BootsnAll Travel Community

How do you decide what to keep? I'm planning on going on a 4 year-decade long trip and I keep waivering back and forth between 'what will I NEED desperately when I come back' and 'it'll be rubbish in 4-10 years and I could get good money for it now'. Other than a couple boxes of sentimental stuff, I can't decide on what to do with the rest.
Perhaps I should just sale it all and 'hide' some 're-establishment' money in an acct that I don't have easy access to. Ideas?

I have the same issue...I have a full one bedroom apartment. Even though I have a roommate...99% of the stuff is mine..everything.3 couches, armoir, full bedroom set, dining set, kitchen stuff. I'm trying mentally to figure what to keep in storage and what she can keep for me and what I can sell. I won't be gone for 4 years but maybe 1 or 2..or I don;t know what is ahead.

Four to ten years?!? After that amount of time you'll forget you even own the stuff. Unless you can find free and secure storage just be ruthless and sell it all.

One good rule of thumb is "If you haven't worn it/used it in the last six months (or 1 year), why do you still have it?"

I think Madhu's earlier, up-thread suggestion of seizing this as a "de-accumulation", "de-clutter" opportunity is spot on. Moving is always a great time to get rid of stuff that you really have to ask yourself the above question about. Be your own accumulation police & grill yourself on why you still have this, or why you still NEED that.

For the U.S., I'd have a pad of paper handy & record everything you donate, & every expense you incur...as, depending on your tax set-up, moving expenses and non-cash charitable contributions come in really handy at tax time.

I'd get a small stash of paper plates/cups/sporks to live on for a week or two so you can have your kitchen crap packed away.

I'm hoping my mom or other relative can store my bed and maybe a few other things. If it can't be stored for free by a friend or relative, than it's just not worth it. (I am in love with my bed though!)
On a happy note, I did pick up a new backpack today! No way I can pack up a 3 bedroom house into a 55L pack though!

Also, keep in mind after 4 years, your bed may not be in the condition it is when you leave - esp. if stored on it's side, etc. Since I'm moving now i've been thinking a lot on this same subject - can i really get rid of my favorite household items like paintings, etc?? I really don't think i can. I'm fine w/ selling the bed, couch, furniture etc, but it's gonna be really hard to get rid of the books, paintings, etc. I think i'm gonna have to find a way to store. Eventually i'll have to come back and it would be really hard to replace that stuff.
I've come to a great decision - If you can replace it easily on craigslist then sell it, donate it or chuck it. If not, then hold onto it.

I am now at the serious end of dealing with this issue and it's hard! We have two weeks until we go and haven't really started packing. We have been selling/giving away a lot of things, but I'm still not sure if we are storing too much or getting rid of too much. We won't have any storage costs (thanks to the in-laws who have an enormous shed in the outback), but just because we can store more doesn't mean we should (a bit like packing a backpack).

One thing we are doing is putting all the money we're making from selling our stuff aside so we can rebuy the essentials when we get back - so far that's about $2000 which should be enough to get us back up on our feet.

We are also in the packing-up boat. This week is Spring Break, so even though we aren't leaving until June, we have gotten most of our stuff packed away. I've been blogging about how hard it's been to go through all this (http://familyonbikes.org/blog/?p=178)

I'm trying to follow the "if I haven't used it for a year, I'll toss it" rule, but my husband won't cooperate! He wants to stash it all - feeling like we would have to buy it when we come back anyway. We have a barn behind our house that we will be storing stuff in so we don't have to pay for storage and there is a lot of space, so I guess it isn't that big of a deal to store it.