Success at last!

The yard sale was a huge success....I'm still in disbelief.

I put everything outside, and was a bit surprised that as cramed full as it looked inside my house, all of my things on the lawn looked amazingly sparse. The flow of people was slow but steady, and I first had a touch of anxiety, watching people pick through my things. It felt strangely violating at first--a woman trying on my sunglasses...... a man picking through the bins.... I wanted to scream at first: "HEY! THOSE ARE MY THINGS! SHOW SOME RESPECT!"

Then it hit me. I have all this emotional attachment to this stuff--it's why it's been crammed in my house all this time--these folks have ZERO attachment to it. To them: it's just a pair of sunglasses. And that's exactly what they are: just a pair of sunglasses. Not a memory. Not a lost childhood. Not a crushed dream. My ex-wife gave me those sunglasses--and they were fun while I wore them. Now they just remind me of my painful divorce. I sold them for a dollar--it was incredibly liberating.

After the first two sales, I was on a roll. I priced the furniture too high, so I'll try again online to sell the big pieces, but I sold HALF of everything that I put outside. Entire BOXES of stuff--gone! I sold things that I swore I'd never get rid of ... and it's okay. In two months, I'll competely forget why it was so important that I keep them.

I sold all of my fire department memorabila--the figurines, the tins, the photo frames, model toys--all the crap that my ex-wife and her mother gave me--all gone. It depressed me to look at all that stuff--I still love the fire department, but I don't need to clutter up my house with fire department crap.

And best of all.... I made $155 off of the day's sales. I'm hoping to put that money towards a nice flat screen, assuming I can sell my TV and entertainment unit next. My new goal is move 100% of the unwanted items out by the end of June so that I can totally redecorate/furnish the living room...but nothing comes in until it all goes out!

It did start to rain....and I quickly packed up and pulled it all back into the house...so the childhood nightmare had a chance for me to play it out, and give it a positive ending. maybe that will stop that nightmare for good.