What’s your stuff worth? (Hint: not much…)

I delivered a couple of antiques, some lovely old china and several nice paintings to a local auction house today. The guy had come out a few days ago to eyeball my holdings and estimate what they might bring at auction next month.
It was really depressing.
This 2,400 year-old ceramic water jug from Greece, for example, [...]

Downsizing begins in earnest now

Unpleasant realization:  I’ve still got a buttload of Stuff.
In order to show the house I had to move out a buttload –  and I did: actually sold, tossed, or donated (some of) it.
Unfortunately, the Stuff that came off the top was the easy Stuff – things that were ugly, unloved, unused, broken, obsolete, grubby, oversized. [...]