Tristan's Yard Sale

I think I posted that Tristan has an opportunity to go to Europe next summer with the Utah Ambassadors of Music program.  He'll visit seven countries in 16 days, and play in the band in several cites, plus listen to the choir sing in some of the most beautiful cathedrals on the continent.  It's an amazing chance for him and we're so thrilled to be able to send Tristan.

But, as you can imagine, it's not cheap.  So we're brainstorming ways to make the money we need.  Our first idea was to hold a benefit yard sale.  I should say it was my idea.  The boys (the one I birthed and the one I married) had their doubts.  We papered the neighborhood with flyers asking people to donate items to us.  Bruce and Tristan didn't think people would give us their junk, uh, I mean, gently used household items.  Boy were they wrong!

The two-car garage was FULL, all the way to the garage door opener.  By the day of the sale, it had spilled over into the house.  We borrowed clothing racks from the church basement and filled them with the clothes--4 full racks.  There were shoes, furniture, household items (2 KitchenAid Mixers), books, movies, and more.  It was amazing! 

Tristan and I spent a full week going through everything, pricing it, sorting it and such.  Some people's idea of what it "useful" or "gently used" were interesting, so we sorted through it all and filled several trash bins/recycling containers.  We had to borrow from the vacant house next door!  (Though, really, that was perfect since much of what went in those bins had come from the previous owners of that house!). 

We held the sale over two days and made nearly $1200.  Over the two weeks after that, we sold items on a local website and made another $150 or so.  We've still got a number of children's items that we'll be selling at the Consignment Sale.  What doesn't sell there will be donated. 

We are thrilled with the progress.  So far, we've got Tristan to New York!  LOL!  There's a lot more to go, but we're well on our way and that's exciting. 

Couponing Is Paying Off

I've been using coupons this year, and I've been tracking my coupon savings. Bruce points out that this is NOT the only way I save money....I LOVE sales and I adore those pretty little "manager's special" tags at my local grocery store for things that are discontinued or nearing their date or whatever.

But I can only track coupons.....

So far, this year, I've saved $221.93.

It takes me about an hour per week to clip, file, and sort them. So, 13 weeks into the year, that makes $17.07 per hour I'm earning/saving!

Me like my coupons!

Another Productive Day

Today we cleaned out the toy cupboard, dumping dozens of games that were missing their pieces, hanging out in broken down boxes. I counted puzzle pieces and came up short, so out to the recycling it went. I asked Bruce to find me the software for an item I'm selling next weekend, and he promptly cleaned out the computer cupboard. Our recycling is full, and Bruce took a load to the dump. I've got books to share with many people, plus dozens and dozens of gently used items to go in the sale next weekend. And I'm nearly done with my inventory for the sale too. Just rounding up a few more things and I have to ask Tristan just what the heck all those pieces belong to and how they go together. I can't sell it if I don't know what it is! LOL!

Spring Break is at an end. Bruce has to go into work tomorrow as he's totally buried there and he spent both Friday and Saturday at home. The girls don't want to go to church, and if I weren't taking several things into people who are depending on me, well, I wouldn't go either. But I am, they are, and so I'll go and probably be glad I did. However, the girls being home gives me the excuse I need to dodge the women's group meeting. I just can't stomach a 4-hour meeting, including a meal plus cleaning up afterwards. I don't have time for that, really, and it's just not that important to me, and I need to stop feeling guilty about that too!

Giveaways and Guilt

Isn't that a catchy title? LOL!

I wish I could say "Giving Away the Guilt," but really I'm not there yet.

See, today, I cleaned out the pantry in the kitchen. As I tried to shove the syrup and peanut butter back in there this morning, I decided that the time had come. I'll never quite understand why someone has to put the box of Triscuits back in there with exactly *3* crackers in it, or why, for the love, can't folks check UPSTAIRS before they raid the stash downstairs. I found *3* boxes of Wheat Thins. All open, all mostly full, and all stale. Bleck! I'm making a sign. We'll see if it works.

Added 2 more bags to the count, and now I can easily put the cereal, peanut butter, and flour away where it belongs!

Now to the point of this post.....(you knew I'd get there eventually, right?)

I gave away my cookie cutters. Again.

Here's the reality. I'm not a cookie cutter mom. Somewhere in my Jane Cleaver-SAHM delusions, I think I should be. But the truth of the matter is, I'm not. I don't like sugar cookies. Shannon can't eat regular sugar cookies, and gluten free ones don't stand up to rolling and cutting and the like. We don't do salt dough around here, either.

I'm not a cookie cutter mom. So, I gave the whole box of cookie cutters to my neighbor. And I feel a touch of guilt about that. But then I realize that having the cookie cutters lurking in the back of the cupboard actually fuels more guilt, reminding me of who I think I should be and who I'm not. So, today I'm embracing that little factoid about myself.

I'm not a cookie cutter mom. And that's okay.

40 Bags Update

I've been editting that other post, crossing things off and such, but it gets bogged down and I think my other posts are getting buried because each time I edit it, I move it to the top of the page, making it look like I haven't written anything else.

So, a quick update.

The kids have really worked hard on their rooms. They're not finished yet, but they've made AMAZING progress and I'm so proud because they've done much of the work.

