Stuff

We had “Stuff”! We decided to go full-timing and all of a sudden we were overloaded with it. The house is also included, so now it’s time to sell it. Whether you choose a realtor or do it yourself, get ready. This is not a quick process. You will want the best price for your house, so consult someone who will help you decide what needs painting and/or repair. What price you can consider, and what’s the bottom line you will accept for the house.

Your Stuff isn’t Gold

One of the first things to understand is that almost stuff can be replaced. What cannot be replaced, such as family pictures and artwork, can either be put in storage or on loan to your family. We started by calling our children and telling them to bring a U-Haul and take anything they wanted. After they did and we had taken out the few things that we considered non-replaceable, we scheduled 2 yard sales. This does take some time; you can usually get a yard sale kit from the local newspaper that will help you with the process. The most important thing to remember is that you are trying to get rid of everything, and price it accordingly. After the sale we contacted the Salvation Army to come and pick up anything that was left. This can be kind of hard to do, but there is only so much space in the RV for things that will be important. Choose wisely.

It’s a sad fact that some folks who want to enjoy the full-time experience don’t because they just can’t part with all their old belongings. If it is museum quality articles, consider a long term loan to a museum. If a yard sale isn’t your thing, Arrange for a broker to do an Estate sale or a Tag sale at either your home, or someplace else. Bare in mind that you will pa commission up to 30% to the sales broker.

Keep some of it?

If there is some stuff that you cannot get rid of, find a storage unit and rent it for a year. After that year go through all of this again and make a decision. We have friends that had 3 storage units and they returned every year trying to cut down what they had stored. Finally, after about 5 years they were able to get rid of everything that they didn’t need. Paying for storage units can be expensive, so really think about what you want to store. We made the decision to go the whole way and just sold everything we could.

What about the Cars?

Do you have two cars? One must go. If you choose a towable RV, they both have to go. They’re stuff too. You may also want to consider donating to your local church or charity. They will greatly appreciate whatever you can give. Since we bought a motor home, we knew we would be towing and we choose the newer car. We took our second car back to the dealership and they gave us a great price for it and that took care of that. We also had to modify the car with a transmission pump to make it towable with all four wheels down.  This decision was made because the car was already paid off and to buy a new towable car would cost a lot more money than the modification. Only you can decide what you want to do. Again choose wisely. The more money you have available to tour with will make your full-timing life more enjoyable.