One Loft Bed W/Desk...To A Good Home

For the past two days, we've held a yard sale at our house. Yesterday was a bust, but this morning...well, it more than made up for it. We've held yard sales in the past--this one was our most successful.

There's a couple of things I've learned from this latest adventure:

1. No matter how much "quality" items one has, some people will look, then drive away.

2. No one needs bookshelves.

3. Things we think no one would want were taken.

4. Things we think would fly off the driveway sometimes don't get sold.

5. A Free Pile is extremely interesting to almost all yard sale patrons...especially to those of the male persuasion.

Let's focus on #4. Because we're moving to a home without tall ceilings, we need to off-load a loft bed. It's from IKEA. It's a full and it comes with a desk. And I thought someone would cart if off to make some kid's day. We started off with a price we felt was reasonable. No takers, no nibbles. For Day 2, we reduced the price of the bed (and everything else...) by half. Still nothing.

Currently, the bed is in our garage waiting to be disassembled and taken to our local thrift store.

Unless, of course, anyone out there wants, or think they can use, it. Let us know, and it's yours. You'll have to come get it--we can't deliver. But hurry, our appointment with the local thrift store is next Friday.

We learned a lot from our little sale. Perhaps the biggest thing we learned is this: don't let the crap accumulate in the first place, then a sale will not be necessary. 

A Marie Kondo De-Clutter Storm Has Hit Our House...

Both my wife and I saw the same meme when we opened Facebook tonight--the same meme posted by different people. A week ago, I'd never heard of Marie Kondo.

Now, she's everywhere.

That's how trends go.

And, as trends go, becoming a disciple of the Marie Kondo method is not a bad thing.

If you've been living under a rock you may not know who Marie Kondo is or what she does. I don't know much about her--I haven't read her book--but I do know she has a show on Netflix. What she does is help people de-clutter not only their living spaces, but their lives.

My wife has watched several episodes of Marie's show and yesterday, she began her de-cluttering adventure. She followed the plan and organized her side of the closet (notice I'm not showing pictures of my side of the closet...). She hit a home run. 

Of course, it's only the beginning. There's mountains of books, papers, and other things against which my wife will go to war--all the time finding joy in the process. It' something I should learn and do, as well. Then, I'll be converted to a Marie Kondo disciple, too.

That's not a bad thing.

Getting Rid Of Stuff...And Why We Have It In The First Place

Last weekend we did a little de-cluttering at our house. We live in an area where there's an incredibly organized and efficient thrift store system. It's run by the LDS Church and there's major stores and donation centers across the state.

Personal note--shopping at these stores, called D.I. (short for Deseret Industries...), is one of my favorite things to do. I could hang out for hours just looking at stuff. I could, and when I had more time, I did. It's amazing to see things that have a history. They were not only produced, but most have spent time in people's homes. These items were bought as gifts, as necessary products, and as impulse buys.

We were re-organizing the boy's upstairs bedroom. When you re-organize, if some things come in, other things have got to go so we loaded up the van and headed to the donation center.

Apparently, we were not the only ones with the same idea.

We usually go on weekdays, not weekends. It's too busy. This time it couldn't be helped. We turned on to the road and realized we'd be waiting a bit--there was a back up just to get into the parking lot. Once we were off the street, I snapped a quick picture showing the line still waiting to get off the road. I posted the picture on social media and it got a lot of responses.

There was one that made me think.

A friend from Denmark wrote, "Hmmmm wonder if people should buy less stuff to begin with...less stuff, less to give/throw away..."

It's a fair point. We live in a land of opportunity and that means, many times, the opportunity to amass a ton of stuff. We're guilty of it. We have a storage room full of some important things, but also things we don't necessarily need. I remember growing up in a larger home that was full of a lot more stuff. Both my parents lived through the Great Depression and they saved. They saved recipes, they saved nails and screws and clothes and tools, and anything that they thought might be needed in the future. I think part of my "collecting" tendencies stem from my parents.

One room down. Hopefully, we'll keep going. And if we do, I'm sure we'll join dozens of others waiting to give stuff away.