Hi Everyone,
Mission accomplished. The estate sale is over. A lot sold and a lot didn’t sell.
There are no words to describe how much stuff was in my parents house.
In a single-word: titanic.
Mom and Dad’s house had a titanic amount of stuff in it.
Mom never threw anything away.
The amount of stuff that had to get out by the closing date (which sprung up suddenly) was incomprehensible.
I had three days to empty the home that held childhood memories and my parent’s possessions.
Weeks before the estate sale, I’d moved a lot out of the house and into storage. I’d also disposed of riff raff, gave things away and of course the estate sale thinned the contents down.
Yet, still, there was something in every room, closet, drawer, cubby, corner, crevice, you name it.
A dent was in the mass…but only a dent.
The hard/perplexing part was that the majority of what was left wasn’t junk. But because of the rushed timeframe it was destined to be treated as such, sadly.
A charity was scheduled to come on Wednesday (the estate sale ended on Sunday). How lovely. All that is left will go to charity. It will all get a forever home.
Not.
I didn’t realize that everything had to be packed. Charity wouldn’t come in and “clear the contents out.”
There was no way I could purchase packing supplies and pack the amount of stuff that was left in less than 48 hours.
On Tuesday, because it was raining, I was able to get my yard man (Cornelio) to haul away as much as he could cram in his truck and trailer.
Thank you, God, for making it rain Tuesday! And, thank you for Cornelio too.
But even though Cornelio had a big truck with a big trailer attached, a lot of the things just wouldn’t fit. No way Jose.
On Wednesday nothing happened. I had a blessed day off.
On Thursday (inspection day!), Dirty Deeds Junk Removal showed up and hauled away two truck loads to the dump. They had to come back the next day because there was more that wouldn’t fit in the second load. Various other people stopped by to browse what remained and take what suited them, too. Mom’s beloved car was given away as well.
Thursday was an especially sad day because what was being hauled away wasn’t “junk” (well, some was) but it was on its way to the dump, regardless.
The walk-thru inspection was at 6 p.m. The stuff, junk, items, things, whatever you want to call them had to go…or risk buyer pushback.
I asked the junk removal workers to please take home whatever they could or give things to someone that could use them.
I also put as much of the dump bound things into the back of my car and took them to Good Will myself so that they wouldn’t meet a dump demise (lamps, pictures, kitchenware, tools, etc.).
All of my dad’s mounted antlers and an antelope head sold in the estate sale. They were hot items. Many people admired Papa’s hunting trophies. Diana gave a huge mounted skull a forever home. We’re not sure what the skull is from. Something big is all we know. I also have a few of his antlers.
In a final junk heap on the front lawn there was a big box of more antlers. The crew had pulled them out of a deep, back closet. A pair with a skull and teeth all intact was quite impressive. One of the guys was smitten with it. He gave it a good home.
I couldn’t believe my mom saved this record player all these years.
I also found her old typewriter, another record player, an old slide projector, thousands of photos, old letters, newspaper articles, keepsakes of my grandmother and so much more.
I found a forever home for the record player circled today!
The amount was vast and the meaning immense. If you don’t believe that mom never threw anything away…check these shoes out.
Granted they were in the garage but still…
As the junk removal men were cramming their truck
with the last of my childhood memories, a cleaning crew swept in around 2 p.m. At 6:10 p.m. they were still there when the buyer’s agent showed up to do the inspection.
I thank God for the people that came through and helped get this enormous job done in a short amount of time. Atlanta Home Movers was also on site that day. They are a great team!
The massive job got done with a lot of amazing people who came together and helped. My dear husband was also on deck and I couldn’t have done it without him.
I made a lot of new friends and recommend all of them (check out the shared links).
At the end of the day (literally) the house was emptied and passed the white glove test (literally).
Thank you for reading!
Love, Shelley
Shelley: It's late at night, and I have lived this same story for the last 3+ years! After my mom passed in 2018, it fell on my shoulders to help clear out the house they built (5500 sq ft) in 1965, and like yours, they never threw anything away! We actually had close to a year to go through everything, and many trips to Decatur, and lots of trips to Goodwill. We had 2 Estate Sales, 3 garage sales, and even a Friends and Family sale. We sold half of a semi to the staging company for Stranger Things (including the kitchen stove, appliances, and all of the window treatments in the house!). I found "treasures" that I…