Imagine this position I am in. As I have mentioned, I assist others to unload their items when they are moving away. Estate Sales/Garage sales they are commonly called. This provides me with first dibs on household after household of items.

When I first started the business, it was all about satisfying those seeking items, and seeing a profit. I bought NOTHING. Then, over time, with pregnancies, and my daughter needing this, and my son needing that, moving apartments, and the biggest one of them all… how can I just let this be thrown in the garabage… certainly we can make good use of it, I myself have become a good customer!

I know I have discussed clutter, and perhaps this will give you a clearer picture of how I have got into this situation - but….

HOW CAN I RESIST???

Could you say NO to a wooden bedroom set in mint condition for $400, a free framed mirror, a stainless steel juicer for $10, wooden puzzles (with all the pieces!), yet ANOTHER ride on car (but for $3!), books, and more books, and more books! If I make the purchase, I also get to pay less my commission!! When I look around my house and say that 85% of the items (and I mean EVERYTHING INCLUSIVE) are from my sales, and probably 40-50% of those items that would otherwise have gone to the trash, and for which I paid nominal amounts, you can see the considerable Perk of the trade here.

Doesnt EVERYONE need 10 down blankets??

Sorry I have been …. absent. Truly I came back this quickly, since YOU, my fans, have sent a barrage of emails begging me to continue. I know these blogs can be quite addicting

Our household has been taken over with Spring Cleaning. This is not a small job (even if I live in small quarters). This is a HUGE job, and never seems to end. I had an unfortunate situation which has prolonged my cleaning to even this very day.

In the apartment building where we rent, most apartments also come with a separate storage room, that is in on one designated floor and hallway. One of our neighbors, who lives above these rooms, had a leak in their apartment, and this caused leaks in many of the storage rooms. There is no air whatsoever - imagine adding moisture. What you get is a room filled with black, green mold that seeps itself into everything - even wood. I had reason to go into this storage room about a week after this occurance, and noticed right away that something was not right. I removed a few mattresses, but due to certain other family conflicts, I was unable to take care of it all properly at this time.

My landlord maintained a small corner of this room - right where the mold was growing. We removed all her items, and offered to throw them away for her. Despite the fact that stuff was growing all over, we had an ultier motive to secure as much extra space as possible for us in this small room .

I have pulled everything out and spent a good 2 days bleaching, scrubbing, laundering, rearranging, and trashing. Despite these efforts, my mattresses now have huge bleach stains where the mold was (does that mean that the mold is gone?), my car seat straps are impossible to clean, and there is no way I would put a child up against this, the laundered items come out still smelling musty, and I have just discovered part of another baby item - a pack and play mattress - covered in mold. Again, something that bleach cant remove and something unsafe for an infant. This item alone cost $174, and who can put a $ figure on all of my time and energy?

So the question - who is responsible? I was not informed of any leak - I happened to discover it on my own. The choices are my building (we all pay a monthly building fee), the upstairs neighbors, my landlord, or me? Right now, it seems to be ME.

My companion through all this, helping me answer questions such as how to remove stains from my mattresses, amongst many others, has been the awesome website - http://www.stain-removal-methods.com . The name speaks for itself.

Back to the bleach. Wish me luck

Not long ago we hosted an open house in our apartment. In addition to whoever came around, there were about a dozen teenage boys, experiencing both their Freshman year of college, and their first serious amount of time away from home.

There was a LOT of wine available on the table.

One boy took our fishbowl, currently without a fish, and decided to claim this as his goblet. The others were less shy, and just drank straight from the bottles.

Conflicting emotions - Old memories of my first time away from home, experiencing something similar, wanting to let these boys share same, with the supervision I could have definitely used (dont ask me how, but somehow I awoke to my dorm counsler holding my head over a bucket), vs. The other emotion - This is my house. Get out and take your grimy, smelly, boozy selves with you.

Save having my kids getting hurt, the former emotion won. Who lost you might ask? My couch, my tablecloth, my skirt, etc..
Naturally I went straight to the web to figure out how to remove these nasty spots.

Where did I find success??? Ok, so I was taking advantage of this experience to purchase new at the following website - The Loveseat Check it out.

