OTA = Over The Airwaves
This is the "free" TV that is available to anyone with an antenna. This is the type of TV anyone my age or older grew up watching.

A move is such a great way to re-evaluate lots of things in your life. In addition to evaluating what things we really want to keep (as in, "Do I really want to lug this ratty object to the new place, or is it time to ditch it?"), you also start evaluating services and weighing the costs vs. benefits.

When it came time to order utility hookups at our new house, I really started evaluating our "need" for cable TV. In our apartment, cable is included, so we have not been paying seperately for it for 1-1/2 years. When we lived in the Seattle area, we used to have a semi-expensive cable package, because that was the only way for DH to add channels from his native country. Since his country's channels are not available where we live now, he started looking for other ways to watch TV, and now subscribes to a service where he watches TV from his homeland over the internet.

Other than a bit of CNN & CNBC (with a smattering of Animal Planet), the only TV I watch is major networks. So I started thinking that cable was not really necessary. I did some research, and the more I learned the more I liked the idea of living without cable.

In addition to loving the idea of not having to pay a monthly cable bill on top of the $25 we're paying for DH's internet viewing, I really like the idea of better reception. I learned that picture quality is better if you DON'T have cable, and this will especially be true once the switch is made to digital TV (June 12).

DH has been patiently waiting to buy a big screen flat panel TV. I asked him to wait until we had our new house and prices have come down. Once we're in our place, I'll give him the green light to go ahead and buy his big toy. I'll have him get an integrated HDTV one; that means it will already have an HDTV tuner built in, so we won't have to buy a seperate tuner. All we need is an antenna.

I ordered this antenna today:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_209TV55/Terk-TV55.html?o=v&sear...
With shipping, it came to $68.

DH will be installing it in our attic. According to on-line reviews I read, it is fairly easy to install. (It's an indoor/outdoor antenna. I knew an outdoor antenna would not go over well with the neighbors.) I don't know if we will have to buy any hardware for mounting, or if we have all of the tools we need, but even if we do have to run to Home Depot and buy something small, I figure we'll come in at $75 or less total. With cable at $49+tax, we will have recouped the antenna cost in 1-1/2 months or less!

If anyone else is interested in making the switch to OTA TV (and with the digital conversion coming up, can you think of a better time?), these were the sites I found most helpful in researching:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-IOdgy2Geib8/learn/learningcente...

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Once we're settled in to our new place, I'll let you know how we like our "new" (actually retro) way of watching TV.

Great Brunch Out: Today DH & I went to Olive Garden for an early lunch; we both had the all-you-can eat soup/salad/breadsticks combo ($5.95). We had a $4 coupon, so the total with tax & tip for 2 of us came to $10.34 ... Not too bad for a tasty lunch with lots of veggies (tho the lettuce was iceberg), no dishes to wash, and a date with my favorite guy! We don't eat out a lot, so it's always a much-relished treat when we do! [And in case you're wondering, we combined our brunch out with running other errands, so there was very little gas expense.]

Broccoli: Oh I'm still smiling about this... It's been so long since I found a good deal on FRESH veggies! Super Target had a sale on broccoli, the cello-pack bunches for 2 / $3. I had a coupon that I had printed out on-line for $1 off, so I got 2 big bunches of broccoli for $2. Since they charge by the bunch instead of by the lb, of course I chose the heaviest bunches!

Staying Put: We decided to renew our lease, so we'll be staying put for awhile. We do think home prices will drop a bit more, we are completely contented where we are, and it's lovely having our costs so low, so why not wait?
I am kind of burned out on househunting, and am relieved that there is no reason to do any more of that until the fall, when we can get serious about looking (and then hopefully buying) again.

New Job: Forgot to mention that I got a job. It's intermittent full-time ... not contract work, but off & on temp assignments, challenging & enjoyable; I will likely stick with just this until we buy a house.

Have We Reached The End (a poem by A.A. Milne)

"Have we reached the end?" asked Pooh.

"Yes, I suppose it seems so ...
and yet,"

"Yes, Piglet?"

"It is also the beginning."

----------------------------------------

Thank you to all of you who posted well wishes on our move! I am writing this from beautiful, sunny Austin, Texas.

The move could not have gone more smoothly.

