Wednesday, September 1, 2010

my house in ruins

I would take pictures but I don't think I will ever want to look back at them and remember the condition of my house.

This house-has reached an all time level of grossness. The garage sale was just plain overwhelming. And yeah, it felt fabulous to purge and get rid of stuff, but how in the heck does one make ((a good chunk of)) money and STILL have so much CRAP?!?!

Sunday- the day after the garage sale, I went through and sorted everything- goodwill bins, consignment bins, craigslist. Oh yeah- and then the pile of just "I have no clue what to do with this junk."

We listed the changing table, couches and Victorian chair on Craigslist. And as luck would have it, we sold the changing table the next day :)- here's the really sweet part- at the garage sale I had it marked as 20 bucks- I listed it on Craigslist for 50 and someone actually bought it. WOO WOO!

The consignment stuff can be summed up in one word: OVERWHELMING.

My jeep was packed, as was Ryan's car- with bins of clothing, toys, baby gear, etc. We headed up to "Once Upon a Child" on Monday. I had some high hopes- thinking the consignment shop would take all my stuff, I'd leave with a lot of money and an empty car. HAAAAAAAAAA. Apparently everyone has the same idea as me- because "Once Upon A Child" was overstocked with just about everything. "Oh no- we're not taking onsies- we're overstocked. No we're not taking baby bjorns- we're over stocked." BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. They took *MAYYYYYBE* half a tote of clothing and a few "big" items which did total out to around 110 bucks. Not too bad.

The problem? I still have a jeep full of CRAP. I know you're all thinking- cut your losses and send it to goodwill- and I am- I will- but I've got a Disney vacation to pay off and I'm trying to milk this sale for everything its worth.

TODAY, I headed to our local consignment shop "Clothing Carousel." I have shopped there before and noticed that they take some dingy stuff. Meaning- maybe they'd overlook the pin needle sized dot of whatever on a pair of jeans. The ladies there were super helpful- and way quicker than the people at "O.U.A.C." but I still ended up leaving with a ton of stuff! WHAT THE HECK???

Ryan texted me, asking me how the consignment shop experience was- and the actual experience of them not taking half of my stuff combined with the two grumpiest children in Jackson county, my response back to him was "consignment shops can kiss my..." yahhhh...

This whole purging experience has been great- its been eye opening and humbling. I will never, EVER again let ourselves get so overloaded with material CRAP. This is going to sound super stupid- especially since I quote Jack Johnson on a regular basis- BUT, the entire time during the garage sale prep, the actual garage sale itself and all my consignment shop adventures I kept singing the song "Gone" in my head... "Look at all those fancy clothes, but these can keep us warm just like those..."

How true are those words??? There is just no need for boxes and bins full of stuff... I think it makes my mind feel cluttered to have my house cluttered. Make sense?

Anyways... back to how my house is in ruins. So after 2 days of garage sales, 2 days of consignment shops, the house is still overrun with stuff. I'll be calling "Encore" to come and get it all sometime this week. Because honestly at this point- I need my house back. I need space... I need clean... I need my clutter free mind.

:)...ahhhh feels better just saying it :)


3 comments:

Manda said...

Ashley I always feel just like that after a sale and yeah -- all the consigning too -- it's really draining, and overwhleming, and just plain yuck. Hopefully what you did consign will sell quickly for you!

Angie B said...

Thanks for sending some to ENCORE because that is what is keeping JCS afloat!! half our students benefit from financial aid from Encore!

k and j said...

I love your blog :) :) You totally crack me up...and you make soooo much sense to me ;)