[wilbret]

So, back in th' day, I finished our attic so I could store my ridiculous amount of HW stuff. Like many of you, I had tons of PVC fencing, animatronic props, static props, lights, tombstones, etc etc... but we moved, had kids and lifestyles changed. I sold a 6x12 Uhaul full of my stuff to another forum member sometime around 2010. I kept a few items, but every year, it seems like I have as much left in storage as I put out. I'm also now 41 years old, and a lot of my stuff has just AGED. Latex, among other things, does not age well.

The time has come to sort thru EVERYTHING. I will be heartbroken. But it has to be done. Do I really need 6 fake flaming pots?

Anyone else going thru this process this year?

 

[Zombie4*]

Yes, unfortunately lol! I have ran out if storage so I going to sell my display from last year. I do love my graveyard display but I over the moon with my Area 51 display that I did this year.

 

[The Corner of Carnage]

Not Yet, but as my collection grows every year and the storage spaces get fuller I can totally understand how someone like you whose been doing this awhile feels the need to purge every so often.

Besides it makes room for more stuff!

 

[kakugori]

Oh yeah, it's time. We've run some kind of yard haunt for over 15 years, and it's just grown and grown and the storage building is getting overstuffed. Time to sort out some of the old props that don't work, aren't used, busted latex, etc. and get them outta there. I say every year that I want to organize that building, and it always seems to be a mess no matter how much time I put in. And those 30 some-odd pieces of pipe insulation have got to go somewhere, because they were in my way every single time I tried to get in there this year. And all the fence, because it takes up a ton of space.

 

[Cephus404]

I did it maybe 15 years ago or so. We had a massive amount of stuff, pro-quality animatronics, you name it. But we had bought a house where there were literally no trick or treaters. None. As in we got 2 people in 17 years total. So I stopped decorating and since we weren't planning on moving any time soon, we sold of the vast majority of our collection that we were paying for a storage unit for. But time goes on, we sold that house, bought a new one in a neighborhood where people do trick or treat, and now I'm really regretting getting rid of everything that's gone because some of it is irreplaceable. But we're starting to put the band back together and next year, we're going to go with a full walk-through haunt, where this year we just had a display. And once we do that, we're going to advertise, which will hopefully get a lot of people coming through and make it worthwhile.

So seriously think about what you're getting rid of because sometime in the future, you may regret it. I know I do.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

"Anyone else going thru this process this year?"

It's the plan for this year. I went from no halloween decorations to years of adding to my inventory for various themes I have wanted to do and now have a really good idea of what's important to the themes I want to do and can weed out stuff.

 

[Restless Acres]

I gotta organize because I know I have bought multiples of the same thing because stuff is buried. Also I need to just curb broken stuff, large home made stuff that I will never put out again (so long Ghoul Mike/Uncle Al), miscellaneous stuff I bought and my tastes changed before they ever made it out.

Of course I just gave away my spare Incinerator to a neighborhood kid, and literally 10 minutes later the one I kept's eye stopped lighting up!

 

[lilibat]

Yeah I am going through mostly inside stuff though. I have 2 big totes with stuff I never use and it needs to go.

 

[dbruner]

I have been purging a bit each year for the past 2 years. When I first started collecting I just grabbed anything. Now my taste is a little more refined and I donate what I know I wont use again. Hopefully these items can start over in a new home.

 

[mrincredibletou]

I had a plan to downsize and then I did more. At 47 I'm not getting any smarter but I like be this stuff!

 

[HauntedWyo]

Being that I'm really just starting out I don't have anything to get rid of, well at least of the outdoor stuff. I have a few totes of indoor stuff that I really should go through and see what all I want to keep. I don't really decorate inside for Halloween anymore, just really don't have any place to put all the brick or brack after we did some remodeling. Our bookcases that used to hold various trinkets were replaced with fish tanks. Entertainment center is much smaller now, walls have been torn down so no more shelves. I have only been keeping it all in case my kids want some of it.

 

[Frankie's Girl]

I stupidly started a second theme a few years ago, so I have a complete graveyard setup (inside and out) and a complete (but still tons of stuff on the idea list) set of carnival. Can't bring myself to get rid of either now, so I guess I'm stuck with both themes until I'm officially done.

I don't buy hardly anything any more. I went out today and got two things at the At Home clearances. They had TONS of really cool things still, but nothing I had to have, and I'm tired of storing SO MUCH STUFF in all the rooms and garage. This entire year, I bought maybe 5 things total - one painting/print I'd been waiting on (and bought on clearance), one sign, giant cat eyes and a mermaid skeleton and of course candy for the TOTs.

I just did a HUGE purge of stuff. I gave away 2 entire truckbed loads of props that didn't work right or were just not good for my overall style any more. I have a large area of my dining room filled with really, really nice things that are either new or like new that I don't want any more. I still have to figure out if I'm going to either sell or give away.

After the purge, my attic is clear, my garage is clean and easy to get into and see everything (nicely labeled boxes too) and I can put the car, bikes and lawn equipment in with no problems.

The fact that I'm now storing my garbage cans in the carnival ticket booth is actually quite comical. Really classes up the place.

 

[Muffy]

I'll be 60 in December and been doing this for a long time,.........still i can't seem to let go of things. It's been kind of easy making that decision especially these last 4-5 years since Jerry has decided he no longer wants to put any of this stuff up any more. He never said anything just simply started not getting the haunt done every year and not caring about that while it was giving me a nervous break down......to make matters worse I never stopped buying stuff. There is stuff that has never come out of the box yet from at least 2 seasons ago, not even mentioning all the materials I had been buying through the years to do projects.

