Clear Out Madness

Inspired by the need to empty the family room and generally sort ourselves out before the builders break through the walls, I've been madly "freecycling" things out of the garden and selling stuff on the local Moms' Club classifieds list.

It's amazing what people will take if you offer it for free. Someone wanted a stack of five absolutely filthy plastic patio chairs. Someone else took two old stools from IKEA. Another person, a toddler table stained with paints. I've been trying to get rid of our garden bridge since Friday, and I've had a couple of willing takers, but no one is strong enough to lift it out of the back yard. Very disappointing really. It would make a great addition to someone's landscaping.

As for the selling, the kids have been very motivated by the promise that they can keep the proceeds of any sales. So far they've made $87. The first day's sales I split between them 60/40, as Deep Thought had helped sort out the stuff with far more vigor than Little Starlet; but the latter was so appalled by the injustice that she went to bed in tears. Hubby felt the need to placate her by making a "gift" of a sum sufficient to equal her sister's swag. So today I thought we'd just stick with 50/50 and never mind whether the amount of toil on each side merits the equal division. Deep Thought didn't seem to mind - she was more worried about finishing her homework today - so I guess that's all working out fine.

Anyway, we've sold many toddler jigsaws and games, two bags of puppets, a puppet theater, a parachute, a perpetual Advent calendar in French, and a bag of toddler percussion instruments. Deep Thought has carefully sorted all the plastic animals into different categories, in the hope of maximising her returns, but only the dinosaurs have gone so far. Niche marketing definitely seems to work with the Moms' Club crowd.

Now, what else can I find to get rid of?