According to people who are aware of recent events in my life (preparing for the ‘big’ move), I should be excited. Why wouldn’t I be? Everything I’ve asked for, I’ve been granted. I wanted to get my house under contract, it happened. I needed the inspection to pass, and it did. The appraisal? I’m not terribly worried about it because the agreed-upon price for the house is less than the county appraised it for, so there shouldn’t be any problems. But as far as the actual move, packing everything I want to take, selling or donating everything I don’t, loading everything into pods or U-Boxes and having it transported across several states, I’m not feeling terribly confident. If you were to Google the term ‘overwhelmed’, it’d probably have my image attached to the description. Without any rhyme or reason, I’ve been going from room-to-room in my house, trying to come up with a plan on the best way to make this actual move happen, and I feel like I’m chasing my tail. The house is in utter chaos, by the way. I’ll start pulling stuff out of a cabinet or a drawer, only to be called away in order to respond to a text or message. And then once I’ve responded to the text or message, I forget to return to ‘the scene of the crime’.
For this reason, there are ‘crime scenes’ throughout my home. The kitchen, the laundry room, the sunken living room, the family room, the office, the guest rooms, and the master bedroom are all in complete disarray. I don’t like living in chaos so I’m really struggling. I like ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’. Nothing has ‘a place’ any longer. It’s piled on the floor or on top of counters or on the couch. As we speak, I have music CDs (compact discs) strewn across both of my couches. I had to remove them from the bookcases (where they were previously stored) because I intend to sell the bookcases, and even though the fireplace hearth is closer to the bookcases, I couldn’t use it because it’s already covered with other ‘stuff’. I intend to rifle through the CDs and get rid of the ones we no longer listen to, and in the process of transporting handful after handful from the bookcases to the couch (earlier today), I realized there are a lot that we don’t listen to! What was I thinking when I purchased the soundtrack to ‘Nutty Professor 2’ or ‘After the Rain’ by the Nelson brothers or ‘ NOW’ (Versions 4-27)? I am ashamed to admit that I ever paid money for those CDs!!
In the sunken living room, stereo (and gaming) equipment has been distributed thoughtlessly throughout. There is not only a PS3 gaming console with multiple controllers and countless games (so many games!!) taking up a great deal of floor space, there is also an XBOX 360 console, multiple controllers and games, as well as a Kinect Adapter (for interactive play). There is also a fairly large piece of furniture (a cross between a chest and an ottoman) that includes all of the equipment and accessories required for ‘Rock Band’ and ‘Guitar Hero’. I wish I could say that I have completed my inventory of ‘game related equipment’ but I haven’t. Not even close! I married a ‘gamer’ you see, before there was even a term for someone who played video games constantly, so I have stuff throughout my house from different eras or ‘phases’. I think the first ‘gadget’ we purchased was either a Game Boy or the original Nintendo PlayStation and I cannot explain why, but we still have a Game Boy ‘fanny pack’ filled with Game Boy games! Why? The only possible reason I can come up with is because I thought (if I hung onto them long enough) they’d be worth a fortune someday. In case you’re wondering, they’re not. I just checked.
And if you thought I was done inventorying the sunken living room, you would be wrong! After scanning the room from left to right this afternoon, I decided that my husband and I have a bit of a hoarding problem when it comes to stereo or electronic equipment. One particular ‘item’ we seem to have an affinity for are speakers. There are speakers upon speakers upon speakers! Last I counted, I believe there were 8. Why do we need 8 speakers to deliver sound in one room? I have no idea…but that could be one of the reasons I often say ‘huh’ or ‘what’ when someone asks me a question. Of course, a ‘complete’ entertainment system cannot be comprised solely of speakers. It requires (at minimum) an AV Receiver (to manage the input and output of devices), as well as all of the ‘devices’. The devices in our home include a 5-Disc compact disc player (that refuses to surrender one disc no matter what I do), a VCR (what home wouldn’t be complete without one?), a regular DVD player (which is useless when you accidentally rent a Blu-Ray DVD), and an audio cassette player (am I the only one who still listens to them or are there others who cannot let go of this antiquated way of listening to music?).
