Not For Sale
Posted by Jess | Filed under Jess
Sometime during this journey hubby and I decided we could purge our life of some unneeded things, make a little money, and clean up the spare room. So we opened the ever closed door and from there learned a thing or two about sacrifice and holding on to the things that matter.
(Cue horror suspense music)
This spare room represents our life. Everything we don’t want to look at, or don’t want other people to see gets pitched in there and forgotten about. Not unlike the way we close the door and forget about certain subjects like “how are we going to pay off all this debt” and “what are we going to do after graduation”?
So we wanted more money, money outside of our income that could be put as a lump sum against the debt. Fire up the digital camera baby, its time to advertise! We had my old car listed, his second drum kit, a single rack portable dishwasher, and any other useless item that had been collecting dust in the forgotten room.
Then a crazy thing happened, a friend of ours happened to be moving out and had decided to buy the dishwasher for his new place. Then, when he heard we were cleaning house, and that we were planning to divide up our video game collection his eyes lit up.
“What do you want for the NES?”(original system from 1985)
I was shocked, of the 10 or more VG consoles my man and I had ended up with upon tying the knot, this friend of ours managed to ask for the one I was least prepared to sell. These systems have been gaining value as they approach antiquity and more important than that, it feels like selling off a serious part of my childhood.
Okay, time for a side note: I am a nerd for nostalgia. I grew up watching my sister play this system, and then I ended up with it when she moved out, and developed a love for its vintage gaming style in my teen years. You know the crackle sound those old controllers make when you get really angry because Mario jumped down a hole? It became a bit of an obsession and NES merchandise began to take over my wardrobe. I have since grown up, but still hold on to the systems for the nostalgic factor. Am I a pack-rat? Maybe. Are those memories more important than the 50 bucks I could have made selling the system? Definitely.
I didn’t sell my Nintendo that day, I hooked one up and played me a little Mario Bros. I have come to the realization that although we wanted to sell some “stuff” to make some extra cash, I shouldn’t feel like I desperately needed to sell everything I love. Money used to control us in the way that we spent it without thinking and were left wondering why we had none. I almost fell victim to its Splurging’s evil cousin: Purging. Had I sold those Nintendos I would have been letting the need to make a few extra dollars take over my life. Today it was just a couple of video games, but what would tomorrow have been? The snowboard my dad bought for me as a Christmas present, or the vintage globe I reconstructed for my man? There are better ways to make money than selling off everything we own. If you’re thinking that a garage sale or craigslist is a good way to make some extra cash, make sure that you’re only selling stuff you really don’t care about anymore. Think of it this way: if you had money, would you still be selling it?
A twenty-something FT university student and wife from the wonderful west coast, Jess’s husband is also in school FT. They are both PT coffee slingers. Not surprising, they are in debt. As Jess says, “We love to say yes to each other.”
February 15, 2012 at 9:48 am
Purging is not such an evil thing. It’s a cleansing that feels so good after it’s done. Think about those items in the spare room. If they really meant something they wouldn’t be hidden away and forgotten about.
If you are carrying a lot of debt anything you can do to pay off a lump sum is worth a few sacrifices. The memories are what is important, not the item.
February 15, 2012 at 1:17 pm
yea and we definitely purge, but it had gotten out of hand. To the point where we werent seeing things in terms of “what use are they to us” but as simply dollar signs, and thats when it got scary.
February 16, 2012 at 1:31 pm
I think I remember Gail saying/writing …. If there was a fire … would you replace it?
This is the mantra I try to use when it comes time to purge. I am a packrat and it’s hard for me to let go of somethings; espically when it comes to my kids stuff.
I will always have the memories; and usually a special picture of my kids in that special outfit; or playing with that special toy … but I don’t need the item.
February 19, 2012 at 7:59 am
My task for today is to purge our guest room/needs to become a nursery. My vice is craft and sewing supplies. Every bit of fabric is a story. I remember when I bought it, what I was going to make out of it and I love how it feels. A couple of years ago I purchased all my fabric to make my summer wardrobe. About a week after I purchased it I found out I was expecting. I thought great! Maternity clothes! Then the nausea hit, and the exhaustion, then it never went away, then baby, job, another baby and now outdated fabric. Today is the day it is getting a new home at the local craft college. Wish me luck!
February 20, 2012 at 12:21 pm
So much good luck to you! Let me know how it goes. It wasn’t so much the purging I was afraid of, as that my friend had singled out the one system, of about 9, that I wasn’t prepared to sell. There is a project brewing with my Nintendo collection so that I wont feel bad about them collecting dust.
Congrats on being able to let go and take that spare room back!
March 17, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Is it just me or is there a crap load of spam happening here?!? It happened on MWM blog as well. Just curious.
March 29, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Yes Donna, sorry I did not see your comment sooner buried under all the spam.
It seems like every time I delete one spam comment, three more appear. I’ve been told wordpress is just bad for it.
March 31, 2012 at 2:56 am
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