What’s a girl from the ‘burbs supposed to do when she is uprooted from her spacious home and property (yes, a place where home and property mean 2 different things), and placed in an apartment that could fit into her former bedroom of said location?? It usually happens that living in a desirable city translates into sacrficing big time on space. When raised in these cities, families learn to accommodate since they dont know any better. The neighbors with a million children in 3 or 4 bedrooms, miraculously are always dressed in clean clothing, and the floor (from as far as I can see in the hallway) seems clean and clear. My smaller family, living in what is actually a larger apartment than these neighbors, has littered our hallway with school bags, food, and books, since the bedrooms are too full of computers, large toys, must have items, tons of blankets for every occassion, and on and on…

Whenever I quietly and demurly (I never scream) state that ‘I need space’, my husband always quips - ‘You want space. Move to Utah.’ (can anyone name the movie?) Now that I spend so much time working on the computer, I have actually called his bluff. Let’s just pack up and go to Utah and rent a big old mansion for $500 bucks a month, and have a room for each toy, one for blankets for all occassions, and a whole room just for single socks. Ah, space. I get warm fuzzies just thinking about it. Can you see me smiling through the computer?

They should have a training school for how to ‘unspoil’ or how to ‘citify’ someone. Teach them how to maximize space within small quarters, throw things away, and how much to purchase and how often. My neighbors dont actually keep every single picture or piece of artwork their kid has ever drawn, but how do your bring yourself to throw something away that is so precious??

Since clutter is an endless endless endless pit of a discussion, for now I will close with one of my favorites memories. I was 18 and visiting a friend in Manhattan. We were going to spend a weekend with her close family friends in the Upper West Side. Known to be a little outspoken, my friend found it best to warn me in advance that this family did not appreciate people ogling at their accommodations. I should keep any wows to myself. I shrugged her off and we went on our way. After walking through the apartment, I said to my friend - I dont get it. You have seen my house - why would I possibly be impressed with this apartment??

Ok, so naive right ?? - they have a whole floor in a Manhattan apartment building. Once I got to College in NYC, it didn’t take me long to realize just how naive I was, and how much more value their apartment has to my home + property. Harrison Ford lives in their building. Yes I saw him, and he waved to me. And I was 18 back in the days of Indiana Jones so this was way cool.

I wish I could say that I had a thought to add on my last blog. While that is not entirely untrue, it is due to Another death - this one of my Mother In-Law. I actually found out she had passed not long after writing last weeks blog. My Grandmother’s death was 2 generations away, this is one.
My Grandmother’s death had my father working out who gets what, this time I am in that position.

As my Mother in Law was married, and her husband is still alive, there will probably be no immediate action taken, if any, until he too shall pass (may he live and be well!).

Remember what I wrote about ‘equal opportunity’ in my previous blog? Well my M-I-L was an equal opportunist par excellence, and everything will be distributed 33.33 % to each of the 3 sons. Maybe I should rephrase my whole thought process. When on the receiving end, it isnt as bad for someone to not play favorites or give according to need, especially when they are a daughter in law - always a tough job!

My In-Laws house, while not nearly as large and grand as my own parents, has a very special warm homey feel to it. The living room has plush carpeting, upholstered chairs, couches, limoge figurines, warm lamp lighting, and a great old turntable. I would love putting on old records for my children - from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, ‘Annie’, and ‘Free to be -you and me’.

Once you start heading to the back of the house, the problems begin. This problem, one that I unfortunately all too aware of, will be the subject of the next blog, and undoubtedly others to come.

CLUTTER!!

I would NOT mourn the loss of my clutter!

My Grandmother passed away a week ago. I was in 3 states in 5 days, traveling a total of 40 hours. Yes, 40 hours. 12 hours were in a car from state to state, the rest in air. Ok, so I’m tired.

Last Saturday we expected our relatives to meet up with us for lunch, but found out that they got held up for HOURS going through my Grandmother’s belongings, and figuring out what to do with her furniture. This is a woman who was living independently, before getting sick 3 weeks ago. So now, who gets what??

Most of my Grandmother’s children already have their own furnishings, and they ALL live out of state, but what about those special antique pieces that were hand-me-downs to her? What about her artwork, her computer (yes she was a very computer savvy senior), and her priceless baseball card collection? My Grandmother was an avid sports fan, and we joke that had a team she was rooting for been in the superbowl, she would have lived a few days longer.

