My Trash Can Be Someone Else's Treasure

The ever-expanding mass of clutter in our house is now seeking new owners.

We decided to have a yard sale on June 24. This is our first-ever such sale. Both DH and I are packrats, although I am somewhat reformed, and I was always more packratty than he was. When we first moved into our 4-bedroom house, with full basement, I thought that we would never fill it up. However, clutter abhors a vacuum.

For starters, we have wedding gifts that haven't been used in 9 years (on July 5), and will never be used--like glasses, salad bowls, and canisters. We have kids' clothes that DD has outgrown, ages 0-5yrs, plus outgrown shoes and coats. We have toys, stuffed animals, two bouncy seats, a walker, a carseat--all outgrown. I have stacks and stacks of romances and mysteries that my mom keeps giving me to read. However, I usually just list them for sale on half.com. But since I haven't had a sale in about six months, they're going in the yard sale.

I have several purses, mostly Liz Claiborne, that I no longer need. I have candle holders, candles, never-used hand lotions, a dvd player, and several aquariums: 100-gal., 30-gal., 10-gal., and 1-gal. They're all going. We have a matching set of sofa covers that I used a couple of times but look brand-new. I plan to weed through my stationery supplies and my mass o' knick-knacks as well. DH has several boxes of football cards he's trying to get organized to sell.

DD will be running a lemonade stand--1 cup of lemonade and a homemade chocolate chip cookie for 10 cents. Last year, we went to a garage sale and the kids at that house were doing it. She thought that was a great idea.

Slowly but surely, we've been dragging stuff out onto the front porch, which is the staging area. (We are not dragging out the aquariums. If someone wants to buy one, THEY can drag it out!) The task is monumental. Although I have DD's clothes organized by size, they are not organized by outfit. I plan to get up early on Saturday to get everything set up. Maybe I am a perfectionist, but I know that when I go to garage sales, I am more likely to look at everything laid out nicely on a table or blanket, rather than dig through a box. The problem with organizing things like clothes is that I really can't do anything in advance.

We've kind of waited until the last minute to decide for sure what we're selling anyway. We decided we were going to have a sale back in May, and put the date on the calendar, but other than talk about what we might sell, we didn't drag much of it out into the staging area. :) Nothing like two procrastinating packrats!

Part of my (continuing) packrat problem is that when people give me stuff, I don't want to part with it. But as I saw on "Clean Sweep," it's not the object that's important. It's really the thought that counts, and the knick-knacks are holding me back. All the clutter is holding us back. DD's room is piled high with so many toys and books that she has no idea what to play with. Her closet is full of clothes that are too little.

It's time to move on, time to let go.

I told DH that when the sale is over and we see whatever we haven't sold, it's all going straight into the back of his truck to take to Goodwill or somewhere. It's not going back in the house (with the exception of books and any of his FB cards, because we can resell those).

I'm not expecting to make a ton of money, because mostly I just want to be rid of the stuff. The stuff is stifling me. Now, if only I could get my desk cleaned off...