Back to the basics

Well I finally sold my couches and dining room set. Yah! But now that means for the next 8 days, I have a comfy hardwood floor to sit on. Now if I can just sell the rest of my crap and call it a day! Anyone need some dishes? Or a coffee table? How about some rollerblades? Sigh.

The good news is that in 8 days I’ll be making my way to LA. I have one suitcase packed already and hoping the rest of my belongings will fit in another suitcase and my carry-on. Crossing my fingers on that one. I have more stuff than I thought. Oh and my snowboard. Can’t leave home without that! Hoping this will all fit at the other end.

Selling stuff on Craigslist has made me hate mankind

It seems easy. You click “post”, you list your stuff in the right category, you drop in some pictures and you wait for people to contact you. The thing is you have no control over WHO contacts you. There is no option for “sane people only” on Craigslist.

Case #1: The Need it NOW
This person seems to troll CL in search of that perfect item they need right now…they just don’t actually WANT it. So they fire off an email that goes something like: “Hey, saw your ad for the X, is it still available and when can I come pick it up?” You think “awesome, that was fast.” Ya…not so much. When you email back that yes it is available and you can make arrangements for a time convenient for them, you don’t hear back. At all. Ever. You think you’re losing your mind but then they send you a similar email on another item you’ve posted and it all makes sense. They live in their mother’s basement.

Case#2: The Bargain Hunter
This idiot clearly can’t read and fails to notice the whole point of having 2 sections on CL – the Free section and the Selling section. Or maybe they are the ultimate champion of bargaining. Or they are just morons. I’m going to go with the latter. I have a bookcase I’m selling for $30. These folks like to email you and not ask, but state “I will give you $5” to which I reply “Add $25 and it’s yours.” They usually stop emailing me after that. The other approach is a new one. I forgot I threw up a ton of books up there.  I got an email recently asking about a set I have. I’m selling 5 books in a series for $25. If you do the math, that’s $5 a book. Considering they retail for $18-25 each I’d say that’s a pretty good deal. I got an email asking if I’d drop the price to $20 because she’s buying them for her special needs class and they just really love this series. OK I’m not an asshole, but a few things bothered me about this. Number 1 was the guilt ask. Number 2 was the guilt ask and number 3 was the ‘$20″ ask. Really? $5 more is too much for you? OK I’m an asshole.

Case#3: The No Shows
I can’t believe I for got to write about this category!! The ones that make all the arrangements via email, then call, then call again to ensure they are taking the correct route, then….disappear! Into a CL abyss never to be seen or heard from again. I’ve had quite a few of these. I even had a guy yesterday call to ask if I’d like him to email transfer the payment prior to him coming down and I said no no no…just bring cash. Ya….so he’s in the CL abyss right now laughing his ass off. I just don’t get the joke. I also just don’t get the thrill of whatever “this” is. So you call and get people to believe you are coming to buy something then don’t show up. Then what? Do you brag to your Star Wars collection how awesome you are? Because you clearly have no real life friends.

Case #4: The WEIRDOS
These ones are plentiful. There are too many examples to post but a couple of my favourites…The guy that emailed me to ask if I could send more pics of my glass top coffee table. I wasn’t sure what he wanted. maybe in a grass field? Perhaps with some scantily clad model atop it? Dude, it’s glass. It has a base. Not sure what more you want. So I did what anyone would do in my situation. I had fun with it…at his expense of course. I took a series of “stuff on coffee table” pics. Pic 1: mug on glass coffee table. Pic 2: book on glass coffee table. Pic 3: pile of magazines on glass coffee table and just to throw him off, Pic 4: blanket covering glass coffee table. Surprisingly I did not hear back from him. Rats… I had more to add to this series.

Another lady emailed me to ask for all the information that was in the ad. “So what size is it?” “Is it black or brown?” “How many drawers does it have?” “How much do you want for it?” The first email I didn’t want to be a dick because I figured people look at a few ads so I get it…you can’t remember what ad you are replying to…except it tells you when you hit reply! It says right there with a link “You are replying to THIS (link) ad”!!! Sigh. So after replying nicely to her first email I started just replying with a link to my ad. Again, I didn’t hear back.

I’m sure there will be more to add…my stuff is still up there. I tried Kijiji too…it’s not much better over there. I have sold some stuff. There are human beings who do actually need and want and have the money to buy stuff without hassle. I’m thinking of having an actual “in my apartment” sale…I’m sure that will inspire another blog post.

