The glory of craigslist

I began listing the furniture that we are not taking to Germany on craigslist today. We are probably going to have a garage sale at some point for the little stuff, but my husband prefers to sell the big stuff more privately ( I guess that way people don't know we are selling so much and won't feel they can take advantage of the fact that we really NEED to get rid of stuff quickly).

We are taking a few pieces of furniture with us (bed, couch, kitchen table and chairs, & day bed for a guest room) but we are attempting to sell the rest. That includes bedroom dressers and night tables, 3 desks, 4 bookshelves, a wardrobe in addition to my treadmill and car. (Karin remember the car I bought when I worked for you?....that one...) I am hoping we are successful in selling because we really don't want to/can't take this stuff with us considering we don't have a place picked out yet and we don't know what kind of space we are going to have.

I am in major sorting out mode and trying to get rid of everything that I don't need. You know how you accumulate stuff that you feel bad getting rid of, yet you don't ever use it, think about it, or look at it??? Those are the things I am trying to find and get rid of!

We are really good about sorting through clothes and making donation several times a year. We donate to the ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens) because it is a cause I feel connected with and they allow you to schedule a pickup and come take the bags/boxes right from your porch! You can't get more convenient than that! Despite our frequent donations of clothing, we still have a TON. That is what happens when your husband works for a sports apparel company. I have tons of cute tennis outfits and I don't even play tennis! We have sneakers galore and we need to be brutal in deciding what actually comes with us.

I was originally planning to leave my teaching materials and supplies behind in storage, but I am reconsidering that because I am concerned about leaving all of my children's books in storage for an undetermined amount of time. I read up on long term storage and found mixed warnings about how to store books and what to store them in to prevent damage from water, bugs, heat etc. I would be devastated to return in a few years to find ruined books! I am a TA for now, but what if I get my own classroom next year and I want to use my life cycle book sets or my Froggy stories?? I get so attached to my things this process may be difficult. When I really look at the amount of space all my school books take up, I think that it won't be so bad to just take them along. That way I won't feel like I have nothing if/when I get my own classroom at FIS.

I also don't want to put all of my professional development books in storage because I think we will still be in Germany when I am working on my dissertation so I want to have my books for reference. I refuse to sell them because when I am a professor and I get my own office in a university I want to have those huge bookshelves filled with all of my education books that tell the story of where I have been as an educator. If you look at my bookshelf I think it tells a story and shows what kind of teacher I am. Not to mention that books cost money and you can never sell them for what you paid. I have been loving the paperbackswap and have gotten some great books from trading my own, but I often have a hard time giving up books once I buy them, especially if they are related to teaching. I told you I was a book-a-holic!

Even though I have had luck with craigslist in the past, I kind of hate it. I would almost rather sit out in the yard with all the furniture and haggle with visiting shoppers rather than deal with people via email. We may get to that point, but I am hopeful we can get rid of stuff sooner rather than later. I would prefer to live in an almost empty house for a short time than to be stressing at the last minute over what has not sold.

Wish us luck!!!