Saturday, March 19, 2016

On to Plan B

Well, that didn't work. 

A big piece of our financial picture fell through about a month ago.  Thus, there has been much procrastination in blog writing.  In a nutshell, something we needed to happen didn't.  And that means we now have to sell not only our house but our two rental properties as well.

I had to tell our renters, all fabulous people and exceptional tenants, to vacate by May 15th. May I never, ever have to do that again.  It was truly painful. 

And now the real fun can begin.  Our timeline has sped up as a result of this, instead of slowing down. The townhomes and the house will all be listed on or about June 1.  My gut says they'll all sell pretty quickly.  As soon as they do, we are buying an RV (yes, this is new!) and living in it while we try to figure out the boat we want/can afford.

Holy 180, Batman!  The RV discussion is a stroke of genius, if you ask me. I wish I could claim it was my idea. Basically, it buys us time. 

Meanwhile, I have been putting my hands on every single item in our home and throwing it into one of three piles; stuff to sell, stuff to store at grandma's house and stuff to throw out.  It is painstaking and, of course, difficult.  Exhibit A: Below is a photo of beautiful, Lenox crystal wine glasses that are now discontinued. I have 8 of them.  And yeah, they're being sold.  And yeah, I'm going to get for a fraction of what I paid for them.  If nothing else, this process has assured me that stuff is stuff.  It's not worth what you think it is. And it's not worth paying retail, trust me. I will never buy retail again. If I need stuff, I'm heading to an estate sale!

I've also hired an estate sales company to handle the glorified garage sale mid-May. That way, our house can be largely empty as we try to get it ready to show.  We have to paint everything, refinish our hardwood floors and basically beautify the dear, old girl. 

I alternate between feeling like we have all the time in the world and feeling something like, "Ohmygoodness, it's March WHAT?  We are not going to make it!"  Yeah, it's fun. 

Trying to keep my eye on the prize.