Sounds easy that part, huh?
So I began the tedious work of photographing everything and writing descriptions to post it on Facebook and gumtree.
What a job… it’s become so difficult to sell second hand things for any kind of value, and the smaller amount your asking, the more you get messed around by people.
Well … between the no-shows, the time wasters and those who wanted it free, there were few takers, and I found myself stressed out and having a melt down at regular intervals leading up to departure. And I mean full on melt downs – panic attacks, fits of crying and deep dark moments of despair.
It felt raw and ugly. Painful almost. Selling and giving away things that I had suffered to buy, scrimped and saved to pay for, having to be purged or sold for zero value. And at that point, after six years having been back from Aus, I was only just starting to reach a certain level of comfort for my little family.
I can’t understand the logic of some people buying something second hand. I mean, if it’s only used for a few months, as many of my things were, then why don’t they want to pay a fair price? They’d prefer to pay full price at the store instead of helping a sister out? Or they just broke a** trying to catch someone else out? To be honest, I think it’s a combination of both.
Now at this point I’m going to publish a disclaimer: See there are actually some people who did actually help a sister out and buy something. At a fair price. However, should anyone feel they meet the description of the person above, please… feel free to take the cap and wear it with pride. I mean no offence to anyone but people often take offence when I’m just being me.
Oh well …
My father quietly tried to help me, to reassure me, to get everything done in time. Delivering bits of furniture and other things I had sold, taking many things himself so that he could release me of the anguish and prevent me from what he called “getting mugged” which basically means getting taken advantage of, losing out for someone else’s benefit or accepting a lesser price because I was in a hurry to sell. I already described this above. And so he tried to free me from what seemed to be the next major hurdle.
But it was too much, there was too much. And I’m not saying I had lots of extra things. I still don’t think so. Just the contents of a three bedroom house that catered to myself and my two kids. I think I was living pretty basic honestly. If it was you, then how do you sell things you need to live with? Fridge? Bed? Cooker?
The day before my flight arrived and I found myself still overwhelmed with just how much there was to do. Even the charity shops were not answering my calls to come and take everything. Which I find incredulous to be honest. Ridiculous actually.
So in the days before my flight, all day and night I tried to clear up, tidy up, get rid. I wasn’t alone in my efforts but I really didn’t have a lot of help. I have to give credit though to those who did help, such as my cousin Linc who came by with his kids to say goodbye and found me stuck in panic mode. I was paralysed, overwhelmed with the insurmountable task I faced – my last hurdle before I could board that flight and make my escape to sunnier climes. He whipped me into shape and we got started together. I used his energy as a crutch to get moving again. And he readily provided it laced with animated conversations and intermittent fits of laughter as we walked down memory lane. I was reminded of the days we grew up together… burying treasure, making trenches for water to run down, him eating the yolk and me the egg white because we both didn’t like the other bit. And here he was again, my little brother. Despite the many years, experiences and issues that had separated us thus far – he turned up.
My salsa friends Jen and Julie took time out to come help, my friend Chinwe came for a short while. Another friend – Ly – took time out of her day and brought extra boxes. Without their help I would have been much worse off. And we ended up with 26 bags of clothes and several boxes of household bits. As evening drew closer Jen brought food as we hadn’t eaten all day, but the microwave was already gone so we could not have it, Jen also took my son to do his errands.
But as evening fell, I was making some kind of headway yet unable to go to the farewell party thingy that I had arranged. As the hour rolled around I was still sitting on the floor in my front room, dealing with paper. I could not leave it for my father to do. And despite my constant scanning and filing of important documents in the months leading up to this, there still was a hellava lot to do…
#SingCookLove #OutrageousLife #MyLifeStory
— — Hey new reader …
I’ve only just started adding my story to Medium, so if you’d like to catch up or fill in the gaps visit me on Facebook where much more of the story has been thus far.
