The Great Jettison: Part 1

If you're making an international move AND you're a total tightwad, this is the series for you! When we found out we were moving out of the country, we were faced with the same question that plagues every middle-class American moving family: "What do we do with all this...stuff?"

When we were reading books about international moving, all of them kept referencing "the shipping crate." Most of these books must be written for some rich, materialistic people who simply cannot imagine living without ALL of their precious things. The cost of this was so insultingly high, I didn't even get a quote on it.

What of storage units, you say?  Puh-Leeze!  I don't know what storage units cost where YOU live, but here, Homey don't play that.  I realize I suffer from a chronic case of sticker shock, (my therapists call it High Price Fatigue) but these prices multiplied by three years was going to get well into four figures, all for things that we didn't really need.

The lucky part for us is our unbridled general frugality. The simple fact is, our stuff just ain't that nice. Most of our furniture is hand-me-down, thrift shop, secondhand, picked-up-from-the-curb gems. This makes them great for function and conversation starters, but not worth moving or storing.

Enter our two heroes- The Local Consignment Store (LCS) and Craigslist. What a wonderful time in which we live. In this series, we will explore some of our favorite success stories. Think selling stuff is boring, mundane? Not anymore!

First up, a sampling of shelves. Good Lord, do shelves sell quickly here, and Good Lord, did we sell a lot of them.  This was a great starter for using Craigslist.  It taught me all of the lessons I needed about using the site.  From my own personal experience, the rules are as follows...

1)  Don't assume that because someone emails you a message of their great interest in an item that they have any interest in said item.

2)  Don't assume that when someone says they are coming to your home at a certain place and time that they have any interest in coming to your home at said place and time.

These nondescript wire shelves sold for a whopping 5 bucks!  Posted them up during the Super Bowl and had three responses on them before the game was over.  Got picked up the next night.  When these strangers came over, I got a "Dude, this is a sweet house, man!" so I got some cash AND a little ego boost.

This beauty was my first foray in to the price bump- 15 bucks!

Check back later for more and more in this series of Craigslist stories.  We have many that each deserve their own much-too-long post.