Mary, you were probably occasionally at my father's house for the Song Circle meetings? The house was 800sf and packed to the gills - he loved to entertain and had lots of kitchen gadgets and serving containers and flatware. His shed across the road was 2500sf and he had two tall upright freezers and the box for every electronic/music device he ever bought. I spent quite a while matching boxes and owners manuals (filed) to the devices, and family members carted those things away happily. Mostly, happily, anyway. I kept household items and his music collection. But I'd dealt with other family estates, from his side of the family, and they were all not hoarders, but they always knew things would eventually have a use.

When I moved into this house I took everything of mine out of storage (I'd been in an apartment for a couple of years) and stuff from my parents' estates out of storage. For a while there were a couple of rooms here packed tight with furniture and boxes of stuff. I hadn't intended to keep all of it, but over time the things I thought I'd sell have become less popular and other things have become trendy (all vintage or antiques). I'm slowly moving things out via eBay, a few things went via Craig's List (but that is a dangerous place, I won't use it any more - no one wants to consider the price you're asking, they don't turn up when they say they will, etc.) I used to donate some things and take a tax break, but I don't have enough deductions to itemize any more.

Every now and then when I'm reading through this list I think of the backpack you must live out of. :) I have duplication of stations (music, TV, computers) all over the house so I can plop down anywhere and work and listen or watch while I work. But in other things, I'm paring back and recycling, selling, donating, or discarding. Something Dad never got around to. I did a pretty good job of filling a 30-yard dumpster with stuff that came out of his house and shed before we ever divided the rest amongst family members. I don't want my kids to have to do that.

When it came down to it, Dad really loved entertaining people, music, and reading. If he'd given it some thought I think he could have gotten rid of a lot of stuff and kept the books, the chair and the good reading lamp, the computer and music devices and instruments, and kitchen stuff. That alone would have made his house comfortable without being crowded.