33 sleeps! And I still have a bed!

I’ve been trying to sell everything I own and it’s all going…very….very…slowly. A crock pot here, a pair of rollerblades there, a wardrobe over there….and today someone is coming to collect my couch and a really nice glass top sofa table. But then it hit me. I move in 33 sleeps and I will now have no couch. I’m back to my first basement apartment days of sitting on the floor, except this time I have a nice flatscreen TV…well…until someone comes and picks that up. At least I still have my bed…

46 Sleeps!

I finally bought a suitcase. Always a good thing to have when you’re moving out of the country. I’m hoping praying I can fit everything into 2 suitcases and I have to say I think I’m doing pretty damn good! I went through my closet tonight and didn’t think twice about tossing anything I haven’t worn in at least 6 months or those things you keep for “when I lose a little weight” or “when I buy those pants that will match this.” If I didn’t wear it it was tossed into one of 2 piles – either the Value Village pile or the Consignment Shop pile. At the end of this exercise I had 2 ginormous piles of clothes. And just so I couldn’t waver and go back later and pull something out, I quickly bagged the VV pile, grabbed a Zipcar and dropped it all off – all 8 large kitchen garbage bags! I also now have 3 large bags to bring to the consignment shop tomorrow. This stuff is the more expensive, label-y stuff so hey, if I can make a few bucks on it, why not? My shop of choice is Kind Exchange – you get money on the spot.

So there you have it. Move Day is getting closer and closer. EEK!

Adjusting to an empty nest

Big empty bubbly nest

So it’s been over a week now since my son moved away to university. I was one of those moms and cried when I had to say good-bye. I was so proud of myself for not breaking down that I was surprised when I did. I really thought I’d be able to hold it together. But when that moment came of getting into the car and leaving my son there the floodgates just opened. Thankfully my father, who drove us there, distracted me for most of the ride home. But then I got home – to an empty apartment – and really broke down.  The stupid part is I had to clean his room because I rented it out for the 2 months before i move to LA and my new roomie was arriving in a couple hours. So that was awesome – crying and cleaning my son’s now empty room. I didn’t plan that well. My new roomie arrived to find me surrounded by crumpled tissues and a bottle of wine in front of me. Great first impression. I tried to explain that I was fine, just sad at suddenly not having a son to look after and promptly burst into tears again. Roomie thinks I’m unstable and an emotional basket case. Awesome.

But now here we are, a week later, and I’m ok. I’m happy for him and excited for his future and I’d be more at ease if his damn OSAP went into his account already but I’m actually enjoying this time to myself. I’m not rushing home to cook dinner, I’m not stressing about if we have enough milk or bacon or eggs, I’m not tripping over shoes at the front door or dirty laundry on the bathroom floor, nor am I wondering where all the cups are only to find them all collecting various forms of mold in my sons room. And I’m especially not missing being constantly worried because it’s after 2am and my son is late for his curfew – again.

Now I can focus on my upcoming move and be excited. I’m still getting the “hey mom can you toss me some money” texts, but I think/hope that will ease up soon. Wishful thinking I know.

 

67 sleeps!!

Hold that plane!

The countdown is on! Move day is officially Oct. 31. Sharing my move day with Halloween. I’m going to be dressed as a Canadian moving to LA. Thanks to Aeroplan, I collected enough miles to get myself a flight to lalaland for the amazing price of $111.83 (taxes). So that was a huge savings! And I managed to rent a room off a friend – she has a fab condo right in the heart of Hollywood with a pool, gym, en suite laundry. So I will be living in heaven for the next 7 months. After that I guess we shall see.

Right now I’m concentrating on settling things up here, selling everything and also getting my son off to university. Oh ya, that. We managed to get his room sorted finally so now he knows what he’s bringing. We threw out about 3 garbage bags full of crap. And now he has a few loads of laundry to take care of. Lots on the go! I also have a roomie coming to rent his room for the next 2 months so that will go towards my LA fund. And save me on rent in the meantime.

One small dilemma in my otherwise solid plan – the fur, aka The Spice Cat. Yes, that furry purry fluffball – have not yet figured out what to do with her while I’m gone. Had hoped my daughter could take her, but she has to convince her father, and we’re not feeling confident on that one. Sigh. I have 67 days to figure that one out.