Parting with my stuff!!!!

Hi All
Now that I am engaged, and since I have been in the UK since May of 2003, I think it's finally time to get rid of my stuff at home that is in storage.  I am trying to sell my car at home (which I still pay payments on!! I am sooo stupid with money) and my furniture sets. Problem is its all in storage and I dont know how I am supposed to get rid of it all short of having a yard sale in the SNOW in Boston when I go home at christmas!!   
I am also feeling strange at the thought of getting rid of everything I have acquired (not sentimental stuff of course, just the furniture and big items) over the past ten years of living on my own.
Anyone else feel that way?
I am freaked out, makes it seem like I am cutting all ties to the USA.

omg, it was so hard.  (and i was in boston and we had a HUGE tag sale-i made about 800 bucks selling ALL of my stuff!!!!)

it was hard in the beginning, but once i saw it as just 'stuff' it lost all sentimantality.

have you thoguht of www.boston.craigslist.org?

Thanks!!  I just added the bed set to craigs list.

I wish I had sold everything when I first got here!!  But in May 2003 it was only supposed to be a 6 month assignment (I am on a work permit) and then in November of last year it was only supposed to be one more year.  Now I am engaged and want to stay and I am sooo annoyed that I have wasted so much money by paying on that storage unit and on my car!!

Oh well - live and learn right?

You should definitely sell your car on Ebay!  We sold our car a couple of months ago for just a bit under the blue book price.  I couldn't believe that anyone would buy a car without test driving it, but it happens all the time!

I was very sad to leave my furniture, since I bought it all a couple years ago as my first big 'independent' act after my first marriage went sour.  I was sure to by nice stuff, and though my mom has it now, still..particularly since we're in a furnished flat with furniture I abhor...*sigh*

I think we all feel the same way. I told my husband (fiance at that time ) I really needed to have some of my stuff brought over. He paid a fortune to have my huge, American furniture brought over as well as most of mine and the kids personal effects. 4 years later we now have new living room furniture and had to give the old, American stuff away and we have a garage stuffed full of cardboard boxes of old toys and junk. All the clothes I brought over are very dated and all ended up in the charity dumpster in the Tesco parking lot! I wish I would have left it all behind. It would have saved us a fortune.
My advice to anyone making this move....Make a clean break and start over fresh here.

The one thing I brought over were my shoes.  They stayed with me and served me faithfully.  Then I had my daughter and my feet broadened.  I had to give away all my old shoes.  Those shoes had walked me through the most important stage of my life, and walked out on an entire country.  There were a few tears when I had to let them go . . .

The one thing I brought over were my shoes. They stayed with me and served me faithfully. Then I had my daughter and my feet broadened. I had to give away all my old shoes. Those shoes had walked me through the most important stage of my life, and walked out on an entire country. There were a few tears when I had to let them go . . .

Awww. thats sad. Never would have thought about it like that.

Awww. thats sad. Never would have thought about it like that.

It sounds really trivial, but in a way those shoes were a bridge between two stages of who I am - an American and an expatriate.  But I had to let them go.  Even if that part of me subconsciously didn't want to move on, time did.  It changed me, and I couldn't wear those shoes anymore, b/c I wasn't the same woman anymore. 

I got ride of EVERYTHING when I moved over here.  I moved over with 2 suitcases of my entire life in them.

It was liberating.  I had attached my independence and self worth on my possessions - CD player - TV - video - kitchen stuff, lovely sleeper sofa, etc.

When I got rid of the stuff it was a weight lifted and I realized - it's all material - it doesn't make me who I am.

Everything I couldn't sell - I donated to the Salvation Army.  There was A LOT that didn't sell...when the Salvation Army guys showed up they couldn't BELIEVE the stuff I was getting rid of. I even told them that if they saw anything they liked they could have it before they put it in the truck.  There were about 4 loads to take to the truck!

Also some stuff that didn't sell that I knew my friends liked - I gave it to them.  My friend Joanna used to love this vase I got from Pier One Imports.  I gave it to her before I left...there were a few tears....

AND now I am doing it again...Hubby and I are off to the USA for 6-8 months and we are storing our stuff (we are coming back here) and I am going through stuff and donating the stuff that I don't need.  Already 4 bags down to the charity shops.  It's kinda like purging...

It's interesting...it's my father who made me keep most of my furniture though I did donate my couch to my bro & sister-in-law, as well as giving dad my washer/dryer and my wonderful grill...but all other furniture is in my dad's attic.  I really wanted to get rid of it as it was my first stuff...I'm now ready to have new stuff if I end up going back to the States...but I think it made dad feel as if I still had a tie to the US...made it feel less potentially permanent (which may be his fear & is my hope!).

www.craigslist.org

Check out Boston, start selling!

I live in DC and it works wonders, got a lot of stuff from there and will probably sell stuff on there when I move in 8months.

Good luck!