Purging & Acquisition: Zen Garage Sale; Going from 100 to 10%

And some of it was easy, there were clothes that the girls' had stowed that they had outgrown.  There were items that I would have discarded on the last go around but let them stay.  There were things that we wanted to take with us back to Europe that were important.  

Then there was the furniture.  I had already let go of some big articles already, however when I looked at the dining room suite, 4 bedrooms worth of furniture, various and sundry shelving units, etc.,  I began to ask myself the question, "What shape will all of this be in after being stowed away in a storage facility for an undetermined amount of time?" 

It’s not uncommon to hear of damage by the actual move, deterioration while being stored due to moisture or worse vermin.  And then the question begged, if and when the day comes to move it somewhere in Canada will I choose to go back to a property that would be this size again?" Kind of ditches the whole living more simply lesson huh?

After taking a very big breath in and out I made the choice to let go of most everything and boil our belongings down to the essence.

What happened next will always serve me as a clear and resounding sign that I was on the right track.  I called my dearest friend, we drank a very strong coffee, and told her my plan.  Using email and the omni-effecient Facebook I advertised that I was having a Zen Garage Sale.  Meaning, I wanted everything gone and didn’t have time to price it so come and make me a deal that makes us both feel good.

The best part was that my friend never questioned my success and nor did I.  And a success it was. 

We tag teamed at the house, while I unpacked all the boxes she hauled what was going to the garage and merchandised.  Subsequently, I was making calls, fielding calls, emailing and posting pictures, generating a vibe and trusting in it that it would reach the most perfect people.

The emotional value of the contents was a hot topic, pre-sale, during sale and post sale.  I was letting go of some items that were chock full of emotions.  And that can create a conflict, in more ways than one.  The primary conflict that I had to address was how “I” needed to make peace with letting go of these things that held significance.

Tupperware aside there were Wedding gifts, birthday gifts, bought for myself and the house gifts.  Gifts that someone thoughtfully selected and presented to me/us.  That comes with its own attachment. 

My dear friend has a great philosophy when it comes to gifts.  Once a gift is received, the recipient is now in position to “choose” what its fate is.  Be it on display, on use, on loan, stored and even let go of.

 

So when I looked at the beautiful martini glass I was given for my 40^th birthday…yes it was the absolute perfect gift, the giver is a person I adore.  When I look at the glass I am reminded of the gift, the person and the fine beverages served in said glass.  When I looked at it that day, in order to let it go I affirmed that even without the glass each time I have a martini I think of her, the laughs, the giggles and the concoctions we put into those glasses. 

I wasn’t letting go of her, I wasn’t devaluing the sentiment, I was letting go of a glass to someone else so they could appreciate and enjoy it.  I had to be objective and that made the process more peaceful.

There was much merchandise that I had to go through that same process with in order to reduce the emotions attached and simply see things for what they were. 

·        A Glass,

·        A Tupperware piece,

·        Dishes,

·        Pots and pans,

·        Baking sheets…

·        Books…

Simply put I was keeping the memories and letting go of the vessels, it was simply “stuff”. 

In less than 48 hours Myself & two other wonderful ladies opened the garage door and had ourselves a great time! Wheeling and dealing, cajoling (read “bullying with love”) to take the whole box of tupperware not just the one piece!  Directing traffic, organizing people to help lift, carry and haul! Collectively we were making things happen, we were making others happy and lightening my load substantially.  We didn’t even make it the whole day!  We sold out!  

Can’t beat that and the Empty garage made me feel so Full of Joy!

  

The next morning when the moving truck arrived, aware that I had worked to reduce the contents from the original quote, I was blown away that I had condensed our life to 10% of what we had originally….From $750.00 per month storage to $75.00.  Yes I did a little jig!

Purging & Acquisitions: Language of Now

No the phone did not ring with an offer right after I began the process of changing the energy about selling the house. Though how cool would that have been? :)

I knew that this was a transitional time for all 3 of us who were invested in the process and I felt more than ok about letting things move forward on their own as it was easier to do now that I/we were lessening the grip on to it energetically.

Months later there was an event that was happening back in Canada that all 3 of us wanted to be at occurring in October. The timing of the event was in sync with school holidays at the International school, however, in order to travel that distance I wanted to stay longer than the scheduled break from school.  In order to take extra days I had to apply for the girls to be absent well in advance of the time.

On the application form it asks why you require the children to be out of school outside of normal holidays?  My answer, Because we sold our house in Canada and needed to go back to move out.

Which technically was not exactly true, but my intention was for it to BE TRUE.  

So this really amped up my vibeage by way of believing it!  Every time the Autumn break came up in conversation I told people we were going to Canada, to move out of the house!  Yes I was believing my own marketing :)

Three weeks before we were to leave for Canada I received an offer on the house and based on the contract the conditions would be lifted while we were physically there.  Supreme Good Vibeage from that synchronicity and a good way to now release the house both energetically and physically.


As a visual person, I map out what I am doing by seeing it in my head.  So I stepped back into my memory of the house and all the boxes and saw myself organizing them for the mover to come and haul them out into storage.  Yes I kind of clenched about the per month price but now I didn't have a house to store them in anymore so it all balanced out.

I was able to organize most everything via email so that the groundwork had been laid for me to get it done in the time that we had.  A little twist to the whole situation was that less than a handful of people knew that we were coming back since the event we were attending we were showing up as a "Surprise!" That added a bit of mystery and covertness to the operation and a challenge thanks to social media not to spill the beans on the potential sale of the house and our trip back.  

I'm a big fan of chaos, yeah I know crazy.  But I had Zero thoughts that I wouldn't have enough time to accomplish this feat during our 10 days, in addition to other events planned.  It would be hectic but doable.

At my first opportunity I had to get into the house I was going to re-acquaint myself with what we had left to deal with inside.  This meant that I planned to sift through some of the contents that perhaps were important 14 months earlier but today would be different.

Not to mention from a financial standpoint, the boxes not only represented our worldly belongings but along with it a monthly price of $750 for storage fees.  Hmmm doing a quick calculation again...

• I had dodged paying that fee for 14 months, good call Sher!
• I was looking at a minimum storage time of 10 months until...who knew maybe 5 years? You do the math...
• Once our stuff was in storage the next time we would be accessible to it would be when they delivered to our next house.

When I say that the time to Purge was upon me, and I don't mean a bag or 2 of clothes, letting go of some old sheets & towel I mean... 

The Everything must GO NOW PURGE!!!