I bought a lot this year to add to my Egyptian display and a bunch of stuff to make dracula's museum, nothing made it out to display. We went with a few lines of lights and pumpkins on the porch. Next year I hope to do my "tribute to the Walking Dead", been buying stuff for 4 yrs to build the sets. If he's not gone help me I'm gone have to give in and sell those 12 new 10gal. fish aquariums I bought to put the heads in!

There is Halloween stuff in every room, the garage and the basement Only place you won't see it is in the bathrooms.....guys said please give us peace in one place!

 

[Madame Leota]

I've been purging for the last two or three years. I scaled my display way back this year and I actually loved the simplicity and the ease of set up and tear down. All I really have left to store are fencing and tombstones (neither of which were used this year), six pose & stay skeletons, a few ground breaker zombies, some large spiders, carved faux pumpkins, and my flood and spotlights. The ground breakers should probably be the next things to go, as they are seriously decomposing, and not in a good way. I'm going to try and stick with the simple display with good creative lighting. My most popular area of my yard this year was the jack o'lantern face on my garage door I did with black duct tape and hit with an orange fire & ice light. Cheap, simple, and apparently hugely impressive. No storage space required! That's the kind of impact I'm going for from here on out.

 

[lizzyborden]

This is just part of it! I did go through it last year and display about two totes worth, but the majority of it hasn't been out since 2013. My main problem is that my husband likes cute stuff and I don't. Of course now that we have a little one I'm more partial to displaying the cute stuff. I'm on the second day of cleaning the above room which will get new paint and new flooring and them be put to use as a bedroom/office/Halloween room. I'm sure that I won't have near enough room to display everything so I'll have to weed out a bit. I also have blow molds and lots of paper mache props and even a few totes of misc parts and pieces to build even more stuff. Think maybe I need a support group

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

I may be .. wrong? Isn't there a Latex that will not decompose? If all of our favorite old masks and heads were made of such a product, wouldn't THAT BE NICE!
I had a Bat mask from the late 1960s that finally was totally gone just a few years ago. It may have actually been made from some sort of Vynl?

I have put a lot of money and effort into any yard displays here, but they don't ever get taken down or put away, like the big steel Skull or the steel submarine that is about the same size as a real midget submarine.
Someone stole the upper half of a Martian, they left the bottom half because it was made on steel and concrete, the top was much lighter (And had "Personality"!)
My biggest on-going concern now are all the junk-trees that surround this place and if or when limbs begin to fall?
I'm now 68. As long as I keep "Moving" I feel fine to excellent !!
I do love taking people through this house. I believe it even keeps me more healthy! During a house tour I run up and down 54 stairs-Minimum for each group.
Maybe I'm just trying to impress the female ghosts here?

 

[Deadna]

I purged all of my xmas stuff this year easily but can't seem to give up on any Halloween. I did notice that staying away from the forum has kept me from constantly thinking about Halloween and running out to buy all the items shown here or make a cool prop that members have done.

 

[Muffy]

Beware of what you toss!!!

My new hubby had a winnebago, same one as Dale on the Walking Dead. It sat for sometime at my Father-in-Laws house. When we bought this new house we had it towed over here and it sat here for a few years. Finally 2 yrs. ago he decided to get rid of it, so we called the local guy that has a junkyard of vehicles to come and get it. He paid Joe $400.00 for it>>go figure that!

I went over there last year to inquire if he still had it sitting around and how much would he rent it to me for Halloween and to haul it to our place and then take back out there. Needless to say he already took it all apart and sold it.

Ya see....you are always gonna need, at one time or another that piece you got rid of! I cannot believe I had Dale's Winnebago and when I need it now for the tribute to the Walking Dead I'm on the lookout for someone with a Winnebago sitting in their yard that I can rent for Halloween 2018.

 

[MacabreWeb]

I think there should be a term like "Halloween maturing" LOL or something. I kind of go through this each year. I see a bajillion things I want to buy or make for my collection, but then as I am putting stuff up, I'm like okay I actually don't need that and this is exhausting having a living room covered in boxes while I figure out in my limited space where I'm gonna put everything. It was causing me major stress.

I add one or 4 new small items to my collection, but I turn around and cycle out some stuff too. I think it happened when I discovered I wasn't enjoying getting everything out and realizing how much storing it takes up. I don't want a mass of things just because I love Halloween, I want them to be curated and specially picked to add touches here and there.

Having a smaller collection than I use to also allows me to mix up themes better.

 

[Edmund K]

This has ironically been my year of expanding my props inventory, after telling myself for years that I don't have the room in my garage or basement for such stuff as treasure chests or (multiple) skeletons, or tombstones(!). This thread gives me a view of what's to come for me, and it is very insightful!
I turned 50 in August, (still feel like I'm about 25, and never act my age) and I thought to myself, "what the heck; build your crazy things and figure out storage later--or donate it all" life is speeding on. I've spent a larger part of my first fifty years loving the holiday and the trappings of Hallowe'en, and so by golly, I'm not waiting any longer to take the props building plunge!!
I'm actually needing to purge some other, non-Halloween-related stuff to make room for my creations, and I'm having a good time doing that!
Thanks to several posts here, warning about tossing items that, at present, seem superfluous, I've decided to have a "holding pen" of sorts that includes items I can live without, but don't need to remove from the house immediately. After a month's time, they can either go to Craigslist, the Salvation Army, or I'll find them a new home somewhere under the stairs.
There are items I have that haven't seen the light of day for years, and I wonder, "why do I keep them"? Then I realize they are a material link to a time in the past, that the memory of the event, or persons connected to it, are no longer here; the item becomes a touchstone to reinforce the fading images stored in the memory's photo album. Some things just need to fade into memory, making room for new experiences and emotional responses in the here-and-now.
Thanks to you all and your posts here to lend perspective to all this!