The Month Long Yardsale and the Big Mess

Two weeks until move day. I’m happy to report, the dining room is just about all packed up. I realized last night as I tucked the last of the wine glasses in their boxes that I never did get around to posting the updates we did in there. And now it’s gone forever. [Twinge of regret/moment of silence.]

Anyway, our move out process, as far as I’m concerned, has three phases. I’ve completed Phase I: Sell anything worth selling. Back at Trapelo Road, we had a yard sale and raked in over $700 for stuff we have never even missed. But physical, location-based yard sales are sooo over. Most of the towns in my area have online Facebook groups that serve the same purpose. I am a member of the Belmont, Waltham and Watertown sites and here is how it works.

Take a picture of your item and post it, noting the condition, price, and any other relevant details. Then wait for people to comment! I’ll say, it’s been very interesting to see what sells. And when you have something that is a good price, the comments pop up almost immediately. Here’s an example of what it looks like:

So in this case, “GUC” stands for “good used condition” and in the comments I tell her I will send her a “PM” – personal message. From there, we work out when she can come pick it up. 9 times out of 10, we agree that I will leave it on the porch and they will just drop the money in the mailbox. It could not be easier! Ahem, in most cases. With our bed and boxspring, THAT, let me tell you, was blood money. So many people wanted it, then didn’t want it, then wanted it cheaper, then couldn’t decide when to pick it up, then passed, then wanted it again, then wanted JUST the bed not the boxspring, etc. At one point, the main buyer I had backed out for the second time and I flat out told her she was annoying and I would flag her if she kept tying up sales like that. Selling that stupid bed was my second full time job!
But here’s why online yard sale sites are so great. When you deal with Craigslist, you have to wait for someone to be specifically looking for your item, view your ad and contact you. With Facebook, people are just scrolling through mindlessly and think “Oh wow look at that. A huge flower pot for $5! Those are usually like $50! Hmmm, I don’t need this, but it’s such a good deal…” and then they just can’t pass it up and bam. Sold. The woman that bought my kindle also bought my hamper a few weeks ago and when she showed up for it, she said, “I don’t even read! But, I mean, a Kindle, for $10! For that price maybe I’ll start!”
So I take her $10 and put it in our money jar. It’s taped shut with a little slot on the top and we have no idea how much is in there. I’m kind of excited to find out! I hope it’s enough to buy a new TV as the people that bought our house bought our existing TV along with it. 
Anyway, for the past month I’ve been posting things at a pretty consistent frequency and I’m just about out of things to sell. Someone is coming for the baby activity mat this morning and that wraps up Phase I. Phase II is trips to the donation bin/Salvation army and drop offs at the thrift store, and Phase III is “You can’t avoid it any longer, start packing.”
And speaking of Phase III, our giant 16 foot pod came yesterday from PackRat and is sitting on the curb, just waiting to be filled.

Jason would not even consider letting me hire movers because the ones I picked last time were the slowest, scrimpiest guys you’ve ever seen. So we have this big pod, and actually are allowed to start moving stuff on the 20th, so between random trips over there and the pod going on the 30th, we’ll make it. We have to.

But gosh, things have been such a mess. I just think it’s so funny. We patted ourselves on the back when we sold Trapelo Road, knowing we were getting out *just* in time for the massive roadway reconstruction that had been approved. I thought, we are going to move to this house on this little quiet side street and it’s going to be nice and peaceful. Little did we know. Oh, just how little did we know.

Last year they ripped up the entire road to replace the gas main. THEN, they knocked down the house across the street in January and it is STILL not finished. For the last nine months we have looked at construction vehicles of varying sizes and shapes out our front window building a massive front-back two-family house.

 Today:

Fun fact: the little bungalow on the right side of those pictures? We just found out that’s being knocked down too (by the same contractor) and a similar structure will be going up.

As if the dirt and noise from this project wasn’t enough, last month they started in with the water main replacement.

A lot of the time our street is blocked off. I picked up Ashton from school last week and we had to park around the corner and walk up.

Notice the phone pole on the right hand side. That’s been a “temporary fix” for like a year. It’s all just a huge mess with the vibrating, the drilling, the beeping, the pounding, etc. We are told that next year the entire road is going to be repaved and new sidewalks and granite curbs put in. It will be gleaming and brand new but fortunately/unfortunately, we will not be around to enjoy it.

My mantra for the next few weeks is “embrace the chaos”. The house will be a mess and the street will be a mess and that’s just how it is. In the end, it’s all for the better. And one of the great things about being forced to go through your stuff is finding things you forgot you had. Like a massage gift certificate. Like maybe it would be a good time to use that, if I could figure out when to go. Until then…

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