Oh the Aches….

At last, it’s the Sunday night I’ve been waiting for for two weeks. The night when everything is supposed to be done for the realtor to start showing the house.

Well it’s close.

I can’t possibly say enough good things about how much work Jeff has done to get this house ready to sell. He’s done some excellent handy work. The laminate flooring is in, walls painted, new baseboards painted and installed. We got the front steps scraped and painted. The fence has now been scraped and painted. Vinyl flooring is now in the backroom. There is a new light in my hallway. All that and we had a garage sale for two full days.

We brought in about $255 at the garage sale. Not bad. The second day wasn’t too busy. It rained on the first day. The things I thought would go first are still in my garage because no one bought them – like my dog crates, and BBQ.

Tips for holding a garage sale:
1. One day is enough.
2. Everyone is going to offer you half of what your sticker price is, so keep that in mind when you write the stickers.
3. A lot of really really wierd people come by and want to talk your ear off.
4. Be prepared to just give your stuff away.
5. Have someone else around. It was comforting to know Jeff was here and he kept an eye out when a loon stopped by the sale and he would take money and stash it inside so it wasn’t all on me.
6. Have some clear plastic sheets ready to cover the tables in the rain – people can still look through the clear plastic.

We still have about half of the stuff left so I guess it’ll go to the dump. We took a few things out to the street and put a free sign on them and only one thing is left. People love the word FREE.

I’d say Jeff’s western books by L’mour or whatever his name is (he must have had about 50+ of the suckers) were one of the most popular items. I sold my guitar that wasn’t any good anymore for just $20 and made an old lady’s adult children fight over it until she had to put it away!

Some neighbourhood kids spent a couple hours here. Good bargainers those kids were. They got some good deals. I sold the old laptop Dad bought for $5 at a garage sale to the kid for $2. They eventually brought their parents back and I guess I liked them because I “gave” them my lawnmower for only $30.

No clothes sold. Not one item. I sold my old AMD K6/2 computer for only $25. I wanted that as my back-up center, and even had Gentoo installed on it, but I forsee a new desktop computer in my future within a year (fingers crossed) so I’ll keep this VAIO around for back-ups.

I’m so covered in paint and dirt. Even after a shower. I even went to the dark side, the place I said I’d never ever go, and now I own a Swiffer. Stupid marketing B.S. but I didn’t know how else to clean that new laminate flooring. I’m terrified to scratch it so the vacuum isn’t going in there, and you can’t get it wet, so neither is the mop.

Jeff leaves in the morning on his paid house hunting trip. I trust him…. mostly… I guess it’s just hard give up control. Every house I’ve fallen for is over our budget so it’s up to Jeff. I’ll be way way to frustrated and stressed out if I go, although I’d really love to go and see our options and choices. Jeff said he’ll call lots and take photos.

I’ll spend the week on the final touches around here and getting started on the big web project I’ve got cookin’ up my sleeve. This is a good one that will blow my other online money streams out of the water I hope.

Anyway, I’m achy and tired and dirty and sleepy so I’m going to go lie down and groan for awhile.

[Yes, I know… I took J. out of the closet. Now he’s Jeff. Bold move. I know. Hope he can handle it. He’s warming up to the whole blog thing. Maybe someday he’ll have a blog…. nah, can’t picture it.]

PS. Photos maybe tomorrow…