MamaMolly
01-15-2008, 12:51 AM
I'm stuck! I've been reading and following the plan from Peter Walsh's book "It's All Too Much". I now have a huge pile of stuff in my basement that is either headed for a garage sale or to charity and I can't make up my mind what to do.
On the one hand, we could really use the money from a garage sale. Even if we price everything at $1 per item we'd still make a lot. We have moved 6 times in 10 years and even though I've unloaded bus loads to charity with each move, we still have another stack to go. And let me add that I'm getting some pressure from DH to sell the stuff instead of giving it away. So a garage sale would make him happy, too.
I'm one of those weirdos who like to have a garage sale. I've done 3 sales before, but never with kids. I think DH would most likely take DD for the day and stay out from underfoot. Which is kind of not good and not bad. He won't really help but he won't really bug me either. We live in a townhouse off of a side street so the only way to really get traffic would be to have a community sale, which would mean volunteering to organize it (which I've assisted with once but have not done on my own).
It also means waiting for spring, with a massive pile in my basement that I have to step around and over every day to get to the laundry and freezer. The pile is already on my nerves and stresses me out. But at the end of the day, I'd have some cash.
On the other hand, there would be taking it to charity which would free up a lot of space in my basement and make everyday life a little smoother. Unfortunately the Salvation Army and Goodwill drop off sites are pretty far away so it means loading up the car (over and over) and driving the stuff out there (over and over). And I seriously doubt DH will help with loading up the car. He hasn't done it in the past, what usually happens is that I get so fed up with the piles that I work myself into a snit and do it myself.
So I'm looking at choosing between a fairly instant but labor intensive donation or a frustrating wait with a financially rewarding garage sale. Either way I go I will have a boatload of work on my hands so I guess I'm asking if the wait would be worth the cash to you.
What would you do?
On the one hand, we could really use the money from a garage sale. Even if we price everything at $1 per item we'd still make a lot. We have moved 6 times in 10 years and even though I've unloaded bus loads to charity with each move, we still have another stack to go. And let me add that I'm getting some pressure from DH to sell the stuff instead of giving it away. So a garage sale would make him happy, too.
I'm one of those weirdos who like to have a garage sale. I've done 3 sales before, but never with kids. I think DH would most likely take DD for the day and stay out from underfoot. Which is kind of not good and not bad. He won't really help but he won't really bug me either. We live in a townhouse off of a side street so the only way to really get traffic would be to have a community sale, which would mean volunteering to organize it (which I've assisted with once but have not done on my own).
It also means waiting for spring, with a massive pile in my basement that I have to step around and over every day to get to the laundry and freezer. The pile is already on my nerves and stresses me out. But at the end of the day, I'd have some cash.
On the other hand, there would be taking it to charity which would free up a lot of space in my basement and make everyday life a little smoother. Unfortunately the Salvation Army and Goodwill drop off sites are pretty far away so it means loading up the car (over and over) and driving the stuff out there (over and over). And I seriously doubt DH will help with loading up the car. He hasn't done it in the past, what usually happens is that I get so fed up with the piles that I work myself into a snit and do it myself.
So I'm looking at choosing between a fairly instant but labor intensive donation or a frustrating wait with a financially rewarding garage sale. Either way I go I will have a boatload of work on my hands so I guess I'm asking if the wait would be worth the cash to you.
What would you do?