My mother and brother came to our place on Thursday (Sept 27). We had our farewell party that evening, and it was perfect! Everyone had a great time and the food was terrific. Even tho' 2 people cancelled at the last minute, we still went $21 over our $500 budget because more wine was consumed and more people took after-dinner coffee or tea than I had expected. It was money I was absolutely delighted to spend. We received $350 in gift cards --- gotta love it, everyone knew that the last thing we would want was one more thing to have to pack! I was also given a small framed old family photo that had belonged to my late grandmother, which I was more than happy to pack and which I will treasure forever.

On Friday morning we picked up our rental truck, and DH & my wonderful brother got about 2/3 of our things loaded that day. On Saturday morning my family left town, and DH & I worked on finishing packing and cleaning and loading. We were comfortably on schedule so decided to go out to eat at DH's favorite Chinese restaurant.

On Sunday morning we did the usual last-minute stuff (including loading our mattress) and left early, a full 1-1/2 hours ahead of schedule and without any last-minute scramble.

We stayed over 3 nights in Motel 6's along the way. DH had decided he was not comfortable towing a car behind the rental truck (it was the first time he had driven a truck of any kind) so I did end up driving our car separately. It was easier on DH, and definitely easier on our pooch who got to stretch out across the entire back seat instead of having to lie on the floor of the truck between our seats. I was really glad we had previously sold one of our cars and were down to just one car, so that last minute change of plans was possible.

The entire drive went very smoothly, and we saw a lot of beautiful scenery along the way. We did not stop to do any sightseeing, and that was fine.

BTW, kudos to Discover Card's fraud division for calling me on my cell phone on day 2 to question the "suspicious activity" (gas purchases in Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming) on my card ... Nice to know they were watching out for us!

We got in to Austin on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday we finished unloading and returned the truck. I waited to blog until I had the "essentials" (kitchen and clothing) unpacked.

What is amazing is that all of our possessions (including the paperwork and office machines for 2 businesses) fit in to a 16-foot rental truck with a bit of room to spare! Aggressively selling off possessions really worked out well for us; not only were we able to do the move 100% ourselves (with loading help from my darling brother of course), we were able to rent a small truck, and we are now living in an apartment much smaller than what I could have ever imagined back when we developed this plan to relocate. Not only did we save on moving expenses, our monthly expenses are waaaay down too.

This is something that you fellow frugalites will appreciate ... A couple days before our move, a friend came over and looked around at the boxes and packing supplies in disbelief [I had visited her house when she did her last move, and she was sitting on her couch watching TV while a moving company was packing up her stuff] ... She said to me, " ... xxx ... You have money, why don't you just pay someone to do this for you?" I held my hands out to gesture at the packing stuff and replied " ... zzz ... THIS is WHY I have money." To which she could just reply "Yea ... I suppose you're right."

Boy, it sure feels good to have this great big project almost completed (although I still have quite a bit of unpacking to do).

Next project: HOUSEHUNTING!!! WHEE!!!

If anyone is planning a move and could use a little guidance, I highly recommend the book "29 Days to a Smooth Move" by Donna Kozik and Tara Maras. It's written in a workbook format with lots of checklists and spaces to write notes, so you don't just read it, you actually use it as your master moving organizer.

The authors spell out the major categories of things to do before a move as:

1. Readying the house for new occupants
2. Condensing your goods
3. Packing your possessions
4. Preparing the children (in our case we can substitute the much much easier "preparing the dog")
5. Organizing paperwork (estimates, change of address forms, etc.)
6. Saying goodbye

I have these written on a board in my office, and I make sure I am making progress on all of the categories (except number 4, the one about the dog) every single day.

No doubt this book falls under the "money well spent" category.

Well, time to get back at it ...

Hi All! I got back from Austin late on Sunday. Everything went really well there. Austin is a beautiful place full of lots of friendly folks.

Temporary Housing: Great news! I had found a sublease on Craigslist and was keeping my fingers crossed that it would really be as nice as it appeared to be on-line. It was, so that is where we will be living. I drove to the sublease place as soon as I landed in Austin to check it out. The couple that has the lease had already moved out and cleaned the place, so I was able to give it a good lookover. [I had some alternate places lined up in case the sublease didn't work out, but fortunately didn't need them.] The rent has been paid through the end of Sept, so DH & I are taking it over from October which is perfect. The lease is up in April, so if we find a house to buy we won't be locked in to a really long term. The best news is that because we are taking over the existing lease we are paying $180 per month less than what the same floorplan in the same complex is currently renting for.

