downsizing

We all go through this little dilemma at times - when to get rid of some of the stuff we have accumulated over the years, sometimes unknowingly. Furniture is a big ticket item that costs a lot to move and takes up lots of space, so in my experience it is one of the first things to go when going through one of those downsizing phases. Although there's nothing quite like purchasing a new room's worth of furniture and seeing how it changes a room, there's also nothing quite like having less furniture to carry up and down the stairs when you are relocated.

In the small town in which I live, many of the homes are built on steeply sloped streets and as such, many are sold furnished. I can't imagine trying to load or unload furniture from these older Victorian homes. And I especially cannot imagine a large moving truck trying to navigate the streets.

When we sold our last home, we sold lots of furniture. We had purchased a very expensive high-end black leather home theater seating set, which consisted of sofa, loveseat, chair, and ottoman - each with matching chrome legs. It was very European styled and very plush and comfortable, but it was also very HUGE! There is no way that it would have fit into our current living room. In addition, it would have cost us quite a bit more to move it, too. Our moving van was nearly full. We would probably have had to rent a second van and pay twice the fuel fees.

Sometimes I wish we could have moved it with us. We tried to sell the whole set at a garage sale, and sold all but one piece - the chair, which we still have. Believe it or not, we almost made money off of it when we sold it used. Since nobody was interested in buying the entire set at a discount, we ended up selling each piece for more. It wasn't a bad deal when the smoke had cleared.

I'm starting to feel the bite of that downsizing bug once again, as I casually glance into our garage and storage areas of our home. Do we really need all of this stuff? Is it worth storing these items that me *may* one day find a use for, simply because we have the space to store it in?