It is interesting that you spend many years of your life accumulating things, then reach a time when you need to get rid of those same things. 

We are about to move from a 4 bedroom, 3-1/2 bathroom, 2500 (ish) square-foot house with a basement, into a 1000 square-foot, one room, log cabin with very little storage. And, the cabin is pretty well outfitted already with kitchen gear, clothing, furniture, etc. What are we going to do with all this stuff?!

We are going through the house, room by room, cleaning and sorting. We are putting everything we own into one of several categories:

1. We need it at the cabin and will find some way to cram it in.
2. We likely need it at the cabin, and will store it somewhere close (maybe Laramie) where we can get easy access.
3. We want to keep it, perhaps for some future second home, so this also goes into storage.
4. We don't want it and it has value and we'll give it away. Goodwill Industries is a candidate charity.
5. We have a lot of vintage and antique items that we will try to sell to a local dealer.
6. There are some things we can leave with the house, if compensated. New owners would likely need the tractor, generator, pool equipment, for example.
7. There is a lot of stuff that just needs to be thrown away. Hate doing this, so it is a last resort.
8. Everything else will go in an estate sale once the house is sold.

We've been told by our realtor that we need to "declutter" the house. A polite way of telling us we've got too much stuff, I think. So, our priority is on getting the house looking good for showing. That means working on everything that can be seen as you walk through the house. We'll work on the "hidden" things in cabinets and cupboards later. We've got the upstairs in pretty good shape with one bedroom that we used as a junk room still needing some care. The bathrooms and closets upstairs look pretty good. So, it is just in need of a deep cleaning next.

Downstairs, the living room is okay, but still needs some decluttering. The dining room is in good shape and we've whipped the office into a presentable state. The kitchen is not bad, but the garage needs work. We've boxed up and given away hundreds of books with many more to go. There is a local Friends of the Library charity that will take these.

Then, there is the basement. What a mess. But, it is too damned cold to try to tackle that right now. There are boxes and boxes of stuff we moved from Colorado, some of which have never been opened! There is the cheese making and wine making equipment. (I'll keep the cheese making gear.) Unused furniture, tools, dog showing paraphernalia, puzzles, record albums, (this list could go on a long time).

We meet with the realtor to sign a contract and kick off the selling process on Wednesday. We'll be asking him for recommendations for local storage facilities--we'll move stuff we want to keep out of the house as much as possible. We need to find a cleaning service or house cleaner that can help us get the house into showable shape and keep it that way. 

And, we have a few minor repairs to make and some painting to do. Shampoo carpets. And, we'll be good-to-go!