What goes? What stays? And how do we not kill each other in the process of deciding?

We had just over a month before we would close on the sale of our home and be required to move out! It would have been easy to just pack up everything we had in Colorado and put it in storage until our next destination was established. Yet we both realized that we had some unnecessary or unused things that would have been silly to keep - especially since the bill was on our tab! So although we agreed we needed and even wanted to downsize, the difficulty lay with our thoughts on certain items that we had to make decisions about. This was compounded by Cindy's impulsive tendency to toss things out while John's attitude held toward sentimental value that was hard to overrule. But we had to plunge ahead and make the best of it!

A Favorite Thai Painting

We both agreed we must keep our beloved Asian artwork and collectibles plus certain furniture pieces and household goods that would be needed even if we ended up in a condo or apartment somewhere. Also we had very little bedroom furniture of any value so except for our bed and a guest bed, it was easy to put those items up for sale. In addition John had some none-too-attractive office furniture he'd acquired for free through his former employer and that was easy to jettison. Then there were a couple of pieces of older furniture we had taken from his parents and both of us knew it was time to let anything except a couple of special pieces go. And there was lawn-care equipment and various tools that John enthusiastically agreed we would sell while Cindy sorted through kitchenware, bedding and clothing to whittle that stuff down (and learned in the process how little any of it was really worth from a re-sale standpoint).  Then we got to the hard stuff.

Cabinet and Buddha

Cindy had a funky lounge/futon in her office space that she sadly agreed to let go of while John determined that despite the fact he had a 55-gallon aquarium that had sat in the basement since our arrival in Colorado, it would stay (although he did sort through several boxes of accessories to minimize the load).  There was a sideboard we'd used as an entertainment center that was a rather big piece and in the spirit of downsizing we finally concluded it would go along with some decorative Asian chairs, a Chinese painted cabinet and one of our Buddha's.

Rosewood Dining Room Set

Last but not least was a gorgeous, custom made rosewood dining room set that was big, heavy and almost wholly unused for dining or entertaining anymore. John swallowed hard but finally agreed with Cindy's campaign to sell it.

From there it was a scramble to line up a reliable company to pack and store the things we were keeping while simultaneously selling things through Craigslist and preparing for a garage sale. Finally it also became clear that some items we had determined to sell would not be accomplished by the time we had to move out so Cindy set to work finding an alternative means and reluctantly settled on a consignment firm to do the job.

While we are thrilled with the chosen moving company, Flatirons Moving and Storage (which we can highly recommend) and had mostly good results with our own sales efforts through Craigslist and the dreaded-but-necessary garage sale, the consignment results have been mixed though not altogether surprising. As expected, the dining room set was the most expensive item put up for consignment and the hardest to sell. To date, it's still at their showroom with little or no interest - ugh!

However, of most importance is the fact that despite our differing attitudes and sometimes difficult situations in determining what to do, we came through it all feeling accomplished and largely satisfied without any big riffs in our relationship!