Bicycles - Downsizing Step 2.

As I think of the next possible low hanging fruit in my downsizing saga  - the bicycles & many accessories came quickly to mind.

I remember the day in 2003 when we moved back to the U.S. and  I paid extra at the car dealership for a fancy boating hitch in the mini-van JUST to be able to use a 5-bike rack for family excursions.   The kids were little (10, 8, and 5 yrs old)  and amenable to biking trips - the 15 mile ride in the Everglades  being the most memorable.  But the truth is that we didn't use that rack that often, then, let alone now. We only use our 2-bike rack.  So the 5-bike rack has to go - craigslist here we go.

But what about the bikes?  My objective is to have 2 bikes max when we move to NYC.  Last count, we had  7 bikes in the garage!  How is that possible? We are only 5 people and 2 of the kids don't even have their own bikes in our house.  Well, I discovered that one of the bikes was left behind by my son's friend 3+ years ago - and never claimed!  Is that ours by default? If this kid doesn't claim it as soon as he comes home from college  it's out the door.

Then there are the other 6 bikes: 3 of them are mine and these days I only use my Trek hybrid.  So time to get rid of my oldies!   The first one was easy to dispose of.    I responded to a wanted ad on the Moms Sale facebook page and within a week was able to sell this nice Brazilian aluminum bike to a young woman who needed transportation to her nanny job.   But,  oh,  with my second bike I am having a hard time  parting.  I love my Peugeot mountain bike - its been with me 25 years - and I keep refurbishing it!   It went on many biking "dates" with Alain's old Bianchi but we know they have to go.

Fortunately, at the bikeshop near us I stumbled upon the Westchester Cycling Club program "Bikes4Kids" which collects bikes for foster children.  Well today we loaded the car and there they went. They told me I could get a tax deduction but I told the guy that there was not price for sentimental value - was that corny or what?

We are now down to 3 bikes,  our 2 bikes and our son's who will take his to college next year....   on to the next chapter!

 

Downsizing Step 1

Today, I decided to face the monumental task of downsizing our 3900 square foot home.  We are hoping to purchase an apartment in New York City (NYC)  that at best will be 1,500 square feet and will have little storage and no external storage - at least for now because there's a waiting list for the storage bins in the building.. that's it - no garage, no attic, no extra closet space.  So this means war.  War against STUFF that we have collected, and trekked in all of our moves but that must  now decide if any of it is worth taking the precious real estate in NYC.  

With the looming empty nest, there are so many questions to deal with  - so many mementos and items with sentimental value.   I must have saved boxes of pre-school & elementary  artwork - what do we do with that?  Not to speak of the hundreds of photo albums and family videos - do we digitize all of these?!  Oh, boy - it's exhausting just to think of it - no wonder I procrastinated.

So today I decided to start with the obvious.  Start with the stuff that hasn't been used in years -- the ping pong table and elliptical machine ads are out on craigslist/fb.  I also contacted a "professional organizer" to seek out advice - we shall see...

I also found this group -  the free cycle network (https://www.freecycle.org/)  where people in neighboring areas give and receive STUFF for free!  A wonderful communal idea - why not try it?   I haven't offered anything yet, but I responded to one WANT ad - for a group who needed memory games for a Senior center in the Bronx.  Within a few hours, I had found someone at my door ready to take 2 huge bags  filled with board games, balls, weight training equipment - STUFF  that had been sitting around for years and these seniors will start using tomorrow - bravo!  It's a baby step, but it's a start. Here we go!