We have been on our 40 acres for about 10 years and accumulated lot of "stuff".

right now we are just planning on moving cloths, preps, and tools. I posted in the homestead forum about how we will probably sell all equipment (tractors, UTV, ATV's, log splitter, and so much more.
And buy after move. We plan on downsizing property and lifestyle. I live in-between Milwaukee-chicago in the land of the keeping up with the jones (we don't follow that) and we have been saving/ planning for this move for some time.


We are going through that prepping vs hoarding. We have so much "STUFF" and as a longtime prepper it's hard to get rid of that stuff.

We are keeping tools and such (canning supplies, leather making stuff, and hard to replace stuff).

We just helped some family move and it was eye opening. a whole storage trailer full of nick knacks, metal canned goods (we freeze dry and are giving away the small mount of canned goods) decorations, and such. A whole day we helped and it was literally nothing but chotskies.

Than and we went to an estate sale from some older people who passed away and it was full of guitars, beanie babies, and more chotskies.

I'm sad we are not going to be able to take my home theater system that I have had for some time (only replaced the receiver  a few times). I have had those speakers for over 20 years and they are great. But we are downsizing our house too and I'll have to try a sound bar or something.


not sure If I am moving gun safes or just getting a new one out there or one of the snap safes.

this has been such and eye opener and we have been purging for a few months and planning on moving very soon.

Update
closing on the new house early August

Sold our current homestead in less than 5 days
HOLY CRAP

Selling and giving crap away currently

Didn’t you post a thread discussing the pros and cons of staying in WI vs moving awhile back. As I recall it was a good discussion. Guess you decided to move then?

Wife and I moved about 4 years ago after Nuevo Mexico politics took a hard left turn. (The Dem governor's tight race was decided when a few hundred votes were "found." We immediately started looking.
We ended up taking FAR too much stuff; I wish we'd taken a full year.

When we sold our house in Virginia, we had been in it 24 years. We ended up putting stuff in 3 PODS storage bins and renting a big truck to travel to Texas. We still ended up leaving stuff behind or getting rid of it. We left the big safe in the garage. At 1100lbs empty, it was going to cost a boatload of money just to move it. I did hate to have to sell a welder I'd gotten on clearance. I'm sure when we get the PODS to wherever we end up getting a house, we'll figure out what didn't make it into them.

It's easy to accumulate stuff if you're even remotely preparedness minded. And, the more prepared you are, the more likely you'll have a huge pile of stuff if you ever have to move.

Life’s short and we vacationed in an area and fell in love with it. Life is still simple there and our current area is getting so busy and crowded. If we don’t do it now we will probably never do it. We calculated all the pro’s of staying and the unknowns moving.

If we sell our current property we are priced out of ever returning (for similar sized property), and that is scary.

Wife  works remote (I’m hybrid) so not sure why we live in an area we really don’t like (but are comfortable).

Plus I had like 3 people my age at work due suddenly. Puts perspective on things.

Change can be scary….but also exciting!


Good luck!



And yes….moving sucks! I probably will never move again.

All the shit for my well-stocked family of five filled up the bed of my truck twice over, a 6x12 UHaul trailer, and half of a 53' semi trailer. If it weren't for kids' toys and the like, I could have eliminated at least the UHaul trailer and a pickup truckload. That said, I've picked out a spot on the nearby butte where my lifeless body will be hucked when that time shall come, to be given to the scavengers. I AM NOT moving again.

I hate the "prepper" appellation, as being prepared is something that should be basic and universal. Some tools are required and not easily substituted, but the most important part to move with is the knowledge packed away in our brains. You'll be fine acquiring more stuff, at least in the near future. Just as important is networking with the folks in your new AO.

Tell me.

Garage fire and a lot of smoke got in the house.
Everything has to come out. 3700 sq ft plus full basement.
40K rounds. Four RDWC hydroponic systems. Lights. Chillers. Co2 tanks and controllers.
Powder. Bullets (damn are they heavy). 4 freezers. Freeze dryer. A huge pantry.
PLUS 30 years and 4 kids raised of detritus.

Gotta clean all that is saveable, then move it back in when the house is redone.
The dumpsters are seeing quite a bit of it, thank God.

It's been a full time job for 6 months now.

You tend to grow into the amount of space you have available.  In OK, we had a moderate sized house 2300 sq ft, but we had a 1200 sq ft metal building plus a ton of attic and cellar space.  Instead of throwing stuff out, we just put it in the attic or the metal building.  When we moved we used a 26' truck and three of the large Uhaul trailers and we still ended up leaving stuff for friends to pick up.  

It's easy to collect crap, but hard to get rid of it.  I still have my Master's Thesis research, but don't tell my wife.

We're moving in July and so far we've emptied 2 deep freezers and given away at least $1,000 in canned/packaged food to our neighbors.
The canned foods were way too heavy to move and most were approaching or past their expiration dates. I read that food pantries will throw away expired canned goods.
My wife sent a picture of our shelves to a neighbor, said "come help yourself", and the neighbor couldn't believe their lucky day.
The wife also made meal packages (ie frozen ham or chicken with all the sides) and gave them away on Facebook. They'd get picked up within minutes of listing.

There are a lot of hungry people out there.

We kept the shelving and bucketed items and will restock when we're settled.

Auction everything. Move. Buy what you need at the new place.

we are in the middle of our move and yet we had to help some family move...


