Packing and Pitching

Ugh!
We have greatly neglected our trend to move every few years so that we can pitch out all of the accumulated junk. We lived in our last home for something like six years. That might have been the longest we had stayed in one home. We have been in this house for three times that long!

Holy crap!
We have definitely accumulated stuff to fill the available space. And we still have some stuff from the kids' childhood days. I am amazed at the number of books we (I) have. Between magic books, religious study books, health books, and just plain old books -- there are a lot of boxes of books being packed.
I'm sure that just in magic books, DVDs, and VHS tapes (yes, I still have some of those) I have well over $10,000 dollars invested. I don't even want to think of how much I have in gimmicks and apparatus. (I checked -- the plural of apparatus is apparatus or apparatuses.)

I have a lot of small effects that I bought because I liked them and not because I have a venue to use them. It's been a long while since I've spent much on magic. I now try to make sure that it is something I can use in a show before spending the money. It took me a long time to learn that lesson, so I have a LOT of stuff!

I did take pictures of much of what I have as I packed it away. I need to find a forum for selling magic stuff.
I should probably familiarize myself with Craig's List, Facebook Marketplace, and other more contemporary alternatives to the old school garage sale. Although I have purchased items off eBay, Craig's List, and Facebook Marketplace, I have never listed nor sold anything.

The plan is to downsize and build according to what we (and by we, I mean Chris) want.
In truth, it won't be downsizing by much, but it will be a new home, built for us. We are hopeful that the slight difference in size and relocating to a more rural setting will leave us in a pretty much cash neutral or slightly favorable situation.
The process kind of sucks, but I'm hopeful that the end result will be worth the hassle.

It's probably a good idea to do a little packing and pitching in other areas of life, as well. I think we have a tendency to hold onto a lot of ideas and beliefs that seemed right at the time. Maybe some life and personal experience has given us a different perspective and it's time to jettison a few old (and now irrelevant) ideas or once firmly held beliefs.
Just a thought.

John <><