8/1/2017 – Today marked the first day of our sell-our-shit-stand rental at Co-Op In The Cove!  After work, we loaded up the truck, crossed our fingers that the previous tenant had moved their ridiculous $500 hook rugs stuff out and headed to check things out.  We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived and the stand was empty.  We made quick work of moving things in and getting things set up.  We ended up taking $287.50 worth of shit items to sell to start the stand with.  We were actually kind of surprised that it looked a little barren, despite taking what we thought was a ton of stuff to get started.  The Co-Op isn’t actually open to the public until Thursday, so, I kind of can’t wait to see how much we sell over the weekend!

8/2/2017 – Another attempt at selfies with the dog.  Another fail.

8/3/2017 – Okay…I couldn’t take it anymore.  We went to check the stand at the Co-Op because the suspense was killing me!  We decided to price some more stuff and take up with us, since we had more than enough space.  We took another $62 worth of shit items to sell with us to set up, ramping up our total inventory for sale to $349.50.  When we got to the stand, I noticed that the two wire baskets that we left on Tuesday were gone and I was overjoyed!  A sale of $7 sent me over the moon!  I looked around some more and noticed that some of the items on the shelves had been moved around and it appeared as though some things were missing.  FANTASTIC!  While we were stuffing the stand with more stuff, one of the Co-Op workers came over to ask if we wanted him to move the washtubs out of the stand because someone paid for them but didn’t have a truck to take them just yet.  Holy shit – that means we sold them, too!  This Co-Op thing might be just what we needed to get this selling our stuff thing going!

8/5/2017 – Invigorated with the sales we know we made at the stand at the Co-Op, we decided that we would try our Josh’s hand at making some things to take to the stand with scraps from the garage.  We ended up putting together a few things from stuff we had laying around that I think will do really well at the stand.  A 6′ ironwood ladder, refinished distressed side tables, a pallet shelf and a mushroom wood star wall hanger.  Scraps from the garage and a few hours worth of work should bring a few bucks income to the stand!

8/7/2017 – Only 219 Monday’s left!

8/8/2017 – Another trip to check on our stand and take more inventory to set up for sale.  When we arrived, I noticed that Josh’s black, white and gray Indian artwork was gone, as well as the washtub that we anticipated would have been picked up by today.  The good news?  We had enough room to put up more stuff.  The GREAT news?!  Knowing that we sold the artwork and the washtub means knowing that we made enough during our first week with the stand to cover our rent for August!  In just the first week!  How incredible?!  I know a few more small things are gone, though I’m not exactly how many smaller things, but, anything beyond the artwork and the washtubs that covered the rent is profit.  And, for a week into this adventure, that’s pretty encouraging!  One of the owner’s came to chat while we were there and shared that he is very happy with my pricing and how quickly I’m selling things, so, that made me feel pretty good, too.  I’m hopeful that this will be a sustainable solution to our getting rid of junk goal.  I’ll be interested to see if Josh’s ironwood ladder (that I priced at $25, which he simply could not believe) will sell between now and next Tuesday when we plan to head back to the stand.  Current stand inventory: $389.00.  Total sales for August so far that I can figure out based on my less-than-great memory: $82.00.

8/11/2017 – Finally another Friday.  Unfortunately, a bunch more rain.  We were considering heading to Josh’s company’s beach house this weekend to spend a weekend fishing with Josh’s family (who are there for the entire coming week), but, they’re calling for rain pretty much the entire weekend so we decided against it.  I’m kind of considering it a blessing in disguise, though.  We went to check our Co-Op stand this evening to make sure things were set for the weekend and we were astonished when we walked in and saw many, MANY empty holes where things had been that sold.  We took the remainder of my fall decorations up and tried to fill the hole the best we could.  Curiosity got the best of me and on the way out, I asked if there was a way to find out how much we’ve sold so far.  We got the stand on 8/1/2017 and the Co-Op has been open for exactly six days since we got the stand.  In those 6 days, we’ve sold $150 worth of shit!  I am absolutely amazed!  And pretty thankful that it appears as though this is going to be a great way to get rid of stuff and make a few dollars.  We spent most of the evening pricing more items to take to the stand tomorrow to replenish our stand’s inventory.  (Note To Self: Take pictures every time!  It’s a blast to compare the pictures and see what’s missing / been sold.)

