tiredbuthappy – I’m right there with you with the paper and books — oh my word the weight of everything (we just moved and are really feeling it, literally). I’d love to fit into a small place (plus thats what we can afford) but it just won’t happen with the partner.

makingourway – I’ve been talking to the partner more about this formula and it looks like my $50,000 estimate is indeed low. I also use a liquidation formula but luckily the things he owns fetch a set price, not just a best price.

If you needed to sell items quickly, you certainly won’t have time to hold out for the best price or find the optimal venue for every single item.

Oddly, very little few of our posessions is uniquely too valuable – there’s just so much stuff that it adds up.

Have a great day – btw, great post,
makingourway
http://www.makingourwayblog.com

We have a few collections ourselves, so I can see how a figure much higher than $5,000 would be realistic in your case if you do have so many specialized collections.

My partner comes with a lot of weight, too. In his case it’s multiple file cabinets full of papers that he intends to keep for the rest of his life. Much of it represents unique historical research, primary sources that do not exist anywhere else, so I understand why he doesn’t want to get rid of it or even weed it. But it’s still hard to think about schlepping it all around with us forever. I have moved with this man 3 times and let me tell you moving boxes of files is the easy part. Moving old 5-drawer file cabinets up and down stairs sucks bigtime.

In addition, we both own thousands upon thousands of books. Many of them are worth a fair amount of money. I don’t really know how much they’re worth, and we would never liquidate the whole collection, but I think we could safely say we’d get several thousand dollars if we sold them all on Ebay or something.

I think about other bloggers who save a lot of money by living in very small spaces (Madame X comes to mind) and feel a little envious sometimes.

I see the value of many of the items as an item taken off my checklist. For instance, most people need some kind of living room couch. By having a couch, it means that I don’t need to go out and buy one adding to my expenses. Maybe that’s a weird way of looking at things.