This is ME, completely! Because in addition to all the mess and clutter, we also have a massive amount of credit card debt (hmmm, related, ya think?). So I constantly think that I should have a garage sale or haul it to an auction or something to get some money out of it (you know all those website that say - sell everything you can to pay off debt!). But here's the thing -- I live on a farm. And not a farm just off the highway where you could draw traffic in. So if I have a garage sale, I either have to find someone who will let me bring stuff in and have a co-garage sale with them, or haul it to a community garage sale. I have way more stuff than would fit on a table, so community garage sale is kind of out, plus what would I do with the kids? They'd be running around like crazy, and it would probably cost more than I would make to leave them with the babysitter. There is nobody in my little hometown whom I would feel comfortable asking to take in my crap for a garage sale (all my relatives around here also live on farms), so the next place where I could do that is about an hour away. Now, about 3 years ago, I did haul everything to my cousin's house when she was having a garage sale. They were borrowing our horse trailor for a move, so I just loaded everything in there and my husband hauled it up with the truck. I made something over $400. Cost? I drove to her place 3 times = about $30 in gas. While we were there, I had to feed my kids, so fast food. And because she was hosting the garage sale, on the second day, I offered to buy lunch for her and somehow ended up buying lunch for everyone who was staying with her. I forget exactly now, but the cost of that lunch alone was over $50. Plus I bought supper as take out going home on Saturday, so there's another $40 plus. Plus the gas for my husband to haul the trailor up with his truck -- another $10 at least, probably more, which he wouldn't have had to spend if I hadn't needed him to move the stuff for me. True, I could have packed lunches and just made supper and whatever, but I found myself fairly stressed out by the whole garage sale business. So for the couple of days work beforehand pricing and boxing and loading and unloading and the two days of the sale, I made just over $50 a day. This is not to be a snob about $50 a day, but it really wasn't worth it, although I did get some nice visiting in with a few relatives. And then after, there was still quite a bit of stuff left that I had to deal with (I still have at least one tub in the basement that I never unpacked). The other option, hauling stuff to a consignment auction, would involve less work, but still some work to move things, and realistically, the kind of stuff that I have mostly goes for $1 a box.
Still -- I keep on thinking about having that garage sale. Today, I actually took in some things to donate, including one of the things that I think I should sell (even though realistically it might only get a couple of bucks). I thought about what I would pay, if I had the money, to have someone come in and clean up for me, or to hire an organizer or something like that. Basically, what would a clean, uncluttered house be worth. I figured it would be worth at least $500 to $1000. So I told myself that unless I knew I would make more than $1000 holding onto everything and then trying to sell it, that I would be better off just getting it out of the house and treating it as if I was spending that money to have a clean house. Thinking that way really helped me. I'm sure I will come across more than a few things where I really REALLY think I should sell, but I figure if I do, there is a free trading post type website for my area that I can post on, and when I find out that my whatever would only net me $5 but it would cost me $10 in gas to deliver it to whoever wants it (NO one wants to come here, even when I've listed things on freecycle -- they just assume I will drive an hour or two and deliver), it will be easier to just get rid of it. Also, there are some community garage sales of organizations in town that I wouldn't mind supporting with stuff -- e.g. the hospital extended care. If I happen to catch the ads in time next summer (assuming I am still doing this), I can take stuff there. One time my church had a garage sale and I brought boxes and boxes of stuff. I priced it quite cheap, but I think it just about all sold, so I was happy to think of it as a donation to the church. I suspect that most of the stuff that I think is valuable will turn out to not really be that valuable when selling it second hand.
I'm not going to worry about it so much right now as long as I am getting rid of anything and getting some cleaning done (I'm sure I've got months worth of that just to make my house look somewhat presentable instead of the dump that it is right now), but I think where I am going to get stuck is with stuff that I could get rid of but might need in the future. It's one thing to get rid of something that might be worth some money but I will never need, and another to get rid of something that I might have to replace. That's the packrat in me, I suppose. Example -- all my clothes that are a little too small (yes, weight problem to go with the debt and the clutter -- everything's a mess with me) -- if I actually do lose weight, I would really regret getting rid of the clothes, and I actually would have to buy replacements. Because I don't live near any second hand clothing stores (the one closest does not have great stuff and prices things pretty much the same as you could get at a year end sale), I would probably end up buying new. But because of the debt (which even in the best of circumstances, not including unexpected lottery wins or inheritances, will take 5 years to pay off), I don't want to have to spend the money. I think that will be tough for me. However, maybe what I will do is just look at everything and unless it was a favourite that I loved to wear (and at the moment, I can only think of one belt that I really liked), I will figure out what it would cost to replace everything and probably it won't be as monumental an amount as I'm assuming. Also, I am expecting, but I am expecting this to be the last one, so in a few years, I'll have baby stuff to get rid of. I've heard there is a consignment sale every spring about an hour away where I might feel I have to bring all my stuff, but maybe if I've done well with my decluttering, I will feel okay with just letting it go in dribs and drabs as the child outgrows things. My kids are all quite big, so I expect by the time this one is 6 months, he will already have outgrown any baby clothing sized 12 months or less.
Anyway, I constantly battle that "should sell this and get some money cha-ching" feeling. I'm looking forward to hearing how other people deal with it.