I saw a sitcom many years ago that had the not so elderly mother inviting her children over to tag the belongings they wished to receive following her death. She wisely said that if the children were going to fight about it, let it be now, while she was alive. I think that is brilliant. I am not a fan of these equal opportunity families. I understand the concept behind it, but all children are not equal, some need more than others, and should be treated accordingly. Some have completely different taste as well. Why should one child be forced to deal with the breakfront if they would not wish it, while his/her sibling cant afford furniture, but it helped the parent divvy things out evenly?

I have twin brothers. If I come across an item one would appreciate, I buy it, not considering the other twin at all. This is from when they were children. And I am not just saying this since I may be in the position of needing more than my siblings. My parents are NOT reading this .

My Grandmother was old enough to outlive her money, and had been supported by her children (those who could afford to help), for the past several years. Since they already worked out that sensitive issue and pretty much still speak, luckily they will be able to actually mourn their parent and not get into these sticky situations that so many families do - at the expense of cherising the memory of their loved ones that passed on.

ok so I might be wrong….

However, look around you - this is what I see:

People are moving so they need to sell their items and buy stuff in their next location.
Couples are getting married and setting up a new house.
Couples are getting divorced and SOMEONE has to go out and get themselves set up somewhere.
People are dying and their stuf has to be sold.

This is just the basics - and they are not a rare occurence - each of the above is happening at a higher rate than babies are being born (ok, so just call me Homer Simpson since this is just ANOTHER guess/lie)

Now for the lucrative:

Even when you are eating your bread and butter which you need to survive, you may be doing so:

In a restaurant often defined by its furniture.
In a hotel which is Always defined by its furniture.
In your office….sitting on your office furniture.
On your recliner that comes with that special tray allowing you to eat AND not drop the remote.

Unless you are single in NYC, in which case you may eat all your meals standing or walking.

Furniture is very powerful:

It can sell property - when seeking out a condo in Miami Beach, check out the lavish furnishings shipped in special from Bombay for the apartment on display. In addition, my friend was convinced to buy a property for $650,000 since they were throwing in all the furnishings for an extra $5 grand. Here she was paying WAY beyond the value of the property, but she was convinced that she was getting the good deal, since the contents could easily have sold for $15 grand. Go figure.

It makes women feel inadequate everywhere - how do you feel when you go to your friends house and see it decked out wall to wall with the Perfect furnishings, everything just so, and you go home to find your kids eating paste and coloring on the wall? Women are guilty of watching Martha Stewart every day to see more and more ways that they could be living. If only.

It makes another WHOLE industry Rich! We are paying A LOT of money annually to our insurance providers in case something happens to our precious furniture. We Must be able to replace it! Sometimes there is a happy ending - My brother’s apartment building just burned down, and he is living in a swanky hotel for at least 6 months, and getting a VERY hefty check. Of all the apartments in the building, he was one of the only ones able to salvage some stuff. If you dont mind the smell of smoke.

Got any others to share? Let us know!

I could offer lists of ways to have a successful moving sale. And I will… at some point. For now I just wanted to mention the 2 most important ways to guarantee the greatest showing of people, and receive the best prices.

These suggestions are married in that it is almost impossible to have one without the other. If you cave on one feature, the next will most certainly be compromised.

One of the parts of my business that has turned out to be most successful are our moving / estate sales. When individuals leave the city/country, we are responsible for selling all of their items, and we are hired not just because we are able to do so, but we do so very well. It is a fact that our %age’s earned are LESS than what the sellers would LOSE had they chosen to do the sales on their own. This is not a pitch to use our services. I can guarantee you - I dont live in a town near you.

When we host these events, we usually set one date for 3 hours. All the time, I hear - are you sure that is enough???Just 3 hours?? Only 1 night?? These are often households of thousands of dollars of items. Can it really be possible to unload all this in such a short amount of time?

I will get to these answers later, but when I unequivocally say that if I am involved, this is the way it will be, I calm then down, telling the sellers about our unique approach … Like I am about to tell you… soon

Nothing like a little suspense…

So a nights sleep + a week.

