Downsizing is really emotional

dannim12345

My parents said here is a pile of your stuff, pick it up or it’s going to the tip so I sorted it out! I do live in the same city. 

Maybe focus on one room at a time. Gumtree or Facebook is good for getting rid of stuff. Charity shops are another option.  If good condition somebody will take it for free I find. 

julicorn

Lots of good advice here already regarding the children and also 'exit strategies'. 

On the emotional side, it possibly sounds a little silly, but there are some good self-help books that help you let go of things, and make you understand why and how it's sometimes such an emotional process. 'The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo is one that was hugely popular a few years ago, and while there's certainly some Japanese / Shinto based 'woo' in there, I have to admit it that reading it was very helpful and really changed my attitude towards the things I have. It's a quick read too, and you should be able to get it from any library or as a second hand book (getting rid of the book is virtually part of the process, haha!). 

london21

It can be emotional but take it one step at a time.

Get the kids to come and take what they want and can put stuff online for people to take such as Facebook marketplace, freecycle, gumtree etc.

Downsizing will require getting rid of things you do not need or want anymore.

will be hard at first but will get easier and less clutter in your new home.

pinkteapot

Facebook marketplace is good to give away / sell stuff cheap, BUT you have to deal with zillions of messages. For a large quantity of stuff I'd do a sort of garage sale. Put it all outside the house on a nice day and advertise on Marketplace that the stuff is there for anyone to take (advertise day before if poss, with a few pics of the piles of stuff so people get an idea). 

Doing a car boot sale is a good way to get rid of a whole carload of stuff and make a couple of hundred quid from it. 

British Heart Foundation do furniture collections. 

Charity shop runs for the rest - but phone and warn if you're going to be turning up with a whole carload of stuff. 

We downsized our stuff in most of these ways before doing a long-distance relocation and actually we don't really miss any of it. 

wilfred30

RobM99 said:

Recoreds are in demand - depending what they are. An ad' in the local newsagent will do the trick!

My SiL has got rather a big collection of vinyl LPs and they are, apparently, worth a lot of money.

There is currently a listing on Ebay of The Beatles Please Please Me Black Gold Stereo LP for £6,714.40   

youth_leader

I was in a 264 sq m house and now in a 100 sq m bungalow, I completely understand.  I had enough bedding to open a hotel, and probably 2000 books that I had to give away.  I do still have four boxes of my 29 year old son's stuff, but he's still in a rental, I hope he takes them when he buys his own home.  My daughter was ruthless and I just have one box of her things, and her violin.

Make methodical lists of your possessions,  and as you dispose of items photograph them.  I'm still looking for two station signs I can't remember rehoming in the blur of decluttering. 

quotememiserable

All you need to do is call a local auction house that does house clearance sales - a great many do. They'll sell pretty much anything, definitely including your records.

tooldle

We mainly used Freecycle, Gumtree and Charity shops. Books we slowly disposed of via the 'book table' at work.
Surplus tools etc went to friends and colleagues. Some furniture went to a local church (supporting refugees)
Some things we simply broke up and burnt. 
It took an awful lot of time. We moved from a large 4 bed period house with double garage, to a very small 1970's 3 bed bungalow with single garage. We started downsizing our possession about a year before we moved. 

NeverTooLate

We found that renting a storage unit was invaluable.

First we had a small unit and just put stuff in that we'd 'decluttered' from the house to make it more saleable.
Then when it sold, we tackled the loft - very big job. Be ruthless and throw away/give away the rubbish (old fridge door anyone?!), anything you're unsure of, put in storage.

Finally, when we actually moved we got a larger storage unit as we were going to renovate the new home and couldn't fit in all the furniture.

Then when you have moved, you can go through the stuff in the storage unit in your own time and it won't be so overwhelming.
You need to be very thorough about labelling boxes, and cos I'm a geek I also had a spreadsheet of where everything went. Photos of what's in boxes helps too.

Agree with all the other posters, give the kids a deadline or you chuck it.

Good luck!

diystarter7

When we downsized, it hurt but we gave a lot of the stuff away, 12 seater dining table to one of our kids, we had a hardly used 3-2-1 sofa set up in a spare room, one of of our relatives wanted the 2 and 3 seater so we left the single-seater that looked brand new on the drive with a message on a sunny day, taken away within a few hours as well as some large pictures and rugs Clothing went to chairty. spare beds etc advertised for a quid but could have for free, first come first served - it all went quickly and it hurt but we felt good it went to decent homes/people most of what we know. There were several hi-fi sytems, again via ebay at very low prices, all was for collection only on a weekend - we were pleased that people were going to make use of it - several parents came around and it was stuff for their kids starting out in a new home and they were really pleased as items were clean, smell free and very good.  What I am saying, by doing that it took some of the hurt away and easier to part with stuff. I'm glad we did as must of the stuff was just sitting around the house and really would not have fit in with the more modern house we live in - the older house was victorian and new one built in the late 50's.