Slackmax, my heart really hurts for you. Is there anyone who can help? Friends, family, hired person? Please try for your own sanity...
There's just sooo much stuff.
I was watching an episode of 'Hoarders' a while ago, and the narrator said that the son of the hoarder was probably going to take a few years to declutter his mother's house. I thought 'how can that be?'. But here I am taking years to declutter my girlfriend's hoard. It's true. It's such a boring grind, that's the thing.
You are making it harder on yourself than it technically needs to be. The hard part is not just physically getting rid of it. That could be done in short order, but if you're trying to get as much money out of it as you can, then it will take a lot longer. From reading your older posts, it seems like you have to go through a process of considering what an item is worth, making an attempt to get that amount for it, and only if you fail, letting it go for free. Unless you really need the money, there is likely something else going on here. Maybe an attachment to the stuff because it was your girlfriend's or an anxiety about seeing the house truly "empty.?" And if it's about the money, how much money in total is it worth to you to go through this lengthy process? (I also find it interesting that in one post you talk about having given up the battle with your girlfriend around her accumulation of stuff, and yet, now that you can get rid of it all, you seem to be in no hurry to do so. Humans - we're so contradictory, huh?)
Here's something interesting: Even though I carefully evaluate every item while decluttering the house, the 3 packed storage units my girlfriend was renting were another story. After she died, I took a TV and 4 folding chairs, and that was it. Her family wanted nothing to do with the storage units, and they actually thought I would just sell it all off. But it was all 'junk', maybe a few things worth something. And I wasn't crazy enough to go through it all. I told the owner of the storage place he could have it all, and he agreed, with no charge to me. He wasn't going to allow me to hold a storage unit sale on the property, anyway, so that wasn't even a consideration. So I saved untold hours of my time by just "letting all that stuff just go". Yay for me, lol.
Yes, that IS interesting. What is preventing you from taking this same approach with the stuff in your house? Do you feel that it is more yours, since it is in your house? Or because you have easier access to it all, you can take the time to go through each item? Are the items actually worth more than the "junk" in the storage units? Maybe the solution is to move all the stuff into another storage unit, then let the owner have that too!
Anna, I love your description of the stuff in storage units. Spot on!
Now I remember some more details. I would have had to keep paying the $290 per month rent for the crap. Plus I had all the estate probate stuff to mess with, a huge amount of clerical tasks, and no time for the storage crap. My girlfriend left no will even though we were asking her to make one, and I agreed to help with the probate work.
So......... the stuff that's currently in my house isn't costing any rent, so it's less annoying than junk I would have to pay rent on (And no, I can't believe any sane person would pay to store crap month after month forever, but that's what hoarders do. Psychological problems).
*** Maybe the solution is to move all the stuff into another storage unit, then let the owner have that too! *** Love it! lol.
Yes, I think the stuff she left in the house is more valuable than the stuff she stored in the units. I'm coming across some "collector items" here and there now. You would not believe what people collect and pay for : example - a guy at my rummage sale place sells old blank receipt pads for some Texaco station from the 60's, for $4 a pad, and people buy them !!
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I am taking them seriously. And I have already attacked the big things. I even donated a large fake Christmas tree instead of waiting til Christmas to sell it, just to get rid of it because it was big. So I'm not a hopeless case, lol.