At first I loved having this bedroom set in my empty living room. We had an open kitchen and a very long living room, with bay windows overlooking the forest. I would sleep in this bed at night and pretend I was in some awesome studio apartment, or even better - that this living room was my bedroom, and that my bedroom, which is about 1/5th the size of the living room, was just my awesome walk in closet.

However, we were having relatives coming and my husband was getting really bothered that his family was going to arrive to a bedroom set in the living room. He would have prefered the nothing to this. He kept pushing and pushing me. I kept trying and trying to sell it, to no avail.

I was ready to break down, and sell it for any price, even though this set really meant my profit. I had thankfully earned back the capital and this amount would have really helped, considering I paid to move it as well.

The relatives were arriving in 2 days. My husband approached me and said that he knew I was trying and not to worry about it, if they had to see us living like this, we would survive. I breathed a sigh of relief. Later that afternoon a couple came to see the set. I couldnt believe it - they agreed to purchase it for the full asking price. They even were available to take it right away. By the time they were finished removing the items, I was on my way out the door for a charity event. The new owner of the bedroom set looked at my bare living room, and said - “now what will you do?” I assured him I would be fine. and something would come up. Then I rushed out the door.

The charity event was called a ‘Chinese Auction’. You spend money on raffle tickets, place them in boxes listing items you would like to win. At the end of the evening the names are called out for the winning prizes. This auction was highly popular and there were at least 1000 people present. I was running late and barely had time to purchase tickets, get a good look at the items, and throw the raffles in.

They had already called out all the prizes and all that was left was the grand prize. The grand prize was a complete dining set + living room set. Most people were getting up to leave, like when the last man is at bat in a baseball game - leave early to avoid the traffic. Therefore, it was not too many people, myself included, that heard them say MY NAME for the grand prize. Well… I heard something similar enough to my name to lag behind and investigate. Sure enough, I had won a dining table + 6 chairs and a 3,2,1 sofa set with a matching coffee table. The event said that they held no responsibility for the items that were there, and we had to hire a mover for an immediate removal.

By 1 am that night, my living room/dining was completely furnished. I may have been in the furniture business, but I was like the shoemaker with no shoes.

One of my first real commitments to this new business I was trying to get off the ground was the purchase of a ‘household’ of furniture another couple was selling. Luckily my Mom was in town, so I had someone to hit up for the cash. The plan was that I while I was meanwhile making a name for myself as a place to call when seeking items, here I would have a bunch of items at the ready. Ideally, I would have made an arrangement with the sellers to let me sell by %age, but they would have continued to advertise in local papers, and I felt that their package deal price gave me more room to profit selling items piece by piece. Since this was 10 years ago, it is almost impossible to write about it without prejudicing the story with the knowledge I now possess. Well then I knew next to nothing, and today I am either way too lazy or way too smart to ever expect to do that same situation over again successfully.

However, this really has less to do about my business beginnings and more about a story for the books. My chicken soup for the soul, if you would.

We were renting a 2 bedroom furnished apartment. It was on the 5th floor and there were no security bars on the windows. I told myself that when my son turned 3, we had to leave. It would be too dangerous to stay, and the landlord was not interested in accommodating. I was actually happy to leave, since I was sick of the grandparent furniture, and ready for some of my own.
Luckily we found a vacant apartment in the same building. It was deliciously empty. The only step we made to fill it, was to order some carpets. We were really so glad to be rid of the clutter elsewhere that we looked forward to just space. We had the few necessary appliances, and 3 beds.

So some time passed and we broke down and got some closets, since it really isnt fun living out of boxes, and it is a LOT messier, defeating the purpose of space.

Shortly after this move is when I purchased the household of items mentioned above. Everything was going pretty smoothly, and item by item I was selling it off. I knew the hardest item to sell would be the bedroom set. The bed was not the standard size the local people purchase, and the couple were chain smokers! Something I didnt realize would have any affect on a buyers’ decision (I know, dumb right?). I was still hopeful since the nighttables and dresser were very pretty and the mattress was very top of the line and plush. The time was running out, and since the items belonged to me, I was responsible to remove anything that didnt sell! I tried and tried, but NOONE was buying this bedroom set. I finally had no choice, but to move it into my apartment.

To continue after a nights sleep..