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*

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