Losing the Junk

Now that we’ve decided how we are getting our stuff to Portland, we have to plan to get all our stuff into this 8×8x16 foot container. Every inch counts, and the last thing we want to do is move junk that we don’t need or want anymore.

The nice thing about the house we’re in now is that we always knew being here was temporary (although, we have stayed longer than I thought we would!). For this reason, we never invested a lot of money in furniture or decor. Most of our furniture is thrifted or from Ikea. We’ve basically been living in a state I can only describe as halfway between college and adulthood. The good news is that we aren’t attached to most of this, and we will have a clean slate in decorating the new house! Like, totally clean, which is something to consider in our house buying budget since we’re going to need to afford to furnish it too.

Anyway, we have already started purging what we can. I like to use Gigoit to give away items that aren’t worth selling but don’t belong in the trash either. However for items that are worth selling, I’ve been using Craigslist. With very mixed results. I like the idea of Craigslist, but in reality it has exposed me to the dregs of society. I don’t know a nicer way to put it. It’s really frustrating how many no-shows there are. People that are late. People that want me to hold the item for 2 weeks so they can look at it and MAYBE get it. People that wait until I’ve already helped them load the item in their car before they try to haggle me down to half the price. A lady who stiffed me. Did I mention no-shows? And the people that e-mail “is it still available?” even though I wrote in the first line of my ad that I will remove my ad if the item is taken, I swear, no need to ask!

Am I too uptight? Maybe. But all the above happened while I was trying to unload just ten items. It was such a headache, I don’t think I want to go that route for getting rid of everything. eBay doesn’t appeal to me either. So I have decided to have a yard sale as soon as the weather gets warm enough for it. More accurately a driveway sale since we don’t have a yard, but you know what I mean. I have never hosted a yard sale before. Any tips? Is it better to price stuff ahead or just quote it as people inquire? I know I’ll need LOTS of small bills and coins for change. I’m interested in any and all advice on making it go smoothly!

Oh and semi-related; I recently got rid of a lot of my unneeded clothes at a friend’s Ladies’ Clothing Swap. It was such a fun time, about a dozen girls brought over bags of clothes. We organized them by type and then the fun began… free new clothes! You could take as much or as little as you wanted. I got an adorable red and white polka dot sundress and some slacks. The host took the unclaimed clothing to Salvation Army the next day. I remember once I read that these sorts of parties are popular in Portland. They call them Naked Lady Parties. But that’s just what I heard.