Yesterday we all came to our final agreement, the contract was all tied up and the option period was over. We had sold our house, repairs, termites and all. We were so relieved to finally has a firm commitment.

As we were sitting with our agent she was telling us about another client of hers that moved to Florida and left her house to be sold. It had been on the market for over a year! I was floored, it was hard to believe that we could have had our house on the market for that long too but we were just lucky. She said the problem with that house was that it backed up to a busy street (so does ours), it needed some repair (so did ours), it had the original carpet from 20 years ago (so did most of our housr) and it had horrible wallpaper in the kitchen (okay, our kitchen is beautiful, can’t go with that one!). We were just lucky, the right person showed up at our door within the first two weeks and we got an offer we could work with. Whew!

I also think maybe the way our house looks made somewhat of a difference. It’s decorated nicely, it’s clean, and we made a lot of the repairs before we put it on the market. Our buyer and her agent told us that they both fell in love with the curtains in the master bedroom, as well as the way we had the walls painted. I’m sure some of that is the reason she fell in love with the house. Like I told you when we first met her, I could see it in her eyes, I knew we would get an offer, and I knew, barring unrepairable structural damage from the termites, that she wouldn’t let this sale fall through. I was right.

Anyway, now it’s on to buying a new house and finding temporary housing until we get a new house. Oh, and I need to mention, I started reading the book that Jeanette Fisher sent me, “Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars”. I’m up to Chapter 4 and so far it’s great. Later this weekend when I have a few minutes I’ll review what I’ve read so far. I have to tell you though, the info she gave about credit and how credit scores are calculated is invaluable if you’re planning of buying and house and need a loan. I knew our scores but I didn’t have a clue as to how they were calculated or how they could be repaired, now I do. Thanks, Jeanette.

Salvation Army came this morning. We cleaned out about half the garage yesterday and came up with a ton more stuff. So, we tried to trick them by putting two bags into one. Well, that worked, but I also tried to get them to take some old golf clubs, fishing poles and an old chest of drawers. I just put this new stuff out on the drive with the old stuff. Hummmpf…they left it.

Well, I’m going to get another round together and THIS time, I’m calling Goodwill. But I think I’ll keep the chest of drawers, I can paint it white. It’s still in good shape and will look real nice if it were painted. I guess some things are just meant to be.

I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. I didn’t even realize it

Anyway, it’s call An Organized Life. There’s tons of stuff on the site and some things you can buy to help you get organized. There’s an organization journal, it’s pretty cool…it gives you a prompt every day and you write about it. It helps you to get focused.

One of the things I read on one of the pages was to do a little every day. Like, if you have a room that’s a disaster (like my office or our garage), then schedule on your planner to work on it for just 30 minutes, every day, or twice a week or whatever you can give to it. But SCHEDULE it, otherwise, it won’t get done. It’s great advise, because if you try to focus on doing the “whole enchilada” at one time, chances are, you won’t do it.

The other piece of advise I thought was fantastic was the aconymn SPACE. This stands for

S - Sort
P - Purge
A - Assign a Home
C - Containerize
E - Equalize

This is what we’re going to do tomorrow in our garage. I know, we’re not following the “do a little every day” rule, but we don’t have much more time to get this house ready and the garage is a REAL disaster. So, we’re going to get my orders out in the morn and then start on the garage (Brent’s day off!!).

After the garage is done we’ll be able to move my business inventory out of the the guest room. Our realtor said it doesn’t matter what your garage looks like but the house has to look spacious. We need to get rid of the clutter. And the inventory I have in the guest room COMPLETELY fills the room ~ people just wouldn’t understand. So, inventory to the garage, but first, clean or PURGE the junk.

Oh, I finally remembered to call Salvation Army today so they could come get all the left-over garage sale stuff. They’re coming on Wednesday. Yea!!

I kept forgetting to call Salvation Army to pick up all the “stuff” that was left over from our garage sale. Well, I finally remembered today and they are going to pick up on Wednesday.

I did find it quite strange however, I had to tell the man taking the pick-up order exactly what they would be picking up. I wasn’t quite sure at the time, I had to walk out in the garage and count the bags and boxes. It had to be specific. I ended up with 7 bags, 9 boxes and a lamp.

I just knew that wouldn’t be everything, certainly we’d come up with some more stuff before Wednesday or maybe I was overlooking something as I was talking on the phone. I asked the guy if they would take more should I have more when they arrive, he said no, they aren’t supposed to take any more than I tell him, but they would be happy to make another trip out for a second pick-up. However, sometimes, the driver will take a little more if they have room.

Now I just find that really strange. It’s hard for me to imagine that they would know exactly how much stuff will fill that truck. And for an organization that makes it’s money from donations, I’d think they’d want to get as much stuff as they possibly could. Especially with gas prices like they are, why would they want to make a second trip if in the trip they’re already making they can get more stuff. Not a very efficient organization, and I thought they were great and did really good things. Well, I’m sure they do, but for heaven’s sake, do they get so much donated that they can actually turn down stuff? Or spend more money to make another trip? I’ve always given my stuff to Salvation Army but I thiink next time I’ll call Goodwill and see how they handle it. Either way, I’m sure my old stuff will get used.