Friday evening I went out and bought cleaning supplies and brought them to the apartment.

Saturday morning I called carpet cleaners and found one that could steam clean the carpets same-day; they showed up within 3 hours. I took our application (pre-completed here at home) to the leasing office; they had a pretty slick system, just typed some info in to the computer and said right away "You're approved." Was glad to hear it.
Then I went and opened up an account at a local bank. Finally, I detail-cleaned the entire apartment, even tho' the previous tenants had done a pretty good job cleaning up.

On Sunday I went to Costco and bought some basic staples (dry goods, shampoo, TP, etc.) then went to the apartment and got it stocked. I even ran some bleach through the clothes washer so it is all sanitized and ready to use as soon as we arrive. [You frugalites will appreciate this: I took the hotel soap and stuck it in the shower, so that as soon as we get the shower curtain hung we'll be able to wash the road off.]

I kept thinking about my DH & pooch as I did all of this, and it felt really good knowing that I was giving them the "gift" of being able to arrive at our new place after what will probably be a long and exhausting road trip to find a well-stocked and sparkling-clean apartment waiting for them.

I'm home now for just 2 days. Tomorrow I leave on a 5-day trip to my mom's. There are some things that she wants help with around her house, and since I am "not working" this is a good time for me to go give her a hand. When I return, I'll have just 2 weeks until our move day.

Whew ... I may not be working for pay right now, but that sure doesn't mean I'm not working! I did come up with a temporary "title" for myself which you can see in my blog description.

I've really missed keeping up on all of your blogs ... I'm going to give them a quick scan right now, and hope that I don't miss anything too terribly important.

See you all again in about a week!

Tomorrow I'm off to Austin to choose our temporary housing (a rental apartment or house). After much eye-reddening searching on the internet and phoning, I have what I think / hope is a good plan. If it all works out, we'll have a good deal on a perfectly acceptable place to live temporarily. I think I have all of the documentation I need to do the whole apartment-application thing. [Copies of tax returns since we are self-employed, application forms pre-signed by DH since I'm the only one going, checkbooks and locations and hours of banks in case we need cash since I don't use ATMs, and even phone numbers of carpet cleaners in the area and the address of Costco ... More on those last 2 bits later, afer I return.]

I really cringe at the thought of giving out my SS# on an application and handing over a copy of my tax return, but there's no way around it. I can't even remember the last time I gave a "stranger" my SS, and after reading MonkeyMama's blog about ID theft it's the one part of this trip I'm dreading.

I'm flying down using DH's airline miles (paid a $10 fee), I'm staying at a place using his hotel reward card points that includes free continental breakfast, and I booked my rental car ages ago at a great weekend rate of $13.23/day base (it will total $41.42 for 2 days once all of the taxes and surcharges are added).

Typing this out reminded me of something ... I just stopped typing for a second to grab the $5 Starbucks gift card I got free for answering surveys on-line at Harris Interactive, just in case I need a late-morning or early-afternoon pick-me-up. [I drink coffee but make my own at home, so going to Starbucks will be a real nice treat for myself.]

I'll have to eat lunches & dinners out; I think as soon as I finish typing this I'll go to Subway's web site to scout out their locations where I will be. If I am going to be eating "fast-food" type stuff, I may as well go with the best alternative (fairly healthy, and a decent value for the money).

I'll also have to buy gas ... I think Mapquest has a feature where you can check out the cheapest gas by location, so I'll do that as soon as I pinpoint Subway stores!

Well guys, I hope you all have a great weekend, and I will be back after completing this big step in our "Relocating to a lower cost part of the USA" journey!

Today, Labor Day, was the last day I provided service to my clients. Friday was my last busy day with work, and things started really winding down over the weekend. No fanfare and no feeling of finality, tho', as I still have a fair amount of "wrap up" work to do. Of course, there was a tinge of sadness, but it was much less than I expected.

I started my business almost 4 years ago, and now it is ending. I have a feeling of accomplishment knowing that my little business was a success and made my clients lives easier & better.

Perhaps the lack of sadness is because I've been so busy with "forward-looking" things. I thought I would be done with my pre-relocation Ebay sales, but I am still chomping away at that elephant. And I have spent much of the last several days shopping around on-line for a rental in Austin and planning my scouting trip.

