Shannon’s ideas to “1) get rid of a bag of something every time a donation truck is in my area and 2) get rid of a minimum of two pieces of clothing for every new one I hang up,” will get results.

Be ruthless “It was about five years ago when we decided to move to another state for retirement. We decided to move ourselves, so we could only take what would fit in a U-Haul. We gave most of our furniture to our oldest child, who was establishing his own residence, then we held an estate sale. We got rid of almost everything except what we loved, and the only sentimental things we kept were things that our kids said they would like after we passed on. Knowing we had a limited space for everything made us ruthless. And we made some money for our future life.” — Chris, 65

Have a bon voyage, say bon voyage “The first time, it was to go sailing! We sold most of our things in three moving sales, which let me work toward letting things go. Twenty years later, we are thinking of moving to Europe, so we will sell what we can and give away the rest. Take it slow, but having something exciting to look forward to really helps. Even if we stay stateside, we want to live smaller because then our savings goes toward travel rather than the maintenance of a larger space. It’s determining goals for the next 10 to 15 years and then working toward them. Hanging onto things doesn’t help us reach those goals, but passing them on to others will. Ten years ago, when I was diagnosed with cancer and sitting in my hospital room, I didn’t think of things, I thought of all the experiences we had had. That showed me that it’s experiencing all you can in life that is worth more than what you own, where you live or how much money you make.” — Liese, 59

think about the family, too “It was hard for my husband, but what really triggered us to get into action was this question: If something happens to us at the same time, who will have to do all this? Response: our daughter. Then we thought, is it fair that our kids have to do all this? It is our job, it is our responsibility, so we took action. At the end of this decluttering and cleaning process, I must tell you that I loved it! I found my calling!” — Olga, 62

 When in doubt, spread it out “[Selling items on] Facebook Marketplace is a godsend. Local church to help resettle a refugee family. Consignment shop for crystal and silver. Books and CDs donated to a library sale. Town yard sale for remaining stuff. And church thrift shop for anything left over. Only the old mattress went into the garbage truck. Living with less is so liberating! Why did I wait so long?” — Sandy, 64

“I am not comfortable donating or just tossing out some special things, so my new plan is to devote a space in the garage to place things and invite all our friends and family to take whatever they can use. So far it’s working. It’s fun to be able to share our things this way.” — Robby, 75