counseling/brain dump

[flea]

My counselor recommended guided meditations for anxiety today, but until I can find the time for that, maybe dumping some of the things in my head will help.

-talk to realtors and pick one
-get approved for financing
-make list of dream house, what we'd settle for, necessary features (dishwasher)
-consider buying a cheap house and taking out extra loan $ to build screened porch (tens of thousands, I am told on good authority)
-schools: Montessori vs. public, visit (talk to Mrs. B about Casper's temperament)
-visit!!
-develop hard time frame with mr. flea (this really needs to come FIRST)
-yard sale (to coincide with Mother visit in May?)
-stop thinking about whether or not we'll have a third child until after settled in new location
-go ahead and sell the damned baby stuff at yard sale - as B. said, you can always buy more on Craigslist if you do have a 3rd child, and none of our stuff is fancy anyway
-seriously purge our stuff - anything not worn/used/opened since we've lived in NC (six years, people!) has got to GO. (Exception: family heirlooms). Get rid of crappy furniture. Not worth paying to move things we don't want to own.

Seriously, the mental burden of our hypothetical future yard sale is IMMENSE. I have detailed mental lists of which items we are keeping, which we are selling, donating to TROSA, Goodwill, how to give away food and cosmetic items so they don't have to go in the trash and be wasted. If I could use this mental energy for good, I'd be Mother Teresa by now.

Comments

[serrana.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind that charities will often come and collect larger items you don't want to move -- I did a tidy-up about a year ago and just put everything in the garage and St. V de P sent a truck, yay. So much easier than trying to shift it all myself.

[smonsterbite.livejournal.com]

Also keep Freecycle in mind. T&G had a bunch of stuff they couldn't *give* away, and luluminion posted it on Freecycle... someone came and picked it all up in 45 min.

Also also, though flylady.net is super annoying I can see their point that yard sales are rarely worth the time/effort... they have what they call "27 fling boogies" where you set a timer for 15 minutes and find 27 things to throw away/recycle/give away. I don't know how you operate, but if you did a few of these every week and made a trip to Goodwill every weekend, it could cut down on what you have to deal with all at once. Again, if you can stomach the glitter of the site, there are ways to get Casper into it, too.

Also also also, you could try zwaggle to trade in baby clothes and get points for toddler clothes, etc.

Feel free to ignore anything not helpful in the above comment, as always.

Commitment Problems

[ellenbs.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the only person who really prefers renting to buying, but really there are advantages! Take a swing through Craigslist for Athens and check out all the 3-bedroom houses in your preferred school district under $1000 with screened porches and see if there's something you could live with. (ETA - checked - there's only one listed right now, but $725! I think about Boston prices and weep with envy) If the job turns out not to be a good fit, it'll be easier to pick up and move again in a year or two.

[haphazardmethod.livejournal.com]

You sound READY to move. *g*