Bluetooth ear thingy

What: Jawbone Noise Assassin Bluetooth thingamabob

Why: It's one of those things that you put in your ear to talk hands-free with your cell phone that makes you look like an insane person. We actually got this as a gift for attending a Google party. We gave one to the babysitter.

Where: This one I'm selling on ebay

Again with the Playboy mugs

What: Two more Playboy mugs

Why: Don't use 'em. Note: these were NOT gifts from Patty. I use the ones she gave me. So yeah, before this started I had 3 sets of Playboy mugs. That's kinda weird.

Where: Garage sale fo sho.

Buckle

What: "Square Dancing" Belt Buckle

Why: Ironic belt buckles are so 2002. Plus I have one that says JASON -that his grandmother got him in Mexico in the late 70s- and it's all I need.

Where: Garage sale. Maybe someone else will find it funny too.

Under Garments

[not posting a photo you pervert]

What: Underwear

Why: Rules to live by: Socks with holes automatically get trashed. Any underwear you'd be embarrassed to be seen by your high school crush in also gets trashed. How your high school crush sees you in your underwear is your own issue.

Where: Garbage

Note: I'm not going to post every time I toss some skivvies. But I will increase the tally by the number of things tossed.

And even more office supplies

What: A stack of legal-size green hanging file folders.

Why: My file cabinets are letter size

Where: Garage sale. I'm only counting this as one "thing" because a single hanging file folder should just be trashed. A pile of hanging file folders might bring in $.50 at a garage sale.


Garage sale update! My friend Michael is having a sale at his place this summer and has promised me a table. I'm very happy to have this in my plans. Everything that doesn't sell at this sale will be trashed or donated. My "garage sale" bin will be full!

More from my office

What: Printable presentation folders

Why: I don't remember why I bought these in the first place (or when if I'm being totally honest). I do presentations for my job, but I've never had to print my own folders. Some of the stuff we've accumulated is just weird.

Where: Garage sale

Cleaning out the office now

What: Do it yourself business cards

Why: Because that's the classy way to introduce yourself and your small business.

Where: It's an unopened package, so maybe it would sell. I'll give it a go.

Built Bottle Tote

Hey friendly bloggers. We are out of town for the next few days. I quickly made a few posts to keep up with my resolution, but they're a bit brief. Back to my old witty self next week.

What: Insulated baby bottle tote.

Why: Got it as a gift. Don't use it.

Where: Ebay

Perfection Compact 1600

What: Travel hair drier

Why: I've had this for years (maybe since college? before?) but I can't remember the last time I actually used it. Hotels all have blow driers, and if I ever go anywhere that doesn't have one (camping? not likely) I'll just suffer with frizz. And it's not really all that portable. I'll save the room in my carryon for tabloids.

Where: Garage sale?

Wine Stopper

What: Curly Cue Wine Stopper

Why: Another client gift. While this is nice, it is my belief that wine is for drinking. Not sipping, closing up, and storing for another day. Does anyone really do that? Clearly I do not.

Where: Garage sale pile

Another hat

What: Wisconsin Badgers baseball cap

Why: Jason and I did graduate from UW-Madison. And when they're not playing my beloved Wolverines we always cheer for them. But, as I said before, Jason doesn't ever wear baseball hats. And I'm just not that kind of girl. So it's been collecting dust.

Where: Albeit much less quirky than the last one I tried to sell, this may do better on ebay. But because of the lackluster experience I had last time (listed twice, zero interest), I'm putting this out to the general population first. Who wants it?

Baby Hats

What: 3 brand spanking new baby hats

Why: I found these when I was going through Ellie's clothes. I completely missed having her wear them and her noggin is far too big now.

Where: Because they still have the tags, I'm going to sell them on ebay. My new favorite thing to do.

UPDATE 1/27/10: SOLD on eBay for a whopping $1.00

Guide Books

What: Food&Wine magazine Wine Guide 2009 and BlackBook Chicago 2009

Why: These were given to us at Christmastime. I don't know if the gift givers realized that was the ass end of 2009, but whatever. We live here. We don't need a guide book. And we have a Lush right down the street, so that's our wine guide. Complain complain...

Where: I have these listed on Half.com which is a good place to sell books. But because I want them to sell and get outta my house, they're also listed on Amazon.

Japanimation

I'm very happy that today's post is not about my car. We discovered it stolen from our garage yesterday morning, but were lucky enough to have it recovered by the afternoon. Thank you CPD! And although I have now inadvertently "gotten rid of" my GPS, iPod, rear view mirror (who takes that?), and iPass insurance will replace them, so they don't count.

Back to the junk:

What: Japanese anime keychains

Why: I bought these in Tokyo a few years ago with the intention of .... ?

Where: Ebay. I don't know who the characters are, perhaps they're collectible? We shall see.

Platter

What: Large oval white plastic platter

Why: I think this was packaged with a carving board I received as a gift. I use the carving board all the time but I've never used the platter. I have others.

Where: I guess I'll put it in the Garage Sale pile. Maybe I'll list it on ebay, but I can't imagine anyone buying it. But then again, that Cake Boss apron already has 2 bids on it and is selling for at least $8.29. So you never know. Anyone want it?

