And we passed… what I would call the work-camping “letting go” transition exam and I feel pretty good with the results. The final exam consisted of letting the items you own go to either a donation center or the yard sale, pricing the items at the yard sale low enough that it would all sell and being able to work with your spouse without to many arguments or killing them. Myself being the systematic one, have had the ball rolling a couple months now selling the bigger items mostly on Facebook market place or Craigslist. Most of the bigger items I didn’t really have a personal attachment to so getting rid of them wasn’t difficult. Even most of the smaller items I didn’t have an issue in selling although where I did have the most trouble was pricing. Expected? maybe… since we all think our stuff is worth as much as the gold in Fort Knox. Staying focused though on the end result is key to a successful yard sale and oddly I think we nailed it. I question my confidence in the results because when you price things to sell you do wonder if you pricing everything too low. Reality is, you just don’t know. We had the yard sale planned as a four day event and it really was a marathon but again, oddly it all worked for not being prepared. Weeks prior we did box up some items and priced them but with Rebecca still working at Goodwill and myself getting all the vehicles prepared, we pushed everything to the last minute. Days prior to the yard sale we collected a dozen or so tables and with no plan, on August 2nd, the evening before the yard sale, we just started loading the tables with items we had already marked. Unfortunately we had a equal amount of unmarked items but in the end it, it all worked out. The day of the yard sale Rebecca covered being a cashier, price sticker placer, stock person and conversationalist and I did all the hard work such as filling the positions of inventory specialist runner, price sticker placer and manager. I might joke about the jobs we filled but what surprised me the most was how it all meshed together. When items would sell, I was bringing out new items and how running in and out of the house so much, soften the blow that I wasn’t selling gold. After the four day affair what really hit home was that most people don’t actually go and sell all their belongings like we did. I mean… usually folks collect household goods and when they die, it is left for the kids, spouse, etc. to take care of it so the true actual value, that dollar amount once it is all sold is not usually seen by the owner. Truth is… all that stuff in your home really doesn’t add up to much. When we counted the cash after it was all over, we ended up with a mere 2200 bucks, a hard pill to swallow. On the plus, Rebecca and I worked well together with little arguments. I think if we learned anything, it was don’t go buying an expensive couch. Its hard to see 1800 bucks go up in smoke. Bottom line… don’t let the things you own control you or stress you… they really are not worth it.
The Final Exam…
