March 15, 2018

Selling more stuff (and some sad family news)

Thank you for the support on my last post! My anxiety has still be sticking around the last few days, but on a scale of 1 to 10, it's probably only about a 5 right now. It's interesting--before I started my bipolar meds, my anxiety was either a 1-2 or a 9-10... it was never in the middle. While anxiety is NEVER fun, it's nice that it's not nearly as bad as it used to get.

I was debating whether I should call this a Weight Loss Wednesday post or not, because there isn't much to report in that department... but then Jerry reminded me it's actually THURSDAY today. I can't believe it! This week has been very whacky.

So, I'll just write a mishmash of what's been going on lately. Here are some Thrifty Thursday things...

On Friday, I cleaned out the boys' closets (to help relieve my anxiety) and I came across their Nintendo DS game systems (those little handheld games from around 2005-ish). We had two DS's, 8 games, both chargers, a couple of cases for the games, and a carrying pouch.


I asked Jerry if he thought I could sell it on the local Facebook garage sale site, and he said he doubted it, but I could give it a try. He suggested $20, but I decided to list it at $40 and see what happened.

Within seconds (literally) of posting it, I'd already sold it! And then I had about 12 other people within the hour asking if it was still available. I wish I'd asked more for it! I made plans to meet the buyer at Kroger for the sale in a couple of hours.

I'd also listed Noah's now-too-small The North Face down-filled puffer coat. It was in really nice condition, despite his wearing it for about three years. He LOVED that coat, and I finally insisted that he needed a new one (this one looked a bit ridiculous being so small on him).

So, I listed his coat at $25, and within minutes, someone offered $20 and I said sure (shortly after, I got a couple other offers for $25--but I was happy to get anything for it at all, and the man I sold it to was thrilled because he said his grandson would love it). I agreed to meet him at Kroger at the same time that I was meeting the woman to sell the DS's.


I was excited to have made a quick $65 on stuff that I would have just donated to Goodwill anyway. I'm definitely going to start using the site more often.

Noah really wanted to replace that coat with a new one of a bigger size, but they were SO expensive (the North Face one was bought at a garage sale).

That same day, Eli needed new shoes, and I had a gift card to Kohl's. I also had something to return there, so we went to find shoes for him. He ended up getting some Adidas ones that he really liked in the clearance section.

While we were there, I browsed the clearance racks of coats, and I found one almost identical to the North Face one that we'd just sold. I knew Noah would be thrilled with it, and it was on clearance for $40! I bought that for him, and I got one for Eli, too.

On the garage sale Facebook page right now, I have my wedding rings listed for sale. Jerry and I agreed to sell them because they've been sitting in my jewelry box collecting dust. I'm just not a "jewelry person", so they are wasted on me.


They're gorgeous rings (an solitaire diamond engagement ring and a wedding band), but I am more sentimentally attached to the cheap Fossil watch Jerry gave me than I am the rings, haha. I did have one man say he was going to buy them, and we arranged a time to meet for the sale--but he backed out the next day. Bummer! If they do sell, Jerry and I want to do something fun together with the money (I have them listed for $950).



On a somber note (that feels odd sharing here), sometime during the night on Friday, my cousin Jeff passed away. This was an enormous shock to me. He was only 45 years old! He died in his sleep, and the cause of death is unknown--there was an autopsy performed on Saturday, but the results won't be ready for weeks or even months.

Jeff and I were not super close, especially as adults, but we saw each other frequently when we were young (we lived just two blocks from each other). He was my mom's brother's son, so he was my first cousin. I felt so terrible--not just for my aunt and uncle, but for Jeff's domestic partner of over 20 years, John. He was the one who found Jeff, and he is (understandably) completely devastated.

The whole thing was just so surprising--I think I'm still a little shocked by it all. My family is very lucky in that we haven't experienced much loss, especially considering all the people on this side. So, this was tough for the whole family.

The "celebration of life" for Jeff was on Tuesday, and as sad as the circumstances were, it was nice to have so many of my family members get together. When my grandma was alive, we had a Christmas party every year with all of the family, so it was awesome that we got to catch up. We haven't done that in a while, so I was able to see several of my cousins that I hadn't seen in years.


There were several cousins missing from the photo, unfortunately, but it was good to see everyone that was there. I am the second-youngest of this generation of my family. My brother, Nathan, is the youngest. We were never really allowed to hang out with the "cool cousins" back in the day because we were too young ;)

Also, in keeping with the Thrifty Thursday theme (again, it's a little awkward to post this here)--Jerry and the boys didn't have dress clothes for the funeral. No nice pants, shirts, or even shoes. I hadn't even thought of it until the morning of the funeral, so I took the kids to Salvation Army and we managed to get everything they needed. The dress shoes, pants, and shirts (and a tie for Noah) cost $40 total! We just never really have a reason to get dressed up--and the boys grow so fast anyway.

Noah is being inducted into Honor Society next week, and he needed dress clothes for that, so he can wear the same outfit. My mom wanted to get a family photo of us on Tuesday, because we were dressed up, and I was shocked when I saw it. My kids are almost the same height as me! When did that happen?!


Eli's hair still has a little blue-ish tint to it. When he first got it dyed, it was bluer than his shirt!

Finally, Salvation Army had a huge two-day sale. All of the clothes marked with a brown tag or yellow tag were 5/$5. I spent way too long browsing the clothes, and I ended up buying quite a few things. I didn't take photos, but I will try and take photos this week of some of my favorite finds and post them next Thursday.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!


11 comments:

  1. I'm soo sorry to hear about your cousin, Jeff, and my heart goes out to your family and his partner, John. Such a young age, really. Times like these are always hard and makes family all the more important. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Oh and you and your husband and boys look great! Great family picture!!

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  3. You all looked wonderful in that photo, even though it was a somber event. My kids are all much taller than me too which is thrilling!!!

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  4. I am so sorry about your cousin.

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  5. You all look great, and sorry for your sad news.

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  6. I am so sorry to hear of your cousin's passing. I'll keep your family in my thoughts. I love your family pic! The boys are so grown up!

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  7. I am sorry to hear about your loss... and... you probably don't want to hear this, but I think you look a lot prettier at this weight, than when you say you are at your target weight... It always seems to me that you look too skinny at your "target" weight... but I am sure you have your reasons, I am only looking at pictures

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  8. So sorry to hear about your cousin. Thinking of you and your family!
    Such a great family photo of the 4 of you! Such handsome guys!

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  9. Sorry for your loss. Please rethink selling your wedding ring set. You got married young, and I'm sure Jerry had to save his ass off to buy those for you. They might not mean a lot to you know, but they will later. I got married at 21 and I'm 51 now. I NEVER wore my rings because they "got in the way" and they were too small. I spent the money to get them resized, and now, even though they are unfashionable yellow gold,and we could easily afford a new expensive set, I wear them all the time again because I know my husband worked SO hard to buy them for me when he was 20 years old. Just my .02..

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  10. Sorry for your family's loss Katie! What an awesome family photo! My boys never have current dress up clothes either I feel like it is always a last minute scramble because they grow so fast!

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  11. Sorry for your loss but thank you for sharing! Also your hair looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE in the family pic.

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