Boxes Boxes Everywhere, And All Of Them Will Leave
Our neighborhood association is having a yardsale this weekend, and we are taking part. I’ve got markers and signs galore with “Baby/Kids Clothes” written on them in big letters, and I feel good to go. But this year, something will be different.
You see, we had two yardsales last year. And since then, sitting in our garage, have been about 5 boxes of stuff that didn’t sell, waiting for this year’s yard sales. No more. No more holding on to stuff just to see if I can eventually sell it. I guess I kept it because I figured I wouldn’t have anything new to sell this year, but, interestingly enough, even though we bought less, I seem to have even more stuff to purge. I’ve finally booted a bunch of my kids toys, I’ve been sorting through collections of CDs and DVDs and books and purging, I’ve even pared down my closet more than last year. We have 10 boxes of stuff to sell this year (plus 4 boxes of outgrown kids clothes) in addition to the leftovers from last year. Somehow I think we’ll never run out of stuff to stock a yard sale with.
And if we do run out of stuff, we just won’t have a yard sale. Sitting outside waiting for people to argue with you about how much they’ll pay for stuff you don’t want any more isn’t all it is cracked up to be anyway.
And after the second neighborhood yardsale this August, everything that remains goes. Everything. If I can sell it to resale shops, fine, but if not, it doesn’t matter. It will go. Donated, freecycled, whatever works, but it will all go. By the time my son starts school in the fall, everything that has been designated yard sale should be out of my house permanently.
This is now my mantra. I need to repeat it to myself frequently to remind myself that it will happen. Because honestly, I still am quite a hoarder at heart.
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April 30th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Hi PT,
Just had a yard sale a couple of weeks ago myself and made a whopping $10. We have a busy street but probably didn’t promote it as well as we could have. Plus, it seemed like people were looking for specifics instead of general bargain shopping. For example, lots of people looking for girls clothes, but we only had boys.
After the yard sale, I took my ebay selling to the next level, opening an ebay store. Up until now, I just sold an item here and there. I put many of the items for $1.99 and up. Sold 2 items of the 20 or so listed so far (a textbook from college and a Rush concert T-shirt) making about $20 in the process. I haven’t done my son’s clothes yet, but hopefully I’ll take the pictures this weekend. If you can get over your ebay phobia this is a real easy way to sell the clothes you still have. (Trust me, I’ve bought enough stuff for my son on ebay to know this!)
Some of the bigger items, we’ll do the craigslist thing. For now I figure I can unload my extra stuff cheap and put the money towards my debt snowball.
Best of luck with the yardsale!
April 30th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I have a big clear out recently and sold some stuff on eBay, gave some to charity and ditched the rest. It felt great having some more space in the house and my Dad told me that I now had room for new things. I am hoping to actually get rid of more as I love the idea of a clutter free house.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Sitting outside waiting for people to argue with you about how much they’ll pay for stuff you don’t want any more isn’t all it is cracked up to be anyway..
You have just blasphemed something I love.
I shall look past that, though, to the essence of your post. Getting rid of it all will be so freeing for you!
I continue to plod along slowly but surely with the same goal in mind.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Ah a woman after my own heart. I just back a bunch of clothes that did not sell at the consignment shop, I don’t have the drive to sell them on Craigslist right now, so it’s off to Freecycle and if they don’t go by May 15th, it’s off to Goodwill. I am slowly purging my life of my old clothes and unwanted possessions. It’s a long slow process. And like you, I have this tendancy to hoard my things. Sometimes you just have to let it all go.
I live in too small a space, just can’t do it any more.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Yeah, could you maybe take it to Goodwill? Get a nice tax write off? Good luck!
April 30th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Been there, done that: Our neighborhood assoc. also has annual yard sales! Last year we didn’t want to deal so we set out a bunch of odds and ends –really, short lenghts of lead pipe, duct hose, bits & pieces (probably would have brought, maybe, $10), for free during the sale and then entertained ourselves by watching through a window (they couldn’t see us). Voyeurism aside, it was pretty interesting to observe yard sale “FREE” psychology plays out
This year we may try to sell stuff, just depends on how much we think we could get.
When our kids were young it was their “gig” and any money we made (sometimes up to ’bout $200) they split. It made them quite motivated to purge their belongings and sell them. Being young, the absolute $ didn’t matter as much to them as the fun of it all including counting all the nickels, dimes and even pennies afterwards. We’ve had friends of the kids participate, as well as our own friends asking us to sell a few of their items.
The day always ends with throwing away the worthless leftovers/surplus household junk (”NOT ‘Tll 5!”) in a city-provided dumpster, and a potluck at 6. Fun!
Good luck on your sale, and be grateful for every piece that leaves your home in someone elses’ hands, whether you sell it or give it away. Good Karma.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
We finally talked my grandmother - VERY much a hoarder - into going through her basement. I can’t even tell you how many things were saved that it just didn’t make SENSE to save…
But yes. At the garage sale, she actually refused to sell things to people for trying to bargain with her - totally missing the point, of course, to get the stuff physically out!
I offered to freecycle or sell the remaining material (boxes and BOXES of books, which could have brought in a lot, actually), but I was turned down. Instead, she insisted on KEEPING IT ALL IN HER GARAGE UNTIL “NEXT YEAR.” Why would it sell any better next year? I don’t think a year of moisture is going to improve the value.
**argh**
Why is why my boyfriend and I purge often, and try to get the boxes OUT as soon as possible. It’s still hard.
Good luck!!!
–Kate @ sort of grown up