Bon Journal

Open house clearance sale

What is the fastest way to get rid of my things and yet know where they've gone to?

Have an open house and invite all my neighbours and friends. Entice them with homemade cakes and cookies.

I made a list of things to sell and put some indicative prices on them. I copied and distributed over 70 leaflets to friends and neighbours in this area.

Yesterday morning I got up early to make three kinds of cakes (cinnamon coffee cake, coconut cake, and sponge cake with homemade raspberry jam filling) and two kinds of cookies (ANZAC coconut oatmeal cookie and oatmeal raisin cookie). I spent rest of the day identifying things I really didn't care about anymore. Those were the things I've kept for no good reason at all.

Before long, the entire living room and dining room were filled with my stuff, and my bedroom was decorated in my summer dresses and other colourful clothes.

The first couple to arrive today saw my sign posted hastily on the bus stop. They looked and looked but couldn't find anything they wanted. I started getting nervous. Did I overprice my things?

My neighbours started dropping by one by one. If they grabbed something immediately, I felt a sense of regret that I might have underpriced it. But I also felt a sense of relief that it got taken.

One friend saw the scooter and wanted to buy it for his daughter's birthday. His wife corrected him --- it was actually for himself. And indeed, his excitement at getting it for a mere 30 pounds gave him away.

Another neighbour fell in love with the grey fake-fur designer blanket. It wasn't mine to begin with, so I had no regrets about selling it for 10 pounds. But had I known the power of love at first sight, I would have doubled the price.

Getting paid for parting with my things compensated for any regrets I had. I was on a psychological rollercoaster --- feeling guilty for selling things that were given to me at the perceived market price. I used catchy items to tempt people to buy more, such as a free calculator with minimum 5 pound purchase.

"Are your CD's for sale?" one neighbour asked. Go ahead and try me. I thought I could part with my CD's. But no, I'm not ready yet.

The next phase of letting go will be that of saying good-bye to things that I can get from the library --- CD's for example.

26 October 2003 Sunday

analyticalQ booksale

declutter sale