The Declutter Divorce.

Decluttering and sorting is a lot like a relationship that's gone sour. Loved the process of romancing the stuff, lived with it a long time in mutual admiration. But finally it wore out its charm, usefulness and functionality. So best to make a clean break and hope there are better relationships for both of us once it's over!! :o)

Friday rocked!! and we moved a lot of stuff for good prices. It was a steady stream of people all day long and the weather was wonderful for Kansas in November. We were lucky to hold an indoor/outdoor sale which let us spread out nicely.

Some of the best moments were when I watched a new romance bloom between someone and their "find"!! It was a sigh of relief that it moved on to a better place and such a pleasure to have it gone. *lol*

Had some (leftover) Beanie Kids so the children who came along with mom and dad received a new friend to take home just for fun. They were so excited it made everything else pale in comparison.

We will be done at 1pm today. Remember the object is Decluttering and moving things out of the attics. The more we sell the better. What are we going to do with the rest of the items left? I can tell you it's not going back in the attics or basement or garage!


This evening I'll let you know how we are moving the rest of the yard sale stuff and remainder of the attic cleaning process.

I am about to reclaim my clutter-free life and soon the divorce will be final !!! Yay!!! And make a little $$ in the process!!--you know settlements are nice. *g*

It's been a long Declutter day :o(

Anticipating the new day and adventure into a major declutter project

Right now I am sitting here almost too tired to go to bed and wondering if a night's sleep will refresh me enough to bounce out raring to go in the morning. "Raring?" um, I think I would settle for creeping out of bed and getting dressed+ ! :o) But it will be fun to see what this big declutter project brings by tomorrow evening at 7 pm. I brought down Mr. and Mrs. Santa window display units this evening. Ohmygosh!! They are even cooler than I remember. Parting is going to be the pits. But I have a solution. I'm putting a BIG price on them and if they don't sell--well they are going to be part of my Christmas display this year. *lol* Mrs. Santa knits while Santa holds the yarn and bends toward her. Santa is about 4 ft tall.


Found this great looking thing and traced it through the patent number: It is a mixing jar by the Hazel Atlas Glass Co. circa 1930. Some were used to make malts in drugstores but this one has wicked prongs on it and I suspect it was used for crushing ice.

Austin (4 years old) and his mom will be over in the morning to help with more getting ready. Can you imagine a 4 year old in the middle of all this stuff? Guess I better get to bed so I can see what other treasures we can get out of the attic. The garage and basement are done!!

These early sales are fun

Tables are filling up, the Declutter Project is on a roll

It helps pay for the advertising for the Huge Indoor Attic cleaning sale!! Just put an ad in the area newspaper and on the cable channel. The sale is for three days. Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

The real progress is bringing stuff downstairs and starting to stack the tables.

There are some pretty cool cross stitch and sampler pictures, one is dated 1934. The one on the back of the table to the right is the Lords Prayer and vintage. There is a beautiful Millennium Nativity (new) in the blue boxes. and some Hallmark bells for 2007/2008 new in boxes too. On ledge is 30 cross-stitched quilt block and some vintage linens including a child's gingham apron.

It is interesting what dollar value can be found with a little research. I found a 3.4 oz full bottle of Gio by Giorgio Armani. Checked it out on eBay and it's selling for $90 to $100 a bottle!! Hmm, I know I won't get that much for it but I'm sure I'll get more than originally planned I'm putting $45 on it.





Finally brought the boxes of books down. There is a boxed set of Home Repair Encyclopedias by Time-Life and a boxed set of Gardening books by Time-life too and some wonderful plant and garden books.


Oh and did I say I had Christmas village houses and accessories? How about this Lemax Sugar n' Spice house. You know even one would make a great display. I guess there are about 25-30 more houses. :o)

I am so excited this is exactly the kind of sale I'd love to go to!! I welcome emails: danse@media-net.net or calls 785 483 6300 if there are any questions.

Now back upstairs only 8 more tables and the floor to stack!! Wanna help? I can use all the help I can get *lol*

Decision for online vs local selling

Books and Magazines, what to do with them

One thing I've noticed as I sort and look for ways to eliminate the clutter is the decisions that have to be made. Originally I thought it would be simple to sort into bins and get rid of 'stuff' that way.

Blasted WRONG!!. Emotions, logic, realization that everything is not high priced gold and bah! humbug! Decisions take on an unrealistic complexity.

So yesterday I spent hours sorting.............magazines and books!! Agh! Now I go to enough Country Auctions to know that not many magazines and books bring huge prices (reality check like $1 a box-or less). So what to do?

Sorted the holiday magazines into separate piles: Tried not to angst over the really neat stuff between the pages of 1981-2000 McCalls, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day Christmas editions (you know back when a magazine had super great stuff in them to tweak the imagination and Christmas crafting?

Was only moderately successful. Today I listed the magazine on the local Nextech Classifieds at $1.50 each or make offer for the entire bunch. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

But wait!! Maybe I better go up and look through them before someone buys that one magazine from 1983 that I can't live without!!..Do you hear them calling me? Maybe it's just a ghost outside my window as it's almost Halloween. Better go check.

