After complaining about not enough time in my life, a friend told me that I did not own my stuff; it owned me. I thought about all the dusting, packing, storing, moving, etc. that my things required.
Down sizing made sense to me, so I created three categories. The new things I gave as gifts, used ones I sold in garage sales or donated to charities and other people's stuff went back to them.
Spaciousness and more time was my reward.