I've cleaned out the kids' bathroom, with their help.

I cleaned out the bookshelves in the basement, getting rid of DVDs, Wii games, and books. I've finally given up (mostly) the delusion of an "educational" summer. Or at least the kind of education that includes worksheets and planned science experiments. I'm sure the kids will, once again, learn that water+dirt=mud and lots of fun. We'll go letterboxing and to the library, visit a museum or two, the zoo and the aquarium (yes, there is an aquarium in the desert of Salt Lake City). Hopefully, they'll learn to cook a meal or two.

Bruce read something somewhere that said that if you give your kids 12 books to read over the summer (and they do it) then that's really all the need to avoid the summer slump/knowledge loss. My kids are readers. They read everything they can get their hands on. And, as we've sorted through things, they've rediscovered their own libraries. So, in addition to the "stuff" leaving the house, I've gotten rid of a bit of guilt too.

However, there's some guilt still. A bunch of the books Alana wants to get rid of are cute books that my mom gave her. They're truly wonderful books. But they're for pre-schoolers and Alana's long since outgrown them. In a purge a while back, I did keep a pile of books, mostly Dr. Seuss books, for posterity. But really, how much can I keep? How much should I keep? It's not like books are going to fade out of our existance. But actual, physical books with pages to turn rather than screens to slide seem to be on the endangered list (I really hope not...there's nothing like the experience of reading a book...and besides, if you drop your Kindle in the tub.....). So, I'm passing on some of these books. They're going to the preschool program at my church, where I'm sure they will be well-loved. But I still feel just a tad guilty, and I wonder if there will be fall out from my mom when/if she finds out.

And then there are the sappy "To my Daughter with Love" books, also from my mom. I'm not really a sappy person. These books don't really speak to me, encourage me, or make me feel loved. They're too rosy, too lacy, too frilly for my taste. And yet. They're from my mom, and they speak of her love for me, in all it's imperfections. But they also irritate me. Doesn't she know who I am? Doesn't she realize that I'm not a lacy, rosy, frilly person?! Truthfully, these books don't bring me joy. In fact, I grind my teeth everytime I see them and so I don't really want to keep them. But they were given in love, so........

AAAHHHHHH!!!

Just in time.....

A friend posted this on one of my chat lists and it's perfect timing.

40 Bags in 40 Days

Bag Count: 27

So, here's the start of my list of areas to cover:

1. Main floor bathroom
2. Kitchen Pantry
3. Kitchen Junk drawer
4. China Hutch
5. Music Room
6. Coat Closet
7. Kid's Bathroom (heaven help me!) It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and the older kids helped a bit which made it easier.
8. Master Closet
9. Jewelry Box (I bought a new one that's larger and I just need to move into it). Turns out the new jewelry box doesn't hold as much as it looks like it would, so I still have at least 2, but I've gone through my jewlry, so that counts!
10. Dresser
11-12 Alana's Room (2 days, or one full day)
13-14. Shannon's Room (again, 2 partial or one full day)
15-16. Tristan's Room (yet once more, 2 partial or one full day)
17. Master Bathroom, particularly the catch-all ledge
18. Picnic Closet
19. Toy Closet
20. Store Room--Food area
21. Store Room--The rest of it
22-23-24? My craft room. That's got to be ready for a potential long-term house guest come June and it needs a LOT of cleaning out.
25. White computer cupboard
26. DVD/Book/Computer Game shelves
27. Kids' Art Shelf and Game cubbies Yippee! Lots of things found their righful home, and lots of stuff tossed or recycled. This wasn't on the "list" for today, but Bruce got started on it, and once he does that, there's no holding back. Of course, I still wonder why there was a sweatshirt shoved in next to the coloring books, or why the dress-up clothes wound up crammed inside the Little People House, but whatever.
28. Laundry Room
29-31 Garage (This one is Bruce's problem)
32-33 Shed (Again, mostly on Bruce)
34. Computer Files....technically not something that will result in actual "bags" of "trash," but there will be lots of things to be sorted, organized, and ultimately recycled. I need to move files, especially photos and scrapbooking projects on to my external hard drive, but I'm not sure how to do it in a way that my program will be able to find them again. Cleaned up some of my "Favorites" today. 3/26 Moved my photos and scrapbook projects to my external and then deleted from my hard drive. My computer is MUCH happier!
34. Master Bedroom Bookshelves

Update 3/22: Today I cleaned out the "lost sock basket" that was about 1/2 full of mismatched, lonely socks. Some of them found their life partners again and will happily join their sock friends in the sock drawers. Others found their mates and will be going off to make new friends in someone else's sock drawer. And, yes, I kept some because I haven't finished all the laundry, nor have I even begun to see what's waiting under the kids' beds. But a pile of them went out to the trash. Of course, by throwing them away, I've now just about guaranteed that I'll find some mates this week or next, but really, who cares? It's a pair of socks. We have plenty of socks, and if we didn't, well, we'd be able to buy more, thankfully.

Update 3/29: Over the weekend, while I was at the Scrapbook Expo, Bruce and the girls got started on their rooms. There's lots of work left to do, but the girls did a great job and I'm so proud of them for taking the reigns