So ... What do I call myself now? Temporarily retired? Between jobs? In transition? On hiatus? On a very long vacation? Bumming around? I got my first "real" job (with paychecks and tax witholding) when I was 14 and except for a couple brief periods between jobs when I was actively looking for work, I have worked ever since then. For the first time in my life, I am not working and am not looking for work! It does feel a bit strange.....

Today & tomorrow (Aug. 23 & 24) Ebay is having a promotion where you can upgrade to a 10-day listing for free. Not quite as good as free listings or 10-cent listings, but I'll take it!

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200708.shtml#2007-08-22170025

Haven't done a real blog entry for awhile because so much has been going on ... I've been busy and unable to organize my thoughts well ... I decided to do just one big long entry that covers a whole lot of things ... Sorry.

1. Business Closing / Moving Countdown: One-and-a-half weeks to go until I shut down my business. I've been saying many good-byes. I am glad they are spread out and not all coming at once; it's easier to take emotionally, absorbing just one or two good-byes per day. Five-and-a-half weeks until we leave for Austin. Got a free map of the USA from AAA and plotted our route on it, then hung it on the wall above my desk. It's exciting to look at it, knowing the date our new adventure begins is getting closer and closer.

2. No, I really don't have 4 weeks to prep for the move: I'll be travelling out of town for one week (going to Austin to choose an apartment, attending my alma matter's Reunion weekend, and going to my Mom's to help out with some things). I'll also have wrap-up work on my business, and my DH needs some help with his business. Also, my family is coming up for our final weekend here which of course is wonderful but takes up time. So, I estimate that gives me 2 weeks (broken up a bit here and there) to prep for the move. Should be plenty of time as long as I draw up a good plan/calendar, stick to it, and get enough help from DH. [Thank goodness I have the book "29 Days to a Smooth Move" ... It is the best resource for moves!]

3. Farewell Party: Reservation has been made; Guest list is 28; Invitations get mailed on Monday; final budget is $500. A nice restaurant near us does a very nice and reasonably-priced buffet once a month, and I chose to do our party on that day. I will pre-order some decent but moderately-priced wines and have them out on the table. Of course, people will be free to order other drinks, but knowing the wonderful group we are inviting (not a wine snob or big spender in the bunch), they will be perfectly happy with my selections. My goal is to put on an event that is both a really enjoyable event for our beloved guests and a wonderful send off for DH and I, but that doesn't break the bank. Given the plans made so far, I think all criteria will be met.

4. Ebay Sales: Still plodding along. Some things selling for more than expected, some for less, some not at all. Will be glad when it's done.

5. $20 Garden Challenge: Still enjoying plenty of fresh herbs and microgreens. It's been quite cool here, and I'm starting to wonder whether I'll actually see a tomato before the move! There have been lots of blossoms and some have dropped, but not one piece of fruit yet.

6. DC & NYC Trip: Booked my plane ticket and accomodations! I'll be travelling a total of 9 days ~ I'm so excited!!! I decided on a budget of $2,000. Yes, it's a lot of money, and yes, it will be worth every penny. I am renting a studio condo with a kitchen in downtown DC. I'll be flying from Austin to DC, and between DC and NYC I'll take the bus. [ThreeBeanSalad kindly suggested the Chinatown Bus, but I was able to find an even cheaper fare on Greyhound thanks to a fare sale, plus the scheduling with Greyhound is much better.] My younger sister & brother will be joining me in DC. They have both always wanted to go, and decided that since I was going already they may as well tag along. I'm super happy they will be coming. I'm not going to let them pitch in on the accomodations, but told them they could stay with me (my treat) in exchange for them feeding me one meal per day each. My sister will get groceries and cook dinner for me (say ... I'll have my own personal chef for a couple days ... outstanding!) and my brother will treat me to lunch while we are out sightseeing. My older sister is not going to join us because ...

7. Older Sister is Taking Baby Steps Towards Financial Security: Awhile back I wrote on the forums about how my sister's financial life was a wreck. She had to have her cat euthanized and did not have the money to pay for it.
Well, since then she has made some progress but it has definitely been a "2 steps forward and 1 step back kind of thing." A big breakthrough was when she thought about joining us in DC but decided that she really should not because her priority is building up her EF. Oh yea! While it would have been great to have her with us, I really respect that she seems to be getting her priorities straight.

