An estate sale or estate liquidation is a sale to dispose of a substantial portion of personal property to facilitate a move. Yes, I know that it also can mean that a person is recently deceased, but that’s not the case here. The purpose of our estate sale wasn’t to make money, but rather to get rid of stuff as soon as possible so that we could make repairs and prep the house for staging before open market day. In total, we made roughly $4000, selling items at stupidly cheap prices. We surprised quite a few customers at our sale and nearly everyone walked away with a smile from the bargains they made.
In roughly two weekends, we’ve divested nearly 80% of our worldly goods in our downsizing efforts. The first weekend sale was open only to friends and family, giving them first pick among our goods and a chance to talk about our plans for a nomadic lifestyle. The second weekend we opened to the public. Now only the bigger (harder to move) items remain, which we can hopefully sell before our house goes on the market. If you’re interested, we have a large curio cabinet, a very nice dining table, a pro elliptical machine (the kind you find at a gym), a 8-man foldable meeting table, four accent chairs, a bamboo platform bed, a bench, and a loveseat with ottoman.
Although we were thoroughly exhausted after each sale day, we felt well and satisfied with ourselves. One woman asked me how I felt about people pawing through our stuff – I found that I wasn’t sad or upset, but happy that our items, even ones with personal meaning and history, found homes. Our dragon wedding champagne glasses are now living with a dear friend. Some of my favorite teacups and my Underwood 1930s typewriter are with two beloved friends. While my favorite egyptian figures are now at home with another set of cherished friends. Lots more went to good homes and I couldn’t be happier. We even came away with some great stories to share with our friends. I plan on sharing some of the stories here, but I’ll save them for a later date. For now, I have to pack more items away, repair parts of the house, and then do a major cleaning session.
Whew!
2 Comments
Wait! Do I spy an old camera there? Likely sold, but maybe you still have it? Not too big on collecting things, but I covet my camera collection. Have even used an old brownie and others. So fun!!!! Let me know if you have any cameras, please:)
Good for you!!!! I’m trying to downsize, or at least gain some space and rid our home of un-needed and iun-used items. This is something many could benefit from, including someone dear to me. Oops! Did I just say that?