"Downsizing".

[JJReyes]

We downsized by selling or giving away everything.  The end result was two medium sized suitcases for travel and a 5' x 5' locker to store family memorabilia, photo albums, etc.  My advice is look for someone else to sell your collectibles because there is a lot of emotional attachment.  This means stress as potential buyers hurl insults about the quality and price, in hopes of getting discounts.  Paying a 20% commission was worth it.  

[Joey G]

On 9/23/2023 at 7:00 PM, MotorSarge said:

1, An album collection (vinyl 78s, long play) from the 60s, 70s, & 80s with many of the #1 stars of Rock, Country & Contemporary, a few still in plastic seal.

same problem here... just can't pull the plug to get rid of them.  I RARELY play them. Spotify is too easy.  I still have the Dishwasher I bought at the K-Bay Exchange in Hawaii in '78... and IT STILL looks in good condition!!!

[MotorSarge]

10 minutes ago, Joey G said:

same problem here... just can't pull the plug to get rid of them.  I RARELY play them. Spotify is too easy.  I still have the Dishwasher I bought at the K-Bay Exchange in Hawaii in '78... and IT STILL looks in good condition!!!

Yep, when I get down to the sentimental collections, they will go one way or another, I will not be held back by material possessions.

[MotorSarge]

2 hours ago, JJReyes said:

We downsized by selling or giving away everything.  The end result was two medium sized suitcases for travel and a 5' x 5' locker to store family memorabilia, photo albums, etc.  My advice is look for someone else to sell your collectibles because there is a lot of emotional attachment.  This means stress as potential buyers hurl insults about the quality and price, in hopes of getting discounts.  Paying a 20% commission was worth it.  

JJ, is that locker something you have/keep with you or a rental unit?

[Tellamugalie]

I have the most silly thing that I am having dramas approaching with respect to downsizing. I collected a series of comics over a few years just banged them in plastic bags with all the comic book protection stuff and it ended up being like 3 or 4 big plastic containers. I am dreading the dealing with that. It's worth a bit because it's a huge collection but part of me thinks I should just wack it all on Ebay as a package deal and forget it. Perhaps that agent idea might fit the bill.

My mid-life crisis car is my other stumbling block. covid bottomed out the market on its value but it's going up again .... eesh !!

[OnMyWay]

28 minutes ago, Tellamugalie said:

I have the most silly thing that I am having dramas approaching with respect to downsizing. I collected a series of comics over a few years just banged them in plastic bags with all the comic book protection stuff and it ended up being like 3 or 4 big plastic containers. I am dreading the dealing with that. It's worth a bit because it's a huge collection but part of me thinks I should just wack it all on Ebay as a package deal and forget it. Perhaps that agent idea might fit the bill.

My mid-life crisis car is my other stumbling block. covid bottomed out the market on its value but it's going up again .... eesh !!

Yes, and a lot of stuff that is collectible in your home country has no value in the Philippines.

I have been watching used car prices and they are still really high for many models.  Perhaps not so for yours?

[Tellamugalie]

Yeah ....nah.... my car is worth a good amount just not the highs of pre-covid .... sitting about 80k below the peak. Will most likely pick up but I don't want to hold onto it any more so I might need to just bite the bullet and sell.

My plan is 18 months till I move so I have a little wiggle room but if I'm being  pragmatic I would think I need about 5 years to really maximise the profits 

[hk blues]

2 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Yes, and a lot of stuff that is collectible in your home country has no value in the Philippines.

I have been watching used car prices and they are still really high for many models.  Perhaps not so for yours?

It's a funny thing about valuing 'stuff' here - when locals are selling their things they expect to get back close to what they paid (not hope, expect) yet when buying the opposite is true.  Now, we all know that this is typical bargaining strategy but here they actually expect top dollar regardless and often simply walk away without really negotiating.

We changed our fridge a month back and we gave the old one - mostly still working well enough - to our neighbour.  She didn't offer as much as a bottle of beer (she has a sari sari store)  and then asked for the ice box as it wasn't there (we used it in our new one which didn't have as good a one)! 

[OnMyWay]

On 9/24/2023 at 2:09 AM, MotorSarge said:

My biggest pending obstacle is the Ol Lady thinking that we can sell everything for about the same price as we paid for everything.

Tell me about it.  I think this is a Filipino thing.  We are downsizing again and have had multiple garage sales over the past weeks.  All the good stuff that has value she asks me to lookup the price we paid in my Microsoft Money and then prices things based on that original price.  She has sold over p20,000 worth of stuff but we have much more to go, and not much time.

When I moved to PH she flew over for a month to help me with downsizing.  I sold everything at bargain prices.  TVs, furniture, everything.  I ended up sending about 35 BB boxes and I wish I had sent less.  I have a lot of things from my travels that are good memories.  Now I am packing them again!

[hk blues]

Related - I read an article this morning on what they call Swedish Death Cleaning and apparently we should start doing this at age 47.  This means going through all your 'stuff' and start clearing it all away so that your children don't need to do it.  Most (if not all) of the stuff we cart around with us from place-to-place and never actually look at or use will end up in landfill before we are cold in the grave!