8. Caught Another Checkout Pricing Mistake: I know this entry so far has had a lot to do with big spending, but as I have said before I believe in focusing on the big AND small things. The other day at Office Depot when I was buying envelopes to mail the party invitations, the price rang up at $7.29 even tho' the posted price was $5.99. I had them cancel the sale and went over to customer service. They were very nice, walked over to the posted sign with me, admitted that the sign was wrong (apparently the price had increased but they hadn't changed the sign), and honored the posted sign. They also took the sign down and changed it, so I was the last person to get the envelopes at that price. [Yikes - I thought $5.99 for 50 envelopes was a huge amount of money. But I decided not to waste time & money driving to another store.] I couldn't begin to count how many times I have caught mistakes like that; I am always courteous, but never shy about letting the cashier know about the error, and I have never had a store fail to honor the posted price. Always check the prices!

9. "Subprime Mortgage Meltdown in the News": I agree with those who say, come on, what is the news?!? A few years ago when DH & I started reading about the types of mortgages people were taking out we couldn't get over how insane it was. That was years ago. Frankly, we were surprised it all didn't happen sooner; we were expecting it about a year earlier. I'm glad we sold our house when we did, and I know that this will not make me popular with people who are facing difficulties with their ARMs, but we may end up in a pretty good bargaining position when we buy our next house because we will be paying cash while other potential buyers will be facing the credit crunch. We'll either be able to get a deep discount from someone who needs to sell fast and has a shortage of potential buyers, or we may end up buying a foreclosure.
BTW, when we bought our last house we made sure that we could not only easily handle the mortgage payments, but that I could easily handle them on my own if (God forbid) something happened to my DH. My income is less than my husband's, and we thought it prudent to make sure the lesser income alone (mine) could easily support the house payments, so that I would never be in a position where I felt pressured to sell the house in a hurry. And we did refinance our mortgage once, but we refinanced for a LESSER amount and we went from a 30-yr fixed to a 15-yr fixed at a much lower rate. Never had a HELOC or a 2nd mortgage or a piggyback loan. Eventually, we paid off our mortgage early. Goodness, no one could imagine why we were being so conservative. They thought we were being downright silly. But I am here to tell you that you should never be afraid to go against the crowd, swim upstream, dance to a different drummer, etc, etc... Conventional wisdom isn't always so wise.

10. "The Jonses" Foreclosure House: I sent an Email to the bank that now owns the foreclosed house in our neighborhood letting them know we might be interested in buying it, but a real estate agent friend told me not to expect to be able to get a great deal on it, so I'm not holding my breath.

11. Feels Like Fall: I've covered a lot of ground in this post, some of it a bit heavy and/or preachy. I'll end on something light. It's been cool here, really starting to feel like fall. I have been thinking about changing my blog's color scheme to more fallish (instead of springish) colors ... But that may have to wait a bit, as I have bigger projects to tackle ...

If you actually read all of this long and rambling post, bless you!

This morning I revisited the Penske truck rental site, because DH and I were discussing whether we could downgrade our reservation to a smaller truck (because we have been successful in selling off or getting rid of so much stuff). I ran a "test reservation" and found out the rates are down A WHOLE LOT from what they were when I reserved our truck. [I booked with Penske because their rates were much less than the other truck rental companies, especially considering I got a 22% combined discount for booking on-line and being a AAA member.] I called Penske to see if I could cancel our reservation and re-book, and they said that they could adjust to the new rate for us, and still apply the Web discount and the AAA discount. On top of that, even tho' the rate for a car carrier had increased I could stay locked in at the old (lower) rate. So, in about 30 minutes time this morning, I saved $1,200! Wow - Thank you Penske!

Of course I was excited, and I also loved how my DH got excited when I told him! [In our marriage, we both play offense and defense, but he's definitely the 'head of the offensive team' while I'm definitely 'defensive coordinator.' It's really motivating for me when he appreciates my efforts to save money every chance I get.]

