Selling Everything And Down Sizing Today

[Trim50]

We started our yard sale today and started selling everything (or at least trying). Lori is having a real issue with letting go of some things. This should be real interesting to see how well she deals with living in a small 1 bedroom apartment for the next 12 months while we do the final preparation of the boat.

Just sold a $600 stainless steel BBQ for $80...that was tough! Lori has reluctantly placed her sewing table and sewing machine out for sale. She is not in a good mood today, and yet I'm excited.

While writing this, I just sold the treadmill!!!....this is fun!

[Lighthouse]

No place on board for a treadmill?

[Auzzee]

Hi Trim,

There is a trend in Oz for people to trawl lawn sales looking for bargains to sell on eBay. I have found that directly selling 'stuff' on eBay is far more profitable than the alternative. It is free, I have never failed to sell an item, listing your goodies is painless and the PayPal system appears to be a real winner.

Best of luck

David.

[JeanneP]

eBay is amazing. My brother's neighbor did as David says, trawled neighborhood yard sales for things he then sold on eBay at a profit. He had lost his job and found that his eBay sales were almost as profitable as a "real" job.

I've bought items still in their original boxes on eBay that are so old that I can't even find them at yard sales, at sometimes amazing prices.

Getting started is a little slow, I understand, but can be very profitable according to a friend who sold lots of her castoffs on eBay.

[Trim50]

I bought 4 (new in the boxes) Lewmar self tailing stainless steel winches 2-54s and 2-48s on E-bay and paid $3500 total (retail $6000ish)! 4 months ago I bought a new Raymarine E-80, not in box and no cables for $1500 (Retail $3500). I'm sure all these item were paid for by someone elses insurance.

I love Ebay, however I believe it also makes for a fast fence for thieves.

[Auzzee]

Over the years I have accumulated so many things that I simply could not live without, that seem now to be petrifying in the shed, the kitchen cupboards and my workshop. I honestly think I could fit out a hull with all the 'bits' lying around.

I have listed my house for sale and will shortly start selling all this c**p. How the hell can a reasonably logical person buy such things as brand new hatches that turn out to never be needed? I just found $650 worth of stainless, recessible, 'Q-locks' for locking down a cabin sole on a previously owned boat, I have more stainless nuts, bolts and screws, blocks, tangs, sheaveboxes, hoops and shackles than some chandleries. I even have a spare, brand new inflatable dinghy....(And just to show the university education was not wasted; I am not anal retentive!)

And, I wonder, why I felt the need at some point during my past to buy electric juicer updates (all three still under the kitchen counter),...not to mention the cost of bread made in the cost saving,automatic, must-have breadmaking machine is around $115 per quite horrible loaf.

My gorgeous girl says it is because I am a Capricorn.(She still thinks I am cute even though I outweigh her by 50 kilos). My not so gorgeous ex-girl from the 70's who was a little more pragmatic (and who probably outweighs me nowadays), thought it was because I am a useless p***k.

Insightful woman!

So, if you want to buy my left handed, metric doodad with the chromed puller-outerer, along with the original boxed set of steak knives and the green marble cheese cutter....Give me a call...I think maybe I have two of them.....somewhere.

[Nausikaa]

I find myself agreeing with Auzzee's sentiments.

Having passed the big 50, a few years ago, I find I have matured from being a hoarder to being a minimalist. Not so long ago, if I had money in my pocket and I saw something nice I would convince myself that I had a need for it and buy it. Not so today. I have given my children almost all of what I owned and now live a vastly different lifestyle. I never now buy anything without asking myself the question, "do I really need this"?

My school physics teacher once, in a profound moment, said to me, "Never own more than you can carry on the back of a motorcycle as you will then be trapped". It is true. Property my not be theft but it certainly is restrictive and generates worry. Is the house alright? When will the car break down? must those payments be made now? You get the gist of it.

I gave away / sold the lot. Now I own almost nothing except my boat and a small flat. I did not even keep the car and, living on a small island, I certainly don't miss it. I am a lot happier, a lot lessed stressed and there is nothing preventing me from sailing whenever I wish with the exception of work. I can recomend it. Getting away from the status race is like being given a new start on life.

Which one, unnecessary thing did I however keep? Well, getting back to Trim 50's original posting, I did keep the braai / grill / barbie! Maybe that will go soon too as I have not used it since getting back from South Africa.

