They are major dust collectors too so I won't miss them.
DeleteYou're so busy! But it's great that you're keeping on top of this challenge and not letting it "surprise" you next year at sale time.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I don't think we could do what we plan to do ourselves if we waited as DH is still working full time and we have all of our regular commitments and obligations.
DeleteYou can ship those 20 books by USPS Media Mail at a pretty cheap rate. Alot cheaper than paying to move it with your household goods. The heavy the box, the more money you save.
ReplyDeleteGood point although I have to find out how the PODS type container moving systems charge. I did learn that United/Mayflower moving company offers that now too and they will do the packing and/or loading.
DeleteI think you have a good plan for approaching moving.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am occasionally feeling overwhelmed or wondering if I have gotten rid of something I will miss but we are plodding on.
DeleteWe have been working on our downsizing move for about 5 months now. The house has now been sold and we have 2 weeks of intense work left to get out. Everything is going into storage, then we will have another big project when we get it back out.
ReplyDeleteWe did clean and organize and declutter like maniacs to get it ready to list. The house was extremely sparse and clean when the photographs were taken. We didn't stage anything, but have had to fix or change a few things as the sale went through.
We just found we have one more fix to do. Of all things, the appraiser didn't pass the fence. It has some paint peeling and chipping off and the buyers won't get their loan if we don't strip and paint that fence. So, you never know. Save some money for the end. We have had a few things like this come up.
Sounds like you are making great progress.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I am looking at the house with new eyes after being on vacation for almost 2 weeks.
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