In other relocation news:
- The charitable donation guys did a swing through our neighborhood yesterday & I put out one more big box of stuff for them to pick up.
- We freecycled away some big heavy storage units that were in our garage... No way did we want to move those! So glad that we won't have to deal with them, and that someone else can put them to good use.
- When getting the donation box put together, I found a few more items to list on Ebay. I really need to keep chomping away at that elephant...
- The half.com sales continue to trickle in. And I've decided that once the final Ebay sale is shipped off, the half.com sales will stop too. Any books that are left will get boxed up and taken to HalfPrice Books. As long as I'm going to the Post Office to ship Ebay stuff, I might as well keep selling on Half.com. But once the Ebay sales are finished, no more runs to the Post Office.
- We're continuing to let things run down and run out. I'll admit that I'll be glad when we get to Austin and I can just go to Costco and buy one great big container of laundry detergent instead of standing in Fred Meyer trying to estimate how many more loads of wash I'll be doing before our move!

13 items listed on Ebay in the past 2 days --- I think that's about 1/3 of everything. I'd like to get everything else listed in the next 6 days, so that the auctions can end and we can get everything shipped off by the end of the month. Chomp ... chomp ... chomp ... burp.

Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time!

I have a small-size elephant I need to eat this month.

Two days ago I packed up 3 big boxes of things I wanted to get sold on Ebay prior to our move and hauled them off to a "Trading Post" that I found through Ebay. I thought this would be a way to get that project completed easily, even tho' it would mean paying a rather hefty commission. The trading post's info included a physical address and drop-off hours, with no mention of restrictions on items, in fact they said that they will sell anything. Turns out the address was just for a UPS store. I called the phone number for the company from the parking lot. They told me that they are a national company, and that the UPS store would ship the things to them, but that I had to open an account with them and each item had to be worth at least $30. Forget about that!

Chalk that up as another "live and learn" experience. So, I am going to list and sell those items myself, which is a rather big project to be tackling this close to the move.

The biggest hurdle I faced was getting packaging materials for everything. I know Ebay and the USPS have linked up to send free Priority Mail boxes to your house, but when I had checked several months ago it was for some huge number of boxes (like 50 for each size), and I had of course thought ahead and wondered what on earth I would do with all of the leftover boxes not to mention where would I keep them?

Well, the "where to keep them" part is easy now. I have already sold off so much through Craigslist and our garage sale in May that I have plenty of room.

And, I was most pleasantly surprised to find out that it is now possible to order the free boxes in multiples of 10. Yea! So, I ordered 10 of each size, and went ahead and listed a few things last night. I'll keep listing a few every day, as many as I can. Since DH's business has slowed down, he'll be the one making the post office runs when it is time to ship things.

I'll just keep reminding myself, one bite at a time. Even if I just get one listing done, that's still something.

Yesterday was a milestone in my 2 major countdowns:
- Exactly 4 weeks until my final client visit (I'll still have some "wrap up" work to do after that, but won't be making any more money from my business)
- Exactly 8 weeks until we depart for Austin

Add to that a broken fridge/freezer, dealing with some tax stuff from DH's business, trying to plan a couple of trips, planning a good-bye party and final visit from Mom & brother, plus starting to get the "we want to get together with you before you leave" invites and I'll admit that I've begun to feel a bit overwhelmed. I made long lists of the things I need to do, and am working on a master calendar. Once everything is laid out in front of me I'll probably still feel a bit overwhelmed but much more able to cope.

I decided to do the following to help cope as well:
- I am no longer tracking the $$$ amount of my pre-relocation sell off. I already exceeded my goal of $3,000, the amounts I'm making now are relatively small (no more furniture), and the most important thing at this point is that I "just get 'er done" rather than tracking the results. I'll probably do a final rough estimate, but no longer feel the need to input everytime I sell a book through Half.com
- I am going to gather up the things I still want to list on Ebay and take them off to a Trading Post and let them sell everything for me. Yes, they'll take a big chunk as their commission, but once again at this stage in the game the main thing is to "get 'er done."
- DH is going to get hit with a great big "Honey Do" list when he returns from his business trip on Wednesday. On previous moves, pretty much all he has had to do was show up on moving day to load and drive the truck. Not this time!

Just made our hotel reservations for while we are on the road during our move from Seattle to Austin. We're staying in Motel 6's all the way. After a bit of looking around I realized that Motel 6 consistently has what we want:
- Cheap rates, and even cheaper if you book on-line with their "Click 6" rates (all we want is a place to sleep after a long day of driving)
- Pets Welcome with no extra charge
- Located right along the major freeways
- Parking all around the hotels. Hopefully we can park our moving van right outside our room to keep an eye on it (and within range of the baby monitor I bought used at our community garage sale for $3 for added security, thanks to the great suggestion from debtfreeme).