8/15/2017 – Today turned into an unexpectedly exciting day!  I got my quarterly check from Ebates, to the tune of $43.  AND, I got my first check from our Co-Op stand, which was a pleasing $164.12 for the first 15 days of having the stand!  Meaning I made a sweet $207.12 aside from my “day job” today.  We took a few more items up with this this evening so the stand should be set for the weekend.  I’m headed to a work conference this week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which means no real work for the rest of the week.  AND, we’re headed to the beach house with Josh’s family Friday at lunchtime for the weekend.  A good day indeed!

Friday, 8/18/2017 – Sunday, 8/20/2017 – Time for the annual family beach house weekend!  Because of the work conference I had, we couldn’t go any earlier that Friday afternoon, as the conference was from Wednesday morning through Friday afternoon.  It was a really fast-paced, packed, fun-filled weekend, so, it earned its own post, here.

Monday, 8/21/2017 – I REALLY wanted to take a sick day from work and nerd out all day on our website, but, after being out of the office since Tuesday of last week, I decided to go to work.  (Note To Self: It was a poor decision.  Take the sick day next time.)  Today was “The Great American Eclipse.”  Apparently kids were allowed to stay home from school in some areas and it’s been 99 years since the last eclipse like this.  Like a good worker bee, I was at work during the eclipse.  But, I was able to stream some live footage of other people enjoying it, which was pretty cool.  Only 217 Monday’s left!

Tuesday, 8/22/2017 – My “day job” was just getting in the way of a bunch of things that I wanted to accomplish, so I took that sick day today.  And what a productive day it was!  All the laundry in the house is clean.  All the dishes in the house are clean.  I prepared and priced another load of stuff to take to our Co-Op stand.  I did a TON of work on our website.  I did a TON of work for the nonprofit organization I’m involved with.  And I snuggled the dog alot.   😀  After Josh got home, we headed to check our stand at the Co-Op and were pleased to see that more things have disappeared.  We replenished the stock and crossed our fingers for another good week.

Saturday, 8/26/2017 – We spent most of the day at home, working feverishly on preparing our website to go live.  And, we’re getting close!  We took the bikes out Saturday evening and did a little bar hopping.  It was a beautiful night!

Sunday, 8/27/2017 – We spent a few hours at my mom’s house in the morning.  She’s decided that she wants to get onboard the “sell some stuff” train and had dug out a bunch of things she wanted to send to our stand at the Co-Op.  (Collecting stuff runs in the family!)  We took the opportunity to have a discussion about our “future plans,” as I hadn’t really talked about it much to her, other than being certain that after I get vested in my pension, I won’t be working for my current employer anymore.  The conversation went well – a whole lot better than I had imagined, actually.  I’m the last of their four kids to still be living in Central Pennsylvania, so I was a bit overwhelmingly apprehensive about telling them we’re going to be leaving in 4ish years.  It was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders once we put our plans out on the table and I am very glad that we talked about it.  It was also a good opportunity to make sure she realized I am literally selling everything in our house, as I wanted to make sure she had an opportunity to take the things that she wanted before I sold them.  After attempting to compare schedules for the next few weeks, we decided to head back to our house so we could tag the items she wants so I don’t sell them.  Surprisingly, she only picked a few things, but, now I’m all clear to begin moving through the house and selling things which feels GREAT!  Full speed ahead!

Monday, 8/28/2017 – Another Monday, another late night at work.  Yuck.  On a positive note, only 216 Monday’s to go!  (I think I might need the remaining 216 Monday’s just to sell all of this stuff!)

Tuesday, 8/29/2017 – Time for another trip to our stand!  We were very surprised when we got there that the second bigger piece of furniture was GONE!  It’s awesome because it means we made at least $55 since we got our last payout, it kind of sucks because we weren’t prepared to take another piece of big furniture to sell just yet.  But, no worries!  We’ve got plenty of furniture to get rid of, so, something will just need to be emptied out to get sold sooner than we anticipated.

Wednesday, 8/30/2017 – Two exciting things happened today.  First, the countdown on the home page of our website says we’re down to only 4.1 years left until I’m vested in my pension!  It felt like we were at 4.2 years for forever.  (Maybe that’s just because I’ve been doing a lot of work on the site and keep seeing it!)  Second, Josh did his first side job since at least 7 years ago!  He brought home $180 for 3 hours of work, which was great for him and a great deal for the client, too.  I have every confidence that, when it’s time, he will be great at hustling to keep us moving and fed!

It’s worth mentioning that August was a pretty good money making month for us aside from our day jobs, too!  Here’s how we did: