We have a big task ahead of us this year. We'll be putting our house on the market. I'm not really ready to announce online for the whole world to "hear" the reasons why we're doing this. Just know that we're aware it's a buyers market, but we really have no choice. We're waiting until the end of the summer because we bought our home back during the big first time home buyers incentive time and we have to be here for three years or we owe the government money. Who wants to owe them money? Not me! If only we knew then what we know now, we'd never have bought a house here.
In the nearly 3 years we've been here we've made a lot of changes to the house. Unfortunately, we need to make more to make it really appealing to new buyers. Sigh...and at the same time we're needing to de-junk, de-clutter and basically get rid of anything that isn't necessary. This isn't really a bad thing. I'm not a hoarder. But it's hard to get rid of stuff. It just is.
I'm not going to lie, it's daunting. Where do I begin? I love books. Like really, really, really, really love them! I have four full bookcases of them. Not big bookcases, but still...they're full. Will I ever read them again? A few, maybe. Most, no. It should be easy to part with them, right? I mean, back when I was a newlywed I took a ton of books into my work and let my co-workers take whatever they wanted. I loved it! I like to give things away. But who do I give all these books to? I don't work anymore. I don't want them being tossed away...they're books, precious books! I can't afford to ship them to anyone, because that's expensive!
And clothing...I have a lot of clothes. Not many new items (although I did get new jeans yesterday with a gift card I got from my dad for Christmas...and they were a size smaller than my other jeans...yay me!), but lots of clothing nonetheless. I *think* I've finally gotten rid of anything I had in high school. But I have plenty of items I've had since college. And I graduated a decade ago...wow, I suddenly feel old, have you seen my walker? That might not seem so bad...until you realize that I've had 3 kids and my body is so NOT the same as it was back then. These clothes don't fit. They may never fit even if I lose a million pounds. My body is different. But I like these clothes. They have memories. Like my professional looking, fitted, red, 3/4 length sleeve shirt I bought at The Mall of America back in 1999 on my way to Chicago to start my summer internship at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The cute green and tan skirt I bought during my mid-college crisis when I briefly dropped out and moved to Arizona. I grew up that year. I figured out who I am...sort of, I'm still evolving. The lavender floral dress I wore to my wedding Open House in Massachusetts the week before I got married...and the cute little lavender pumps I got at Nordstroms that matched it...and only it. The red Hawaiian print dress I got in Hawaii on my honeymoon. It was fun trying dresses on for my husband. He urged me to get this. Little did we know I'd be pregnant about 3.8 seconds after returning home. I don't think I ever wore it. And the article of clothing that takes up the most room...my wedding dress and massive slip. We didn't get my dress dry cleaned after getting married. Ew, I know. I barely wore it. An hour here, a couple hours there and that's it. But the bottom has dirt from being dragged along the ground a bit as I walked around. This is the single most expensive piece of clothing I have ever owned (and word to the wise...just rent your dang dress...although I love my dress and felt beautiful in it). I can't just toss it. I have a feeling this thing will be taking up space in closet after closet in home after home for the next 50 or so years.
Anyway...how do I just get rid of this stuff? I can toss the old t-shirts and holey jeans. I can toss the girls' stained and tattered clothing. Broken toys, easy...see ya! But unused wedding gifts still in their boxes...too old to return to stores, but still unused and too sad to toss. What do I do with those?
I need motivation. I need to just take a garbage bag and blindly toss things away. I need boxes to donate this stuff. I need to drop the emotional ties...or I will be a hoarder...or not. Have you seen how gross those houses are? I could never live in a bug infested, poop covered, cobweb full house. Nope. I like seeing carpet and not smelling poo. I like the smell of Pine Sol and Clorox.
Ah...me and my first world problems. ;)
In the nearly 3 years we've been here we've made a lot of changes to the house. Unfortunately, we need to make more to make it really appealing to new buyers. Sigh...and at the same time we're needing to de-junk, de-clutter and basically get rid of anything that isn't necessary. This isn't really a bad thing. I'm not a hoarder. But it's hard to get rid of stuff. It just is.
I'm not going to lie, it's daunting. Where do I begin? I love books. Like really, really, really, really love them! I have four full bookcases of them. Not big bookcases, but still...they're full. Will I ever read them again? A few, maybe. Most, no. It should be easy to part with them, right? I mean, back when I was a newlywed I took a ton of books into my work and let my co-workers take whatever they wanted. I loved it! I like to give things away. But who do I give all these books to? I don't work anymore. I don't want them being tossed away...they're books, precious books! I can't afford to ship them to anyone, because that's expensive!
And clothing...I have a lot of clothes. Not many new items (although I did get new jeans yesterday with a gift card I got from my dad for Christmas...and they were a size smaller than my other jeans...yay me!), but lots of clothing nonetheless. I *think* I've finally gotten rid of anything I had in high school. But I have plenty of items I've had since college. And I graduated a decade ago...wow, I suddenly feel old, have you seen my walker? That might not seem so bad...until you realize that I've had 3 kids and my body is so NOT the same as it was back then. These clothes don't fit. They may never fit even if I lose a million pounds. My body is different. But I like these clothes. They have memories. Like my professional looking, fitted, red, 3/4 length sleeve shirt I bought at The Mall of America back in 1999 on my way to Chicago to start my summer internship at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The cute green and tan skirt I bought during my mid-college crisis when I briefly dropped out and moved to Arizona. I grew up that year. I figured out who I am...sort of, I'm still evolving. The lavender floral dress I wore to my wedding Open House in Massachusetts the week before I got married...and the cute little lavender pumps I got at Nordstroms that matched it...and only it. The red Hawaiian print dress I got in Hawaii on my honeymoon. It was fun trying dresses on for my husband. He urged me to get this. Little did we know I'd be pregnant about 3.8 seconds after returning home. I don't think I ever wore it. And the article of clothing that takes up the most room...my wedding dress and massive slip. We didn't get my dress dry cleaned after getting married. Ew, I know. I barely wore it. An hour here, a couple hours there and that's it. But the bottom has dirt from being dragged along the ground a bit as I walked around. This is the single most expensive piece of clothing I have ever owned (and word to the wise...just rent your dang dress...although I love my dress and felt beautiful in it). I can't just toss it. I have a feeling this thing will be taking up space in closet after closet in home after home for the next 50 or so years.
Anyway...how do I just get rid of this stuff? I can toss the old t-shirts and holey jeans. I can toss the girls' stained and tattered clothing. Broken toys, easy...see ya! But unused wedding gifts still in their boxes...too old to return to stores, but still unused and too sad to toss. What do I do with those?
I need motivation. I need to just take a garbage bag and blindly toss things away. I need boxes to donate this stuff. I need to drop the emotional ties...or I will be a hoarder...or not. Have you seen how gross those houses are? I could never live in a bug infested, poop covered, cobweb full house. Nope. I like seeing carpet and not smelling poo. I like the smell of Pine Sol and Clorox.
Ah...me and my first world problems. ;)