This big move is really starting to feel real!

Last weekend I posted a few items to give away on Freecyle. They are items that did not sell at my garage sale, that I held back from the donations pile, and that I was unsuccessful selling on Craigslist (and they are too inexpensive or bulky to list on Ebay).

I love the idea of Freecycle, but I have to say that it is quite a bit of work. For some reason, people respond to postings really promptly saying they want something, but then either don't reply to arrange a pickup or take their sweet time coming to get things.

I will probably accumulate some more things that I will Freecycle just prior to my move, but I will post everything on just one day when I am going to be home all day, and I will stipulate that things must be picked up within the day. Anything that doesn't get picked up, will be donated to charity.

For anyone interested in Freecycle who is not familiar with it, here is the web site: www.freecycle.org

After averaging 2 or 3 books a week for months, I suddenly sold 6 books in the last 2 days! And I know wyozozo and koppur have been getting good book sales as well. Anyone know what's going on with half.com? Have they been advertising? Sending out subliminal messages? Or is it just that the only stuff on TV right now is crap, so everyone's hitting the books harder than usual (as I have been doing)?

Whatever is going on, I hope it keeps up. And if anyone has been waiting to list books, I'd say jump in and do it!

Well, since I already announced that the results of our garage sale mid-May pushed me over my goal of $3K, this is a bit anti-climactic, but here it is.

In May I netted $1,061.07 from selling off stuff (mostly at the garage sale, but also a bit on Half.com and Craigslist, plus my DH sold a few of his books to a local shop) and earned $11.28 in interest on proceeds from the stuff I've sold.

My grand total is now $3,181.69.

I am going to continue selling things, but probably won't report again until just before our move in September.

My focus has shifted from raising a certain amount of money to seeing just how much I can pare down and still feel comfortable. I've spent quite a bit of time thinking: "How small of a house could we live in without feeling cramped." I definitely don't want to feel squeezed in; been there, done that, don't ever wanna do it again! But I know that a smaller house means not only a lower purchase price but also significantly lower upkeep costs and monthly expenses (especially in Texas where AC is so necessary yet expensive), not to mention that it is better for the environment. The house we choose is going to have a big impact on my goal of becoming "Balance Sheet Affluent" by age 60 ... It all ties together, doesn't it?

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And to completely change gears, I have had a really rewarding month in terms of my business, both emotionally and financially. After sending out letters to my clients that I would be closing my business, I was overwhelmed and gratified to receive many phone calls, Email, notes, and even one boquet of flowers. They all said how much they were going to miss me; it was really surprising and touching. My husband commented: "Wow - This is almost like attending your own funeral, isn't it?" And he was right. I've also had quite a few people decide that they want to use my business one last time before I leave, so I have been very busy the past couple weeks and my schedule is very full right up to my last day of work. To be honest, I had expected just the opposite, that people would start looking for someone new when they found out I was leaving. The extra income is going to be a nice boost, and I am glad that I've already done so much pre-relocation-sell-off since the next few months are going to be busy with work.

Tomorrow's the day to list, ladies and gentlemen! Good luck on your auctions, everyone!

As part of our pre-location purge I am selling books and CDs on half.com.

I have had 2 buyers who apparently buy many books every day (we're talking hundreds). One of them has now bought from me twice, and had the books shipped to different people at different addresses, each time with a note "no invoice please." I think these people must be somehow simultaneously buying my book & re-selling it to another person.

Anyone of you smart people know how they are doing that?

I was going to hold off on posting anything about this until I had my end-of-the-month totals but I'm so excited I just couldn't wait!

The first (and by far the biggest) step in preparing for our relocation is selling off as much of our stuff as we can bear to part with.

Thanks to ThreeBeanSalad's heads-up, I posted some furniture for sale on Ebay when they had a 20-cent listing sale. Out of 7 listings, only 2 sold, but since the listing fee was so minimal I don't mind. The folks who bought one of our sofas came this morning and picked it up. They seemed so happy with it. I think they got a fabulous deal, and we are happy to not have to move it, so it was a win-win for everyone.

Last night I listed the 5 items that did sell on Ebay on Craigslist (www.craigslist.org). It was the first time I ever listed on Craigslist. One item already sold this morning; some nice folks came and took a look and bought it on the spot, for cash. No listing fee, no commissions, just cash in hand. How cool is that?

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