[JavaBrewer]

9 years ago we downsized from a 3900 sq/ft home to 2300 sq/ft. Like others said earlier there were MANY trips to donation sites and eventually the dump to pull that off. The large sq/ft made it seem we didn't have much, but actually moving proved otherwise.

We were nicely minimized for a few years but then my parents estate and that of my MIL was tackled, sold off & donations, yet here we are packed up with redundant stuff again. My Dads tools mostly went to my Son and wife refuses to toss household items as both my kids are building their lives outside of our home and will need them.

Biggest mistake was not properly going through my parents stuff carefully. We had a big self run estate sale and had boxes of books. A few months later my wife was going through the remaining books and behold a few hundred $ falls out of one. Checking the others more cash stash found. We likely lost a few thousand $, or more.