The parties over?

[hughnique]

Looks as though I have backed myself in to a corner in discussing any inkling of a move back to the UK, but reality is kicking in and inevitably the dream has to come to an end. Now we have to start the logistical nightmare of getting anything we hold dear back to a rental somewhere in the south east, I can't see the point in lugging a load of dated furniture back in a removal van, last count we have four 3 piece suites, so the list of other items is in proportion to that. The other day we had a bit of a clear out from the rear of Madams built in wardrobe, stuff that was transported here in 2005, and has not seen the light of day since, a whole box of old cards, Xmas, anniversary, birthday etc, the list goes on. where to sell the redundant furniture, a lot of these Farcebook groups and indeed LeBoncoin have proved absolutely useless in the past so no reason why they should prove fruitful now. It's a nightmare already and we have not hardly started as yet.

[Blaze]

You're not the only one that has stuff that hasn't been looked at for years .... it's one of the positive sides of moving : the chance for a clear-out.

..... where to sell the redundant furniture ....

The chances are that if you find it redundant, so will others Seriously, "brown" furniture has been hard to shift for years. It isn't always suited to modern living and smaller rooms. Because brown furniture is being given away on places like Facebook, no-one needs to pay for it any more.
It would probably cost you more to take it with you, i.e. pay the removal company, than you'd get if you managed to sell it.

We've come to the conclusion that if we've had good use of something over the years, it doesn't owe us anything and we're happy to give it away (a form of recycling). We'd rather give it to a charity, but places like Emmaus are turning away anything they don't think they would be able to sell. It's surprising what people will take if it's free, and a good way of clearing some space (to be refilled .....)

Modern living doesn't seem to require furniture that was built to last and is now being replaced by do-it-yourself throwaway stuff ...... sad times.

[exile]

Sorry about the stress of all of this.

Anything you have not used in say the last 2 years should be regarded as potential "going to the dump" fodder.

Regarding the furniture, if you don't need a monetary return - and I suspect you would not get much anyway - you could try donating to Emmaüs.

Good luck

Blaze beat me to it.

[demi]

When I did the opposite to you & moved to France 3 years ago I got rid of 80% of all my belongings. I was utterly ruthless and have not regretted anything I got rid of (apart from one smal lpair of pliers!). Living minimally is great - so much less housewor for a start. And it makes one feel very 'light'.

When the removers came over with my stuff, the douanes had to be persuaded that it WAS the contents of my house as they could not believe how little there was. I haven't bought much, a couple of beds and a new washing machine.

Speaking of removers I used Britannia Beckwith of Newhaven https://www.britanniabeckwith.co.uk/. They were absolutely first class & do lots of moves in reverse and part loads.

Bon courage!

[MAD87]

Before we moved from our last house to Oradour, Emmaus came and happily took away all surplus stuff - including several gas bottles I asked them not to take!

[Hotrodder]

I have a very small outbuilding and three large metal sheds, all full. Shed one houses gardening tools and furniture that comes out in summer. Shed two houses two mowers and crates full of boot fair stuff. Shed three is mostly timber, including teak and mahogany left over from my boatbuilding days that I have kept thinking I could make things to sell with it. Its more likely to be burnt for firewood. The small outbuilding was divided into a laundry/utility for mrs.H and the rest is meant to be a workshop for my woodworking and repair projects but is sadly too small to handle anything larger than about two metres.

Don't even ask about the house, three rooms, all stuffed full. I'm in the middle of trying to construct an insulated ceiling in the bedroom but very difficult when it is full of stuff. Anyone remember those little Chinese puzzles, about three inches square with movable tiles but only one space to move them into? The object was to rearrange them all into a pattern or sequence, one move at a time. That's my life.

[hughnique]

OH is keen to make a start sorting out all the crap that has followed us about for the last 100 years, and boy is there some of it, we have cornered the market in teaspoons, hundreds of the things, and paperwork from the FIL who died in 2019, divorce papers and solicitors correspondence plus the subsequent house sale, pension statements, then all the granddaughters school stuff when she was with us for 3 years, all consigned to the burning bin. We have hardly touched the tip of the iceberg as yet.

[curtis]

Have to say that when we moved from the country to the town there was an enormous amount of furniture and stuff for which there was no room or use.
Priced sensibly we got rid of most of it on Le Bon Coin.
Are you in a position to have your own vide garage/grenier?

[hughnique]

Yes we have a large garage / workshop so I thought we could organise something in there, so many tools that will have to go, leccy saws, drills, planes it just goes on and on.

[Quiksilver]

It's a shame that you're not in a more densely Brit-populated area, @hughnique. The local FB pages round here are full of Brits selling and buying vast amounts of 'stuff'. If you need a hand with publicity in French for a house/garage sale, I'd be happy to help.....