I’m pretty good about dealing with the ends of a Bell
Curve. Extreme sadness or medical issue
can be dealt with; joy and jubilation can be dealt with. But this slow stream of having to give up
things that have been a part of me is really, really difficult. Intellectually, I understand that in order to
have room for the new, the old needs to be discarded. But, boy, it is difficult. I also understand that the less “stuff” one
has, the easier it is to clean the space….mentally and materially.
We are moving into a space one half of the current
footprint. When I agreed to move, I
didn’t expect to find a new location so quickly and I didn’t expect the
experience to be so tumultuous.
Selling things conjures up feelings of sadness, fun,
excitement, and resignation. To have a
house sale or not; to sell pieces individually on Craig’s List or eBay or
Facebook Marketplace or not; to donate or not; to locate a consignment shop or
not. And of course, all this while trying to keep the daily routine and
responsibilities. Whenever I think about
or utter the word “trying”, I remember a comment by Tony Robbins who said
something like “trying” is not doing. So
I will rewrite the above phrase: all
this while keeping the daily routine and responsibilities. I actually feel better. Less overwhelm.
Lessons learned from selling a house: 1) the less cluttered
it is, the better it shows; 2) the cleaner it is, the better it shows; 3) the
better your paperwork, i.e., the dates, companies, improvements made, the
easier the disclosure form can be completed and the more accurate the written
description for the house ads becomes; 4) lower expectations for meal prep
during the time the house is on the market makes for less stress; 5) every day
is a day in which the perfect buyer will see the house so every day the house
must look pristine.
I will be speaking to an AARP group later this month about
my blog and my mission to encourage people to organize their intentions so that
those who inherit the responsibility to deal with the person’s incapacity or
death will actually know where things are and what to do.
Contact me if you have a Pittsburgh group that would be open
to having me speak.
Hi, Naomi,
ReplyDelete1. Where are you speaking to an AARP group in Pgh? 2. One woman's trash is another one's treasure. 3. I identify with what you have written. I have been gradually getting rid of stuff, much of it donated to Freestore 15104 in Braddock and Thriftique. By in large, it's much harder to sell stuff. And then there's the attic, where we had put stuff from our last house, and never looked at it the whole time since moving into our present one. For me, I'm totally deaf to those who say, "Oh, you could get good money for that," and, not being desperate for the disappointing amounts of cash I'm likely to receive for my heirlooms, I'll get my gratification from another less fortunate person or family enjoying my stuff. Happy Springtime! Jim