I have so much stuff

Monday is the day...the day we get our new digs.  It's my birthday too.  So this year I get the best birthday present ever.  We are so excited, nervous, stressed, and a million other emotions all balled up together.  We went and showed our oldest daughter the RV last week and just sat in there...soaking it all in.  We are really going to do this.

As we sort through our things we are finding it easier and easier to leave stuff behind.  I've loved experiencing the process of letting go.  When I start with 100 things, I think I need to keep at least 50 of them.  When I look at the 50 I see another 25 I can get rid of.  Then I look at that 25 and realize that I was holding onto an extra 15 that I didn't need.  So then I am down to 10 and it might get even less than that after a bit.  And it's really cool to see my children go through the same process.  I love that I am teaching them that all this stuff isn't important.  It will be interesting when they are grown up to see if they accumulate tons of stuff because of this process or if they realize they like living with less. 

I'm amazed at the stuff I have felt like I needed to keep all these years and I have moved it, stored it and moved it again.  How much money has keeping all this stuff cost me...never mind the effort to move it and find a place to store it.  Here are some items I have felt the need to keep all these years:

1.  A box of stuffed animals from my childhood.  Including a giant bear with a missing eye.  I couldn't even find the box to take a picture of it.  That's how buried and apparently important to me it is.  I can remember that bear vividly and even remember his name.  Which sounds like no big deal until you hear his name.  It's Christopher Thomas Robert Alexander Roger Ferguson Porter.  Somehow I can remember the ridiculously long name of my childhood toy, but not of the person I just met yesterday.   But the fact is, the bear is burned into my memory.  I don't need the actual bear.  If I find it I will take a picture of it.  If not, I have my memories.

2.  A bin of old baby clothes.  Most of which I barely remember which child wore them.  I went through it and found 3 items that my grandmother made and I wanted to keep for future grandchildren pictures.  Seriously though, why was I keeping a bunch of stained old clothes?  Like my children are going to be all...oh I wore that and it's all stained, I would love my child to wear that.  Um...no.

3.  While we are on the subject of clothes...let's view this lovely box. Can you read what it says....Jen's smaller clothes.  So I have been hauling around a box of clothes that are too small for me in the hopes I will lost weight.  Because that is exactly what I want as a reward for the hard work of losing a million pounds.  A box of old out of date clothing. 

4.  I've had this big bin of keepsakes for the last 25 years.  It's got stuff like an old jewelry box, a wooden doll that has no meaning to me, a sea shell my grandma bought for me.  Stuff that really doesn't mean anything and keeping it doesn't make me a better person.  This box was full and heavy.  I sorted out what I want to take pictures of or scan.  I threw away most of the stuff and here is what is left.  I would have thrown this stuff away too, but my estate sale person said to save everything.  Okay...I'm sure someone wants that sea shell and that shelf I made in 7th grade woodworking class has got to be worth at least a couple hundred dollars.  I mean....the great Jennifer Smith made it...maybe I should sign it.   :P

5.  I have a shelf full of first aid supplies.  You can't see half of what I have in there.  So if you are over to my house and your leg gets sawed off...I have the supplies needed.  Of course it's probably 20 years old because no one ever had their leg sawed off at my house before....but I'm ready!!

6.  And this is the best...a trampoline that hasn't been used in who knows how long.  It's currently storage for the lounge chairs we barely use...and the hose we don't use to keep it out of the way when my husband mows the lawn.  Such an efficient storage plan.

The best part of all this is helping each other out.  I was going to save a hat my son wore and my daughter looked at me and said...it's a denim hat...what do you need it for.  She was right.  My husband wanted to save our ladder...I said, we live in an RV...what do we need a ladder for...his response was, what if we wanted to hang something up in the tree?  He got the stink eye from me.  It really is easier to get rid of other people's stuff than your own. 

Learning About Estate Sales

Ever since I signed on the dotted line for the RV I have been on a mini roller coaster of emotions. Like the kiddie ride kind, not the Texas Giant kind.  Some days I'm so excited and I want to move in right now.  We own it, let's go live in it.  Then other days I look at something I am going to have to sell and think...what am I doing?  I love my vacuum cleaner.

Isn't she beautiful.  

We have decided to sell everything via an estate sale.  Yes, I could dedicate my life for the next month and a half to sorting, posting, craigslisting, garage selling everything myself.  But I have things to do.  Like find office space for my counseling practice, sort through things I want to keep, celebrate some major holidays...and oh yeah...work for a living.  So we decided the cost of hiring the selling of our stuff out was going to be worth it.

See...that's me and like most people, I have a lot going on.

I have learned much in the last week about Estate Sales.  Not near enough I'm sure, but I'm much more educated on the process than I was a week ago.  I've learned things like:

1.  There are many ways to take advantage of the customer in this business.  When you break it down, I'm inviting complete strangers into my home, they are going to sort all my stuff, they get to price it themselves, they will then sell it all and then they will inform me of the total and how much I get after their take.  Plenty of room for dishonesty.  And I understand that I do not have nice stuff, I will not be making a ton of money.  But this is all I have, I would like it to be taken care of in the best way possible.

2.  Even though you don't own really cool antiques, you can have an estate sale.  I expected the companies to come in and laugh at my stuff.  Nope...they tell me even half used bottles of shampoo will sell.  Who knew?

Sadly this is not my house...look at the goldmine they have sitting there...cha-ching!!

3.  Some companies are much snootier than others.  My house is messy.  (One of the main reasons I'm downsizing...keeping a big house clean is not on my priority list.)  You can walk through it without tripping in most places.  I tried to clean up the cat puke off the floor before they came...you know, the basics.  Some companies have smiled, told me to just move out and leave everything messy...they will take care of it for us.  Some have looked around and wrinkled their nose, apparently irritated that they had to step over the pots in the hallway that catch the rain because our landlord won't fix the roof.  Guess who is going to get our business.

"Dahling...your stuff is not worthy of my services."

I actually like this print...I need to research who drew it.

One of the reasons I have so much stuff is because I can always find an excuse to keep it.  "I got that cooler when I worked as a lifeguard at age 16, I've kept it this long, it would be a shame to throw it out."  "You never know when you are going to need purple fabric with orange flowers on it."  "What if someone wets the bed...then I will be glad I have 3 extra sets of sheets in every size on hand."  

It's much easier for me to part with something when I know that it's going to someone who can use it or I can sell it.  So an estate sale is the perfect solution for me.  Everything is going to have a chance to be sold.  And then a donation truck is going to stop by and pick up the leftovers.  I don't even have to throw away a perfectly good half bottle of shampoo I tried and hated.  How awesome is that!!