Yep, we are at the next step-the Estate Sale. With 95% of everything packed it is now time to decide what furniture goes and what gets kept. We've narrowed down the "kept" list to about six pieces. Craigslist has been very kind and to date we have not only sold a lot of stuff through the garage sales, but also by individual ads online. That's over $4,000 so far going to our moving expense fund.
So for the last few weeks we have begun too isolate the "goes" into the main floor of the house. Furniture, glassware, art, and everything else is properly labeled, priced, and ni ely displayed on a number of tables. Sign have been hung and the Craigslist ad is up and running. If all goes according to plan we'll have another $2,000 to add to our moving fund.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Electronics- All Those Devices - What to Choose - What to Lose
Computers, laptops, tablets, phones, backup drives, cameras, speakers, and all of their accessories! It's a bit mind-blowing. I started to inventory our "holdings" and was overwhelmed at what we've accumulated:
Five desktop computers - three which we use daily.
Two tablets.
Three laptops.
Portable DVD drive.
Three iPhones.
Four backup drives.
Eight cameras - yes eight!
Two digital portable speakers.
Enough headphones to share the concert with a dozen folks.
Enough camera data chips to last a lifetime.
Cables, plugs, adapters, etc., etc., etc.
When I think about the money that went into all of this it's eye-opening. At this point nothing is newer than a few years and most of it has little worth. It's not the kind of thing people buy at yard sales and the Craigslist and Ebay are saturated. So keeping the dream in focus, it's time to let it go. Most will go to charity. We at least will get a bit of a write-off for taxes. A little might go into the estate sale, like the desktop PCs that are fully loaded.
After a few months of really assessing our needs--space, weight, usability--and talking a lot about what our lives will look like and what we REALLY need, we've come up with the "must-haves" for the nomadic traveler:
One iPhone each. Our local US numbers will be attached and when we travel outside of the country we'll just turn them off. When we get back they will still be useful. We're keeping the third iPhone to use as a foreign phone. We simply buy a SIM card when we travel to a different region and we have a local phone. We did this in Australia and New Zealand and it was an awesome asset. The cost of a local connection is so reasonable outside of the US.
Bobbie will keep her Surface Pro since it doubles as a fully loaded laptop and tablet. It's light, compact and easily stowed.
I will keep my Toshiba Satellite laptop because it has a full keyboard. It only weighs 5 lbs. and it a great size for traveling. I'm also keeping my Dell Venue 8 tablet just because it's easy to stow and great for reading the news, email, etc.
The portable DVD drive may come in handy just because it's really small and who knows when we might want to watch a movie overseas at a B&B or hotel.
We're each keeping a backup drive with our current files. We will use a third to archive all of our photos and important files. That will be put in storage with the rest of our stuff.
One travel speaker and a set of headphones or earbuds each. I have a great pair of JVC noise cancelers that I just can't part with, especially on planes and trains.
And it is time to say goodbye to all those cameras. The days of taking photos with an expensive SLR are gone. Today the only memories we think we'll hang on to are the ones from a small pocket camera and those on our phones.
And then of course there's the assortment of cables, a differetn one for each device...ugh!
Adios to everything else.
Five desktop computers - three which we use daily.
Two tablets.
Three laptops.
Portable DVD drive.
Three iPhones.
Four backup drives.
Eight cameras - yes eight!
Two digital portable speakers.
Enough headphones to share the concert with a dozen folks.
Enough camera data chips to last a lifetime.
Cables, plugs, adapters, etc., etc., etc.
When I think about the money that went into all of this it's eye-opening. At this point nothing is newer than a few years and most of it has little worth. It's not the kind of thing people buy at yard sales and the Craigslist and Ebay are saturated. So keeping the dream in focus, it's time to let it go. Most will go to charity. We at least will get a bit of a write-off for taxes. A little might go into the estate sale, like the desktop PCs that are fully loaded.
After a few months of really assessing our needs--space, weight, usability--and talking a lot about what our lives will look like and what we REALLY need, we've come up with the "must-haves" for the nomadic traveler:
One iPhone each. Our local US numbers will be attached and when we travel outside of the country we'll just turn them off. When we get back they will still be useful. We're keeping the third iPhone to use as a foreign phone. We simply buy a SIM card when we travel to a different region and we have a local phone. We did this in Australia and New Zealand and it was an awesome asset. The cost of a local connection is so reasonable outside of the US.
Bobbie will keep her Surface Pro since it doubles as a fully loaded laptop and tablet. It's light, compact and easily stowed.
I will keep my Toshiba Satellite laptop because it has a full keyboard. It only weighs 5 lbs. and it a great size for traveling. I'm also keeping my Dell Venue 8 tablet just because it's easy to stow and great for reading the news, email, etc.
The portable DVD drive may come in handy just because it's really small and who knows when we might want to watch a movie overseas at a B&B or hotel.
We're each keeping a backup drive with our current files. We will use a third to archive all of our photos and important files. That will be put in storage with the rest of our stuff.
One travel speaker and a set of headphones or earbuds each. I have a great pair of JVC noise cancelers that I just can't part with, especially on planes and trains.
And it is time to say goodbye to all those cameras. The days of taking photos with an expensive SLR are gone. Today the only memories we think we'll hang on to are the ones from a small pocket camera and those on our phones.
And then of course there's the assortment of cables, a differetn one for each device...ugh!
Adios to everything else.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Garage Sales Begin
Now that we have a definite plan, it's time to start unloading all of our stuff. We decided to start with the garage and yard. A Craigslist ad brought about 50 buyers and we sold nearly half of what we have put out. It always amazes me what one person considers junk and the other a treasure. Next week we start adding some household stuff, the yard and patio furniture, and most of the garden tools and equipment. We're saving the furniture, art, and collectibles for an estate sale next month. We delivered a couple of truck loads to the Habitat for Humanity Restock Store. We dropped off books at a local charity thrift shop. The Salvation Army got a few more bags of clothes. It's a good start and the cash from the garage sale will help to cover some of our moving costs.
Finally!
After almost 100 days on the market we received a full price offer. The best part is that it came from friends of ours. How sweet to be selling our home to someone who not only know it and loves it, but to a family that deserves it. The closing will take place following the sale of their home. They have a great place in town and it should move quickly.
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