When we became Empty Nesters, we finally realized how much 'stuff' we had. We always thought the reason we had no empty closets or storage space was the boys. But we were wrong. Since Lane has moved out and we have contained Drew's stuff to his room (sorry Drew - no room for you LOL) we know now we are the problem.
We have lots and lots of thing and that we really need to donate or sell. I definitely think areas of our house are a fire hazard.
Now you all know we had a garage sale last February to get rid of things but in all honesty that did not even make a dent. So after the garage sale, I immediately started getting ready for the next one. But guess what?? Brad conveniently won't be here to help me. He is going to visit Drew (hard to argue with that) the weekend of the garage sale. I am beginning to think that he looked up the date and then scheduled the fathers' football weekend same time. He says he would never do that. But it is too convenient. I mean aren't there like 20 football games in a season?!!!
Anyway.. because I love him so very much and would never want to take that experience away from him I will wait for him til next one. Bet he never would have thought I would do that.
The issue though with what items to put in our garage sale pile is that Brad and I disagree on a lot of our "sentimental things". Everything we own means something to him. Me not so much.
So I brought up the concept that if we bring something new in the house something must go. He agreed in theory but so far it is not working, at all. By the way, we have tried this before many times and it never works. I did explain to him though, that this did not pertain to our vacation purchases and we all know Vacation Karen and Vacation Brad too well.
As a rule, when we vacation we always like to bring back something so that when we see it, we are reminded of the places we visited. I had always thought this was a great idea and that we would cherish our momentos together even when we could not remember each others' names. Then this trip happened.
In Oregon, there is no sales tax. So if an item costs $10 (and more items than you think do), it actually costs $10. This was huge for Brad.
He thought this was better than the blueberry donut we ate, which was delicious. So this is what Brad bought for $10. He actually left the store without it and then went back for it ...
I guess I should be thankful that it is smaller and cheaper than the Totem Pole he wanted some trips ago. Some of you might not know what it is . Guess what? I am not even sure Brad knows exactly what to do with it either. But it was $10 and he is very happy.
Yet much to my dismay, the $10 rule did not work on a t-shirt I found. He did not think that was worth $10. Really??
I wonder what he is going to bring back from his Father Football Weekend? It will probably cost more than $10 so I have decided to keep my mouth shut about the scary man from Portland.
Happy Empty Nesting!