I loaded truckloads of canned food and bottle water
tons of stuff that should not have been moved.

we are getting rid of most food/ water unless it's our freeze dried stuff and our freeze dryer.

Update
closing on the new house early August

Sold our current homestead in less than 5 days
HOLY CRAP

When we moved from Maryland to Florida we put a lot of stuff in storage for several years.  After we finished building our new place, we brought everything in storage to the new place and ended up getting rid of 98% of it.  Never again!!

yup. I've moved across the country 4 or 5 times now and have figured out it's USUALLY cheaper to sell/give away a lot of stuff and rebuy when you get where you're going. Amazon delivers every place I've moved to and it's very easy to carry an envelope with a bunch of cash with you.

That said I keep some of the higher value stuff but the less you actually own and need, the less you need to bring.

Been packing non stop, selling, and giving away. Still have to temp move a safe, most farm equipment, and so much more. We have like 3 weeks. I should find out if I keep my job, and if that’s the case I’m dumping most. If not the case the area we are moving to has no jobs so I’ll need that stuff to flea market or sell.

We still have to move our freezers and freeze dryer.

So stressed but I know we asked for it

Yep. I watched my grandmother, for my entire life sit around and talk about her stuff. Lots of collections of various stuff. A lot on display but 2/3 of it was packed away in boxes and identical stuff that was on display.

She was an upscale hoarder. Always talked about the sale she was going to have. Place was packed but not junky.

When she passed, there was a sale. Even at cut throat Covid prices(2 weeks short of lock down) the family got $100k after the auctioneer got his cut.

There is freedom in turning stuff loose.
Turning off the tv
And slow down your life.

I look forward to updates on your journey. Might be good to start a YouTube channel.

I'd buy a shipping container, build it into a super-efficient prep supplies storage system, load it up and move it to the new place.  Drop it off and done.

(assuming there's room at the new place)

This is a good idea but not sure if I can find someone to transport it

Have had a channel that was made for fun that I plan to document the move and new life.
Have an international call this morning with the big wigs of my company  to see if my current company will let me work remotely.

Life might get even more simple really quick!

https://youtube.com/homesteadreliance

OP, where are you headed?

I recently relegated my bugout bag to camping bag status.

If shit hits the fan, I'll just die here protecting my home versus dying somewhere else, later.

Home is where the family is, not the stuff.

An empty 20' container would be easy to transport.  An empty 40' would be a bigger challenge, but obviously, not impossible.  I'd check w/ the companies that sell them and see if they would move them.  Then I'd check w/ private transport guys.

The problem you're going to run into, though, is that if it's fully loaded it could be difficult to winch onto a trailer, depending on how much the stuff inside weighed.

Nah, they're designed for that.  All you need is a crane and a train.  

Or a ship.  I'm sure there's a train track right next to OP's old house and his new one.

Here we go.



Really though it doesn't have to be a container.  A smaller, less problematic box trailer would also work.

We’ve been there and have managed to keep things under control. I have guns, reloading gear, holiday decorations, tools.  I don’t want or need anything.

Arkansas ozark’s

Several years ago I moved from WI to MT.
Sold everything except the truck, clothes, firearms and camping gear.
Moved back to WI with the same + a mattress, girlfriend and her clothes.

Recent present we (wife, 2 kids and self) moved from central WI to southern WI.
All I'll say is that I am not moving again.
Way too much stuff, and I've got lots of time and money invested in our place.
Here I will die, and leave my family sitting good.

Just did the move 2 weeks ago.
Kept preps that were in 5 gallon buckets (ie enough flour and sugar to make cookies for a small city) because they were easy to load and move.
Bought 30 of the 27 gallon contractor totes for "stuff".
Hired 2 strong backs to help load a 26' U-Haul. While loading the ammo fort onto the truck, got the typical "expecting a war?" kind of comments.
Hired 2 different strong backs to help unload at the other end. While unloading the ammo fort, got a "think there'll be a civil war after the Trump attack?"
Now I have tons of empty shelves that'll need re-stocking. At least it'll be fresher stuff!

I went through a period when I moved a lot.   I was a single dad with small kids, and moved 5 times in one year.  The past  years I have been sedentary.  
I always took everything with me when I moved.

This was our plan when we moved from FL to rural WV. Found out we could not have it dropped off on the first place. PODS would not ship to WV. Finally found a shipping company, had a close to 40’ trailer FILLED. Sigh of relief UNTIL we were told they could not deliver to our new property. So it sat at a shipping hub an hour away. In the winter. For nearly a month, we gradually hauled stuff in our pick up back n forth as there were no U-Haul trucks available during that time.
Absolute frickin nightmare…. But now almost two years later, nothing more than a distant memory. Truly sucked ass but it’s over and zero regrets.

I still want a shipping container but honestly I think I’ll need to hire some local road jockey to even confirm it’s possible first…

We are in the process of prepping the house to sell to move back to TN sometime next year.  We’ve been here for 25 years and accumulated a LOT of stuff.  I’m dreading the move.  I like the shipping container idea.  Have a lot of things a mover won’t move.

Yeas dread it

Wow we only moved a little so far and it’s been a pun in the rear! Wife and I are both so stressed from it. Currently chilling at the new place realizing how much I forgot this trip.

Waiting for solar guy to show up.