Back to Declutter Basics

I've made little progress since I started this project a couple years ago. What can I say-life got in the way. Energy level tanked and the process slowed down to a halt for awhile.

I did make money from my first effort to start the declutter project but it was easy money. Sorting through old jewelry and turning it into cash with high gold prices was enough to keep me happy . But that was a two sided sword because with money jingling in my pocket that didn't require much work I found I could ignore the mess upstairs and in the attics pretty easily.

Perhaps watching the TV Hoarders show renewed my interest and made me think harder about the declutter project in the past few weeks-or perhaps it was the need to see just how much can be made from the clutter and the 'stuff'' accumulated over 40 years in the same house. So I am on a roll again and this time I'm not quitting until it is sorted, saved, sold or sent to the kids (if they want something).

I am going to see if I can finance our Christmas this year with my clutter. Think I can? I don't know but it's worth a try. Come along for the journey and let's see how it happens.

Just for a little more motivation I am on the Christmas Holiday Home tour December 11--so it has to be done, decorated and delightful by then.

Now I'm ready for a tall glass of tea.

The Declutter Country Auction

This is a different kind of auction. Around here it may be an evening auction or a Sunday afternoon auction. It is marked by what a seller determines they can live without while they clean house or open a closet door full of stuff. Or better yet what they have tucked away in cupboards, drawers and closets that may still be new in box --albeit the box a little yellowed around the edge.

Who needs three sets of flatware, or two of those Frybabies so popular in the 1970s. How about Sampsonite suitcases, you know the prestige ones that are way too heavy for air travel and too bulky for the trunk of the car. Pencils, pens, flashlights, rulers and wrapping paper. It amuses me that some people sell (and others buy) old sets of sheets, old pillows and bathroom towels. Then there is plastic containers, with and without lids, boxes and boxes of them.

For decades we've been accumulating, collecting, and building equity in what we save. Now we look around and think, "I've got to get rid of this stuff." The "stuff" may not work, it might be a piece of broken crystal or a floor lamp that wobbles when touched. Or it may be boxes of patterns and fabric that once had lofty intent.

I have to smile because I'm one of those people looking to declutter 40 years accumulation and once I get started I'm going to let you watch me do it in this blog. Getting started is downright hard and I empathize with people who have gone through the process and are finally getting rid of it through auction, estate/garage sale and eBay.

So this Thursday I'm going to a country declutter auction and we are going to see how well the items sell and what people are willing to pay for all that clutter. Maybe even find out where the items will end up.

So tune back in Friday, August 28, to have a look at what one declutter auction had for sale and what people pay for it.

Keep watching because I'm taking my credibility into my own hands and heading for the attics to let you see what real clutter looks like in the "before" state. oh my...

At the Auction Part 2 Rohleder Auctin Service

The auctioneer is Randy Rohleder (leaning on the chair), he is interesting and fun to watch. He keeps his good nature and humor all through the auction and sometimes imparts some brief but funny comments to keep us interested. His entire family is involved, dad, mom, wife, son and daughter. His grandfather was an auctioneer also.

When Randy had his first auction he called me for consignment and I managed to come up with a load of items.

Today we are walking in the door of the Russell County 4H building on a Thursday evening auction that started at 5:05 PM and looking at what some people buy and what they pay for their purchases

The auction was snappy and interesting. The seller was a woman who was moving into assisted living and selling contents of her house. Sadly we see a lot of these auctions nowdays

Randy called the auction "I have $25 do I hear $30" - his dad trekked up and down in front of the buyers with the old wooden phone which had the insides intact. Note the lack of a dial. In those days people turned the crank and asked the operator for the intended recipient by name or two digit number. The phones were on party lines and each person had unique rings (one short two longs or three shorts, etc) everyone could hear the rings and everyone listened to the lines enjoying the gossip.

This was the earliest form of community interaction via technology. During severe thunderstorms it wasn't unusual for lightening to spurt out the mouthpiece when it struck lines so you kinda made a wide berth around it when lightening was nearby: The phone sold for: $105.00

Two boxes of Photographic Dry Plates were a good find and in another market might have sold for more. They brought $45 for both boxes. Some of you may remember how these were used during the days when studio photography was an art.

Here was an entire box of goodies, ahhh such treasures which pleased many relevant junque collectors. The box contained Mrs. Stewart's Bluing bottle (full) used to whiten clothing (no they did not use it to whiten and tint grey hair *g*). Tetley's Tea tin and I'll bet those tea leaves were well aged. To top it all off were the insulators (obviously copped from some unknowing telephone pole). The entire box: $8-maybe some of these will end up on eBay.

10 years ago these primitive washboards might have brought $75 to $100 at auction but in today's country auction market Randy worked hard to get $13.

Maybe without the party line on the telephone to break up the monotony of lye soap and sore knuckles from scrubbing overalls on the washboard lost it's luster.

The washboards might have lost some of their luster but country auctions still have drawing power, people chat, mill around looking at the potential treasures, get a number and bid, bid, bid. Next we will talk about why people buy what they buy and what they do with it. Thanks and share some of your memories about these primitive items sold at Rohleder Auction in July 2009. Food supplied by Fairport market