What I failed to mention are all of the cables and wire and power cords. My God! If I put them all end to end, I could probably reach all the way from here to Alaska! Alas, I find myself distracted once again. The whole point of tonight’s post was about ‘wheeling and dealing’ and I haven’t even begun to talk about it. I really should because it’s the primary reason I keep leaving ‘crime scenes’ all over my house. In the recent post when/where I discussed all of the scammers and flakes I’ve been dealing with, I mentioned Craigslist and Facebook. As it happens, I have two different windows open on my computer at this very moment (dedicated to each of them). Ever since we got the ‘all clear’ from our realtor to ‘start packing’, I’ve been posting all kinds of ads to help facilitate my goal of ‘downsizing’. For every legitimate person who contacts me, there are at least 3 evil-doers. Regarding the evil-doers, I’ve learned all of their tricks so they haven’t been able to get one up on me, but I have to tell you, they are relentless! I actually argued with one today. When I got the ol’, “Give me your number and I’ll send you a 6-digit code,” I responded with, “Don’t waste my time trying to scam me.”
The person/evil-doer who was trying to scam me replied, “I’m not a scammer. I promise! I just need you to send me the 6-digit code to prove you’re real.” What a bunch of B.S.!! My response to that load of baloney was, “If you are interested in purchasing XYZ, you can call my phone number and speak to me directly.” They left me alone after that. I did make a point to report and block them (on Facebook) but I doubt it’ll make much of a difference. They’ll just close their account and open a new one under a different (fake name). I wish I could say Craigslist was better but I think even more ‘vultures’ or ‘predators’ flock there for victims (gullible people). I have received one text after another, instructing me to ‘reply via Gmail’. I’ve given up even responding back, I just hit the ‘report as spam’ button on my phone and move on. Despite all of the disappointment I’ve experienced as a result of dealing with so many scammers and spammers, I have had some success. Our ‘country style’ dining room table and chairs (that my husband loathes), found a new home today. I also managed to sell our TV stand with matching end tables (which also double as night stands).
The ‘free stuff’ flew out the door, of course. I posted an old mattress and box springs and had replies within minutes, and the same happened with the patio set. Even though I put ‘pending pick up’, people kept contacting me. I finally had to delete the listings (even though I still had the items) to put a stop to all of the texts and emails. The items I want money for have been leaving at the rate of a ‘slow trickle’ vs. ‘flying out the door’. That said, I’ve got three different people on the hook (tomorrow) for another dining table and chairs, a 5-drawer dresser, and an old writing desk. The people all seemed pretty excited about their finds so I hope they show up (as promised) and don’t flake out. If they don’t show, it’ll be a real bummer because my husband and I moved everything to our front entryway (for easy accessibility), making it (ironically) a bit difficult to access the front door. Yesterday, my husband had placed the dining table there and now a dresser and an office desk have taken its place. I’m thrilled that stuff is selling but unfortunately it’s not any of the really big (in size) stuff. Maybe I’m imagining things, but because no one seems to have taken an interest in either of my couch sets or master bedroom furniture, they all appear slightly ‘disgruntled’.
Hopefully (within the next week or two), they will also find new homes, and I won’t have to move them to the ‘free’ category at the last minute and take a huge loss. I hate to give things away that I spent a lot of money on (and will need to eventually replace), but if it costs more to ship them than they’re worth (which it does), giving them away is a ‘no brainer’. If all else fails, and I’m unable to sell or give them away, there’s always ‘the dump’. I hate putting perfectly good things in the landfill, it is such a waste; however, if my back’s against the wall, I may have to consider that option. Yuck. Fingers crossed that that doesn’t happen! Anyway, it’s been an exceptionally long and tiring day and I probably should head to bed. Tomorrow will likely involve more ‘wheeling and dealing’, as well as packing and cleaning and ‘rifling’. My dog seems to have the right idea (see photo). Regardless of the ‘crime scene’ directly above her, she is blissfully sleeping. It doesn’t appear to bother her one bit! I (on the other hand) cannot shut it out so easily. It’s probably because I’m the one that has to organize it, pack it, load it, ship it, and eventually unload it. Oh, well. Somebody’s got to do it, so I guess it’s going to be me. Oh! And (let’s not forget) my husband, too!!
All right, I’d better go. Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!!
My entire family is insane. 