My mom-in-law passed away and we are moving into her house. She lived there for 45 yrs with all the accumulation that goes with it and then some, along with a lot of antiques. I dont know what is worth keeping or not and need to make room for our "stuff" too. Unfortunately have had bad expiriences having people come into our home to help with identifying pieces worth keeping. I just dont know where to start to make space for our "stuff" since she was (like me) a "pack rat". We really need to get a move on this and stop dragging our feet. There is so much in the house that we are overwhelmed and we really dont know where to start. We have at least donated the clothing and gotten rid of perishables. Any suggestions on how to proceed with the cleaning out of the house enough to make room for our belongings?
2007-03-20 06:59:07 · 3 answers · asked by btrflydrm2 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Other - Home & Garden
Rent a storage space then start moving the "not sure" stuff into that until you can get it appraised. You can do the same for your stuff too. Then start one room at a time. See what looks good together and get that room set up the way you like it. After that repeat the process. With the exception of the antiques, I look at my things and try to think of the last time I used them. If it has been over a year...OUT they go. Don't throw them away. Donate them and get receipts. Many agencies will come straight to your door and pick up the donations. To quote a recent television program "How bad do you need it? How much do you use it? How much can you sell it for?"
Good Luck!
2007-03-20 07:19:47 · answer #1 · answered by Alchemist 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would say start by deciding what u defenitley wanna keep and what u think u can part with. If you have a lot of things that are nice and maybe even worth some money I'd say have a yard sale or maybe even an auction. Are there any family members that might like to have any of the items you decide to part with. Theres no reason to keep everythig and be too cluttered. Maybe you could take the money you make for home improvements or put in a college fund for children.
2007-03-20 07:10:06 · answer #2 · answered by kerijo7 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We did something similar. It took seven dumpsters just to empty her 1 bedroom apartment, and our house still had generations of stuff. We hired a contractor to demolish and haul away the detached garage with everything we didn't want in it. Then we built an addition to the house. The antiques we kept, the junk we didn't. We had an auction to handle such things as a complete set of Life magazines. I hated to part with them, but they took up enough space for a car.
2007-03-20 07:15:04 · answer #3 · answered by Duane R-H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