Aye

Stephen

Yacht MAUSIKAA

[Auzzee]

Hi Stephen,

Ya wanna nice cheeseboard to go with the grill?

[Nausikaa]

Nah....was thinking you might be interested in giving me an offer I can't refuse for the grill instead.

Seriously though, I have got rid of an enormous amount of stuff....but I do have to get rid of more. The goal is to move aboard and to own no more than fits into NAUSIKAA. That is serious downsizing!

The hardest stuff to part with will be many electric tools, books and my huge mahogony desk. Giving things to the kids helps though as it stays in the family and in time they would get everything anyway.

Aye

Stephen

[Harbor_Pilot]

Dang it Than!

My older brother used to have a bumper sticker that said, "He who dies with the most toys, WINS!".

......He led me astray. !@#$%^&*()_

I have a $450 Weber Baked on Enamel Coated Grill...... Do I here $20?

Trim50? You said this part was fun, correct?

[Harbor_Pilot]

$20?

$20???

Do I hear $20?

No?

Ok. I'll throw in a $20 Cheeseboard, I just purchased from OZl And do I here $10?

$10?

JIM! {Older Brother / Bumper Sticker Guy} YOU BETTER Bid $10. or I'll.......UGH! kick dirt at you or something....or other.

[Trim50]

For some reason I have always been a minimalist...it is the women in my life that have always filled my closets and storage. Whenever I feel that I have more stuff than I can fit in my car or boat, I get stressed-out. Whenever I have moved in my life, rather than pack the furniture, I have always sold it, then bought new when I find a new place to live. I guess most of my minimalist personnality comes from 5 years of living on Trim...she is the one female that has been with me through thick & thin.

So, at this point in my life, 42 now, I want to unload everything that doesn't have direct benefit or use for cruising. Lori seems to be with me, however she is still making me put stuff in a storage unit because she claims to want to give it to her kids. She also has these plants that she drags around from place to place that simply kill me. I keep telling her to set them free! She does not see the humor in it

[Harbor_Pilot]

Trim50,

I have so much crap to get rid of, it is funny. It happened by accident; unexpectedly, being in two former buesinesses, and starting a third one, while still having valuable buisness property and partial inventory of the first two, uncertain if I wanted to operate one of them after moving.

I stored stuff, scattered in 3 states with business reasons, moved some of it twice. Liquidation is next on my priority, right after the landscaping is done. I just traded my truck and her lawn mower for concrete work, even up. ....but I was planning on buying another truck anyway, and worked out a fair deal with a neighbor, concerning mowing the lawn.

Plants. I/we will not have trouble letting go of the address and mail box when it is our time to shove off. I may miss the yard and garden. The house plants I could care less, hers or mine. The 125 gallon aquarium will be a minor trade off, to see the places first hand where the aquatic life originated.

eBay, and I are about to become serious business partners.

Contary to smart sense, What else do you have for sale? Cheap?

You know I have to mark it up, so I can sell it for a profit!

Do I hear $10?

$7.50?

$5????

$2.50 Sold! To the Man Smoking the Cigar in the third row. {Not my Brother! - Bumper Sticker Guy! Well;......He already had 5 or 6 grills! ...Well because he wants to WIN!}

Ladies and Gentleman, do we have a action auction going today or What?

Next on the block, we have this here fine boat. The sails are rusted, the stick is broke, she leaks a little in the middle, but nothing a little love and understaning can't fix. TApe her up, wax her down and you'll be cruising in no time flat! AND DO I hear $$$$,$$$???

[Nausikaa]

Originally Posted by Trim50

For some reason I have always been a minimalist...it is the women in my life that have always filled my closets and storage.

AMEN to that!

But I can't blame her for all my fishing gear.

Aye

Stephen

[Auzzee]

I will miss my 'fun' car and the motorbike. Everything else that won't fit, won't go, and I don't really think I'll miss anything after three months have passed.

David.

[Trim50]

I have a large storage unit near the boat that I rented specifically for storing sails, boat hardware, wood and tools. It is now more than 50% filled with Lori's stuff that she can't let go of. I know exactly what is in every box and where it is located, Lori on the other hand has no idea what she has in her boxes, only that it is important to keep...boxes of videos, a several huge boxes of files, clothes, shoes, more shoes, more shoes.....got have those shoes

My greatest challenge will be shorting through my tools and determining which ones to bring and then how to store them on the boat. Lori's greatest challenge, and she does not know this yet, is picking which three pair of shoes to bring