I'm seriously starting to think about retirement in the next two years. One of the things I want to do is downsize - move to a smaller house. I think I need to start selling off my ukes. Hard as it will be I'm going to try to get down to just a half dozen or so.
I think I should start putting them up for sale. I wonder if anyone out there has gone through this and how you went about downsizing.
If your next house can only store 6 ukes, that will be really small ? I am 64, and at this stage I wont give up our double garage workshop etc. Space is important ! Depending on the climate, getting out of the house into the garden is nice! If it is a money issue to supplement your pension, or your mobility is challenged it becomes trickier. . . .
I have downsized and it feels great! I would love to downsize a little more, but the market is such that I would take a bath on the sales... so I'd rather keep the ukes than lose money.
I find it hard to justify owning more than 3 or 4 ukes at a time because I simply can't play more than that with any regularity. I really feel umcomfortable seeing instruments spend their lives in cases. Consequently I have no problem downsizing and do so regularly.
My last three moves have been increasingly smaller: from a 450 square foot duplex unit, to a 350 square foot apartment, to my current 250 square foot duplex unit 8 years ago (where I intend to stay until they carry me out in a box...). I can't imagine either wanting more stuff, or more space - I love living small!
I think there is always a little twinge of regret about the ukes you let go, especially in a market where you may not get a great price selling them. I have downsized to just the three I really play, a linear Bari w/ pickup, a vintage reentrant Bari and a soprano. I really don't miss the ukes that are gone. Nice as they may have been, they really didn't get played. My only reason for holding on to them would have been just in case my size preference changed down the road.
I downsized to two, my main and a backup. Although now I am thinking I need two more for a low-G main and its backup. I ended up gifting a lot of ukuleles to friends and students. Sometimes I feel a little pang of regret then I pick up my main and remember why I kept it.
I went through 16 ukes in less than 2 years, gifted, sold and traded in 8, then when I started playing bass last year, I decided to only keep the ukes I really liked, so I kept 4. I sold 2 in the Market Place, took 2 to the Santa Monica Uke Festival with for sale signs as I walked around, and sold them, the rest I listed for sale in my signature and sold them. (Since then I've accumulated 6 bass ukes, but have not had BUAS since sending in the last two for modification a couple of months ago.)
I started to downsize when I turned forty, because I felt I had too much clutter in my life. Stuff gets you stuck. Been three years since and I prefer living more lightly with "stuff" having a smaller footprint in my life. I only have five ukes, and I feel that even that is three too many (but not going to change that until I have firmly decided which size I really prefer!).
I feel that having fewer ukuleles (and fewer of anything, really) makes you appreciate what you do have more.
Best of luck on whittling down your ukes. Put the entire lot up for sale, stop when you're down to the number you want to keep. The hard part is not to add more. I attempt to whittle down all the time, but I keep finding new ukes I want to spend time with.
If you must sell, katysax, at least do it in the wintertime, when more are looking at UU and eBay ads...not only a quicker sale, but maybe get a touch more for the ukes.
Advice on retirement: have a passion--a single activity that you love more than anything, that you can get lost in for hours and hours, something that is year round (not seasonal) and something that is not just a passing fancy. Without such a passion, life can get meaningless fast. Hanging with friends, family, kids, grandkids, generic "traveling", etc. just won't cut it for filling your time. Just advice from a guy who took the leap two years ago...never regret it because of my passion.
It's pretty hard for me to downsize, because I not only gig out with a number of instruments but also need a variety for the 9-5, but I usually have two main criteria:
-Does this instrument provide something that is not available in any other instruments?
-Would I care if it was gone?
If I can't answer both of those questions pretty emphatically, the instrument in question usually gets sold. Collecting is nice and all, but for musical instruments, they really need to be played and enjoyed instead of just looked at.
I have been slowly getting rid of stuff over the last five years or so. As I've gone through life, I've had many acquisition syndromes, which resulted in a lot of stuff that I don't use. I still participate in most of the activities that resulted in acquisition syndromes, I have just been streamlining them. As far as ukes, I've been able to keep that under control, although I have ended up with a stray that I don't know what to do with.
katy, it's a tough call. I've been through 11 ukes the past two years and am down to six. (It was going to be five, but then someone put a Fluke on eBay for cheap and ... the shiny). I almost sold my tenor a few weeks ago, because it's played the least, but I may keep it and throw on a low G just to offer a distinctive sound. I've had no problem finding a home for those that were gathering dust, because as Jon (or is it Ohana?) says, ukes are made to be played. Good luck.
I rather lose 75% value of an item rather than it just sit in the corner. That is a common theme in golf...good thing I don't play much these days! I would use the 25% to buy something else. You always need a few extra in case someone might come by but how often is that and if they are into ukes, they'll probably bring their own.
Since I've never upsized my uke collection, I don't have that problem. But, I do have several instruments - usually one of each and a few clarinets, since that is my main instrument. Since I got my Blackbird Clara, I haven't seen the need for another ukulele, unless I eventually get a Clara with a high G so I have both tunings. I still have my other concert rosewood/cedar and I have my little mahogany soprano. I think I'm done.
Perhaps consider this: are there other collections that you might like to thin out first? I've been moving books along to other folks. I used to keep every book that crossed my path. No more. I also have spent lots of time in the Nether-lands (the basement and attic), donating a ton of stuff to the Vietnam Vets.
My ukes? I'm not ready to sell thus far. Other things can go first.
One other thought: my favorite part of now only working part time (adjunct English prof./writer) is spending lots of time outside with my dogs. You may find that your yard takes on new meaning when you get to have more time to enjoy it.