"I wish we'd done this a long time ago."
We keep saying that, not about going sailing (although that surely is true) but about paring down our stuff.
This weekend we did the hard, hard work of sorting through the last remaining corners of the house. We started upstairs and slowly pushed everything that's not being used out of closets and rooms, down the stairs and out the front door. Part of it went in the trash, part got yellow dots for the garage sale. A select few items were set aside for ebay and even fewer went in the ultimate "keep" pile.
What's left behind? A house beautifully devoid of clutter. The closets contain only the bare essentials. The cabinets are efficiently stocked with 6 plates, 6 bowls, some glasses and cups.
What a joy to put away pans now. No avalanche of seldom seen pans (how do they get to the front?), no pushing, pulling, stacking and subsequent cursing.
The bedroom looks huge. My office is so airy and inviting. You could play jai alai in the extra living room space.
Even I want to live here now. Why didn't we do this years ago?
UPDATE:
HOUSE: The first prospective buyer came through this morning. The house is not listed yet, but a friend of a friend heard we're selling. It was a perfect boot into the final phase of making the place look presentable: making the bed, leaving the kitchen immaculate, staging the whole place. We should be listing next week!
BUSINESS: The business is officially on the market as of last Wednesday. The broker has had several "calls," which is probably Outer Banks nosiness. The beauty of having a broker is that we don't have to talk to anyone until they've been prequalified, made an offer and put down earnest money. All we have to do is hand out business cards.
JUNK: This Saturday our junk has one more opportunity to find a new home before heading to charity. All week my car was full to the brim with garage sale junk. I pondered the benefits of leaving it unlocked, and strategically placing a few dollar bills in clear view. Some well-timed thievery would have saved me a lot of time and effort.
BOAT: Isabella still needs some attention before going official. I have most of the bulkhead stripped. Sanding is next. I had a minor varnish tragedy: the wind blew my beautifully varnished teak garage onto a basketball hoop leaving 6 little gouges. ARGH. In my mind they're gnarly two-inch scrapes, but each time I go look, in reality they're little pencil-tip pricks.
CATEGORIES: The Ebay room is almost clear. Mailed out the stereo, cheese cuber and exercise ball. The remaining items are neatly divided in categories: stuff to be stored at Chip's mom's; stuff to be mailed to friends; two small piles that go to the kids; our pile that goes on the boat. It's exhilarating to see how small that last pile is!
WHAT THE?: We're meeting with our accountant tomorrow to figure out how the heck to manage all this. I never imagined worrying about things like capital gains tax. This 'system' neither makes it easy nor holds much reward for cashing out.
2 comments:
A cheese cuber? Seriously? I so need to Google that just to see what it looks like.
This entire journey is so impressive. In less than a year I will use you as inspiration when I endeavor to get rid of half my stuff. And that's only half.
We miss and love you.
xoxoxo
LT
Where are you going to sit? The wood floor is looking a little to hard for me.
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