Thursday, March 31, 2016

Not What I Expected!


Today took me by surprise, but probably not for the reasons that might be expected.

There's no doubt that Steve and I are making are a decent sized shift in our life, and that at some point (or points) along the journey the slight steps caused by that shift will reverberate around us.

Already there's been the moment we made the definite decision to take up the adventure, the moment we put our house on the market, when we first agreed with a home-owner to take care of their house, for examples. There are also a few adjustments I'm expecting in the future: when we settle on the house, actually move out, and so.

But today was by far the biggest change for me, both up until now and, I expect, in the future as well! What's more, it didn't happen in the way I expected. So what happened?

Steve drove our eldest daughter to the airport, she's off to study abroad for a year. Then, an hour after they left, our second daughter said 'goodbye,' and went off to catch a bus and stay with a friend for a few days.

All of which left just me (and the dog) alone in the house – not a big deal in itself, you'd have to agree, which is perhaps what threw me. Only I can't remember the last time I was alone for more than the time it takes to pop out to buy a bottle of milk. Of course, the timing probably had something to do with it as well. Maybe it was the being alone in a big house, with the dog and laundry to amuse me, whilst my first-born left home to start an adventure that would bring her back a totally independent and capable adult, and my second-born went off to experiment with hers. 2016 is definitely a year of changes, opportunities and adventures for so many.

So, after a cup of tea and a handful of tissues, I began to reflect on the day and realised this is when it all starts. This is the first day for us too. Our new adventure starts here  – not because we have clients, buyers, or only a suitcase of belongings – but because this is when it all falls into to place. Steve and I have reached a stage, crossed a border – our children are officially adults and we are officially … ?


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

How Do You Think Other People See You?


It's not something I ask myself particularly often, but it is a question that's crossed my mind a few times recently. After all, if you're offering to look after other people's most trusted things it's important they see you as you truly are.
But then, of course, how you see yourself might not be how others see you…

A long-time friend of ours was chatting to a soon-to-be-holidaying friend about our house-sitting services, when her friend asked her the all-important question:

     'Are they honest and trustworthy?'

     'Yes,' she replied.

     'Are you sure?'

     'Of course, even my boys refer to their family as The Brady Brunch.'

I sniggered for days (if not weeks) after I'd been told about this conversation. Quite a compliment really, and quite possibly true in many ways I guess, but not what I'd expected. Not that I knew what I'd expected, but it did lead to an even stranger thought - Do other people see us that way too? I mean this family have known us as long as we'd been married and their boys for well over twenty, so they should know…

So I ask you again, just for the fun of it, how do you think other people see you?


Tuesday, March 8, 2016

5 Garage Sales On



Well, this is how our pergola looks after five garage sales. I think we can safely say that although a lot of our things have gone, we're still left with a whole load of bits that need a new home – and price is not the deciding factor. How can I be sure of that? Because, for our last garage sale, we priced everything at a gold coin for ten items and we're still left with this!

So what does that mean? Two things as far as I can see – maybe our junk really is junk, and secondly, we have to be more creative with our shifting.

When we started with the sales the plan was to make at least a small amount of money – which we did. But as the number of garage sales we held increased that focus clearly decreased. In fact, to be honest, after a couple of weeks if somebody had turned up with a truck and a few hundred dollars, Steve would have happily loaded everything onto their truck.

Now the garage sales are just becoming frustrating. They're taking up time, having everything stored outside the house is distracting and probably not increasing our chances of getting an offer on the house, plus it feels like it's keeping us attached to the house when we really need to feel our connection to this house and lifestyle lessening.

So our decision… hold on to the minimal items we need for living (no matter how many times we've been asked for desks, televisions and fridges) and try out other ways of moving our goodies. Options like Gumtree, Facebook's buy and sell pages, and Paying-it Forward are at the top of the list. Funnily enough one of the biggest concerns isn't making a stack load of money from our everyday bits (although it would be nice), but simply shifting them off our property. There is, after all, only so much a green wheelie bin can hold – and even now we have enough for at least another six weeks.