Part Two If you are ever in this situation…

You just learned someone near and dear to you was in a life altering situation. Months go by without a change, and many months change into a year and still the situation is the same. So you need to start the process of getting your house on the market and getting your household belongings out of the house.

After about four months bills are continuing to accumulate. You think about setting up a Go Fund Me but you back away from it because it doesn’t seem to go with your situation.

We decided to put the house on the market in hopes that we can get some money for it to pay off the bills that are starting to accumulate.

In the meantime, I turn to three ways of recycling house contents:

1.) Use a local store called Boomerang that accepts used furniture on consignment,

2.) Use a local company called Ladders 🪜 that takes other people’s stuff as a free donation, and

3.) Use the on line Yard Sale page or Marketplace to sell items on line.

With these three thoughts in mind I got to work sorting through household belongings. Labeling them 1, 2, or 3.

Anything I thought was trash I threw away. My kids would come on the weekends and haul all the trash from inside the house to a 30 yard Dumpster that we had rented and put in our driveway. They filled 3 -30 Yard Dumpsters from a 10 room farmhouse plus two barns that had two floors filled with trash and tires.

We filled each dumpster to the required levels and really got rid of stuff no one would want.

We had cars, trucks, a trailer and a boat to donate to Vehicles for Veterans. Which is a wonderful company that will haul away a car fairly quickly after calling them. We donate the car because of the age and non-working ability of the vehicles. The Veterans will use the parts or fix up and try to sell the automobiles that were donated.

For clothing, Some things went to Ladders used clothing store, other items went to a clothing for Veterans Drop Box or if the items had stains on them I threw them away. All dressy clothing went to Ladders.

We brought unwanted TV screens, mattresses, microwaves an toaster appliances to the dump for recycling. We tossed the Tupperware because the site said it was only good for so many years.

All glassware, dishes, vases etc. went to a second hand store.

Anything of value sold on Market Place where the purchaser would pick up the item in a designated location or our house if I didn’t want to move it.

It took 6 months to empty this farmhouse and the barns . I worked at it all summer long.

It went on the market for five months before it was foreclosed on. Sadly to say, we had only one offer and it was too low.

The bank eventually took over the house and two barns and garage. It has been owned by the bank for five months now and still no one has bought it.

I am in disbelief that no one wanted our wonderful old historical home. It saddens me to think that it will stay empty and without new owners and a new family to love it like we did.

The poem that came to my mind about my house was “Goodbye My Winter Coat.” Of course, I changed the words to refer to my house.

This past year, has certainly been a sad one for me and my family and I have started to let it go.

Next post will be the poem.

By Patricia Hoyt