Use it on up or move it on out!

One of the good things about the prospect of a terrifyingly imminent move is that your mindset changes. New stuff? Hell no!


Today, I considered going garage saleing, and then I realized just how idiotic a proposition that was. More stuff? Yeah, that's a great idea right around the time we're boxing up our worldly possessions.


Similarly, we probably won't be ordering out much in the near future, if only for the fact that we have to empty our damn freezer. We have masses of hot dogs, some frozen dinners and probably all sorts of stuff we've forgotten about. And it's not like we can take it with us.


The good news is that this means we will barely need to grocery shop for the next three weeks. Aside from some fruit for me and cheese for Tim, we'll be too busy concentrating on winnowing our perishable foodstuffs down to a reasonable level. Of course, any leftover hot dogs will be received gladly by at least a couple of our friends. But overall, I'd prefer to leave with a minimum of uneaten food.


On the same note, I've begun the annoying process of untangling yarn and spinning it into balls for resale. Most of it won't fetch much, it's not high quality stuff. But some of it will be put on eBay. The rest will either go on Craigslist or in our moving sale.


Yes, we're having a moving sale. I'm quite excited by this prospect. Sad, I know. But after years of living in a secure building, I actually kind of miss being able to throw a yard sale. Probably because, when I was growing up, our community had a yearly garage sale; so it became a sort of tradition. Well, that and I like getting money for things I don't want anymore.


Either way, if the weather is supposed to be nice, we're going to throw up some signs and post on Craigslist. Then we're going to drag everything over in front of the townhouses next door. We'll be on the sidewalk, which is technically public property. Also, tenants have a side entrance, so we won't be blocking anyone. I'm kind of proud of this devious plan. And definitely looking forward to getting some moolah while lightening our load.


It's kind of surprising to me, once again, just how unattached I am to most of our things. So unattached, in fact, that we'll be asking for very little per item. It will add up, of course, but mainly the more compact form of cash seems eminently more appealing than the bulky form of the actual object.


Having already tackled our somewhat meager book collection, I feel ready to start cleaning out under our bathroom sink. We have an awful lot of items crammed under there, and yet we barely use anything from the back reaches of the cupboard. Not a good sign. I know there are plenty of bodywashes to be had. Several different lotions and such that never got used. Honestly, I'm a little afraid to consider what else is down there. If I do, I'd start totting up the money we spent on it and probably start weeping.


But to focus on more positive spending, our moving fund is coming along. I made about $60 on beads, and the yarn should bring another $20-40. Perhaps more, but I don't want to get my hopes up. My eBay items sold for about $190 after fees. And we received two boons in the form of about $200.


The first one was our electric bill. Being low income, we receive a certain credit each month for electricity. (Why this also includes water/sewer/garbage when we don't pay those, I just don't know.) When we don't use up those credits, they remain on our account. The total was getting pretty ludicrous, and Seattle City Light decided it was time to cut us a check for the $219 we had sitting there. You have the option of returning it to the fund to help perpetuate the low income program. I felt a little bad not doing that, but right now we need that money to move.


The second was the last hurrah at the casino with my local relative. I won $90 on a 25 cent bet and sat there stunned. I had a few more moderate, but still surprising, wins of things like $20 and $30. My relative lets me keep my stake money if I don't lose it. So I was ready to walk out with $180. Not bad for a day's non-work.


Then I remembered that, in your birthday month, you get 1000 player reward points. I went over to Customer Service and was told to swipe my card. Then, the woman told me I had $43. I think I actually did a double take. I thought that when you had 100,000 points you got $10 back, but it turns out that each point is worth one cent. Not great, when you consider that you earn points through every dollar of slot play. (No, I didn't put in $4,300 over the last four years. Remember, any time you spin, that counts toward your dollar. So as you go up and down, the points accumulate.) She asked if I wanted to cash out. I said yes -- probably a little too loudly/quickly. So I walked out of the casino with $213. Clearly someone up there approves of us moving.


Today, Tim and I are headed up to the outlet malls to hit summer clearance sales. I have to credit Tim's mom with the idea. She pointed out that all the warm weather stuff is uber-cheap right now, so we should take advantage of it before heading down. Then I realized that if regular stores were having sales, outlet stores would be my own personal heaven. (Outlet prices + clearance sales = Happy Abby.) It's annoying that we need to spend money, but we will need more summerish clothes and this is probably the best chance to get cheap ones.


So that's about all the news that's fit to print. We're just starting to sift through our things and decide if we'll use it, if we can use it up, or if we should sell it. It's a satisfyingly efficient feeling.