<< Back to all Blogs
Login or Create your own free blog
Layout:
Home > Pre-Relocation Sell Off of Stuff: Feb Results
 

Pre-Relocation Sell Off of Stuff: Feb Results

March 1st, 2007 at 09:15 am

Re-cap: We are relocating to Texas end of September. My goal is to sell off as much stuff as I can bear to part with in the months Jan-May, and I'm hoping to take in a total of $3,000.

First, a bit of boring housekeeping regarding my interest calculations: Because I want to "keep it real" I realized I can't just credit myself for interest whenever I take in cash; I also need to charge myself interest everytime I have a cash outlay. So I re-did my January calculations.

Revised January results:
Sales of $1,140.51 MINUS interest charge of $0.02 = $1,140.49

And now, here are the February Results (drumroll please):

Items Sold: Dining Room Set (Table, Chairs, China Hutch), 20 Books or CDs on Half.com, and a few misc. household items on Craigslist and Ebay.

Number of Transactions (buyers)= 25

Sales of $794.53 + $5.70 Interest = $800.23

2-month total: $1,940.72 (64.7% of goal)

So, I have 3 months to go to (hopefully) raise $1,059.28.

My living room & dining room are now bare, so I can use those areas as my "Clean Sweep" style sorting areas. I'm working on a strategy how to best sort through everything that remains, and then I'll have to decide which items to hold for our garage sale in mid-May, and which to try to sell on Ebay or Craigslist before that.

And now for the sappy stuff ... I've had a few bittersweet moments this month thinking about moving...

The first was when my brother (who lives 3 hours away from me right now) came for a weekend visit; as he pulled away, I realized that we won't be seeing each other nearly as often after I move. That makes me very sad. Frown

Also, every day this month I've been looking at the beautiful snow-capped mountains not only with the usual awe at their beauty, but also with a hint of sadness knowing that this is my final winter here. It is March. The snow is going to melt soon. I may never see those mountains with snow on them again. I keep reminding myself of the line from a song: "Take it in ... Take it with you when you go ..."

Posted in Relocating to a lower cost part of the USA | 9 Comments »

9 Responses to “Pre-Relocation Sell Off of Stuff: Feb Results”

  1. JanH Says:
    March 1st, 2007 at 09:23 am

    I know it is sad to be leaving. The first year with the bluebonnets everywhere will give you new images to love!

  2. Fern Says:
    March 1st, 2007 at 09:25 am

    Right now, only your pending losses seem evident to you, but remember why you're doing this. I'm sure there will be many positives and benefits of your move once it's done.

    I remember it took a planned move from my hometown of 10 years to suddenly make me realize how much i love this town; it was only when i realized i'd be giving it up that i began to see the things I loved about it. (As it turned out, i never moved, due to a combo of failed R. plus downturn in the housing market.)

    That sort of thing has also happened to me when i was getting ready to switch jobs. Once everyone knew i was leaving, they all said such nice things, making it harder to leave than i'd expected!

  3. littlemama Says:
    March 1st, 2007 at 10:39 am

    I live in Texas. It really is beautiful. What part of Texas are you moving to if I may ask?

  4. nance Says:
    March 1st, 2007 at 11:16 am

    The hill country of Texas is beautiful. You will see Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush in April, beautiful Live Oak trees, flowers that bloom for months on end, and once in a while it will even snow. No mountains, but the hills are beautiful. My parents lived near Austin for 13 years, and loved it there.
    My daughter and son-in-law have five acres in Bandera, and long to move back there.
    Take lots of pictures of the snow covered mountains, now, and put them in an album. Next spring, take lots of pictures of the wild flowers of the hill country, and you will have twice as many wonderful images to enjoy.
    We have a place in south Texas, but would trade it for a place in the hill country in a heartbeat.

  5. creditcardfree Says:
    March 1st, 2007 at 05:18 pm

    You are doing so awesome getting to your cash goal!! Do you have any other major items to sell off? Best of luck with your move.

  6. scfr Says:
    March 1st, 2007 at 10:41 pm

    Thanks so much for all of the encouragement! I am looking forward to seeing the bluebonnets; I have never seen them before. I know Texas (and especially the Austin area where we are going) are beautiful; just about every place I have ever visited has it's own different kind of beauty tho' sometimes you have to look a little harder to find it!

    I don't have much major stuff (furniture) left to sell off, just a bed, maybe my husband's desk, and then some smaller things like a bookcase. Raising the last $1,000-plus is definitely going to be more challenging and labor-intensive, but I know that a few dollars here and there starts to add up and so I'm still hopeful I can reach the goal by the end of May.

    Thanks again to you all!

  7. Anne Gallick Says:
    April 1st, 2007 at 03:04 pm

    Why do you think Texas will be cheaper? Of course home prices are lower (although not that much lower in Austin), but then, insurance and property taxes are much much higher than the rest of the country. (We pay $3700 property taxes and $1000 homeowners insurance on a home valued at only $134,000 - which, btw, has not increased in value at all during the 4 years we've owned it). Utilities are huge! Even on a month with virtually no heat or air, we pay almost $300 for electric. Summers can top $600, and that's by setting our air to 84 degrees, not exactly comfortable.

    I sure hope you love the heat!

  8. scfr Says:
    April 2nd, 2007 at 09:11 am

    Anne, thanks for your concern. Yes, it's absolutely correct that average utility costs in Austin are higher than in Seattle. And the percentage charged for property taxes is almost double; but if a house costs half what it does here then we'll end up paying exactly the same amount that we would pay here.

    We can't look at just one expense category, we have to look at the total picture. In Seattle, total expenses are 120% the national average, and in Austin they are 90%. That's a 30% spread, which is huge. Not only housing, but food, transportation, and health care are all significantly less in Austin.

  9. librarylady Says:
    April 23rd, 2007 at 02:46 pm

    Welcome to Texas!
    Some people who move here end up saying, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could."
    Austin is an awesome place to live. Wish I could live there!

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 6.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]