Who's the Cake Boss?

What: Cake Boss Apron

Why: Jason brought this home from a work event. At least I think that's how it ended up here. While I should probably wear more aprons, I'm not going to wear this one. And I don't watch the show. Should I?

Where: I listed this on ebay last week. Jason just said I should have added "prove your cake bossiness" to the listing. Where was he when I was writing the ad? Oh yeah, work.

Candy Canes

In honor of Jason's birthday. Happy birthday!!


What: 1 box of candy canes. Cherry candy canes.

Why: Ick. My husband likes cherry flavored things, so one Christmas I bought these thinking he'd love them. He had zero interest. So at the end of the season I packed them up and waited until the next Christmas to bring them back out again. I repeated that patten more years than I can remember. He wasn't fooled.

Where: They didn't go back in the decorations box this year. They went to the trash.

Baby Clothes

What: One large bag of baby clothes. I lost track at 40 items, so that's what I'm using on the counter.

Why: You get a lot of clothes when you have a baby. Especially a baby girl. My sister said "anyone with a uterus will buy you something pink." She was right. And then babies grow. Quickly. My kid went from newborn size to 12 month size in 6 months. I picked out my favorites that I'm saving in case we have another baby girl some day, but the rest were just too much.

Where: I've given them away to (stay with me) my friend's nanny's daughter who recently had a baby girl.

Baseball Hat

What: EA Sports Knockout Kings Baseball Hat

Why: My husband got this hat when he worked at EA. In 2001. He doesn't wear baseball hats. Ever.

Where: I'm trying to sell this on ebay. Not a lot of luck thus far. Any takers?

Socks

My husband's caught the fever! His contribution:

What: Socks (8 pair)

Why: While not the most exciting things to get rid of, they do help. I actually thought for half a second about saving these for, I don't know, rags? That cute craft project I saw in a magazine this Christmas about dying old socks red and hanging them on a string? That ain't happening.

Where: Garbage

Hand Held Blender

What: Oster hand blender

Why: I got a new (better) one for Christmas

Where: I'm going to try to give it away. Who wants it? Anyone? If there are no takers I'll try Freecycle. A friend just told me about it (Thanks Julie!). I have a feeling I'll be very well acquainted with this fine site.

Vice

What: 13 issues of Vice Magazine

Why: I love this magazine. But do I really need to keep all 13 copies?

Where: Selling them on ebay. Here is what my ad says

Go ahead, own the coolest magazine going.
Bring them out at parties. Leave them in the bathroom. Laugh at the Do's and Don'ts.

You are bidding on a lot of 13 issues of VICE Magazine, including the over sized Photo Issue 2009.

This auction includes the following issues
Volume 15, Number 10 - The Talking Issue
Volume 15, Number 11 - The No Photos Issue
Volume 15, Number 12 - The Fiction Issue 2008
Volume 16, Number 1 - The Universal Sadness Issue
Volume 16, Number 2 - The Writing-Cute-Things-On-The-Spine-Of-This-Magazine-Every-Issue-Is-Starting-To-Feel-Like-A-Lame-Gimmick Issue
Volume 16, Number 3 - The Fashion Issue 2009
Volume 16, Number 4 - The Technology Issue
Volume 16, Number 5 - The Brazilian Issue
Volume 16, Number 6 - The Conversations With Distinguished Gentlemen Issue
Volume 16, Number 7 - The Photo Issue 2009 - OVERSIZED ISSUE
Volume 16, Number 8 - Moments Like This Never Last
Volume 16, Number 9 - A Film Issue
Volume 16, Number 10 - 1994

All copies are in good condition. They have all been read (at least once). Please email me with any questions.

1/12/09 Update: They sold for $26!!

Oven Mitt

What: Black oven mitt

Why: This miss has lost it's protecting-my-hand-from-high-temperature abilities. I'd slightly burn my fingers taking stuff out of the oven if I wasn't careful. Time to go. You'd think this would have been an easy decision. It's been this way for a long time. Funny that it took a challenge for me to look at it with an eye toward reality.

Were: Garbage

Dishes

What: Set of dishes. Specifically (there once were 8 of each):

• 7 large plates
• 6 small plates
• 7 soup bowls
• 8 large bowls
• 4 coffee mugs

(that's 32 things!!)

Why: I'm a teeny bit sentimental about this. These are dishes I got from my wedding registry. But time has come (8 years) and I got new ones for Christmas! And to be perfectly honest they made this scraping noise when a knife or a fork hit them a certain way. It made my skin crawl. Even thinking a out it raises the hairs on my neck.

Where: Giving them to my brother in law and his girlfriend

Checking In

It's been one week and I think this is going pretty well. 7 days, 14 items and $45 coming in. Not bad! I have a bit of a backlog and haven't had to make any really harsh decisions yet. All in all I'm encouraged.

A few thoughts:
If anyone sees anything I'm getting rid of that they want, just let me know in the comments. I'm happy to share.

And speaking of sharing, let me know what you're getting rid of! Lots of people have told me this is inspiring them to lighten their loads. I'd love to know the Things You're Getting Rid Of.

I'm also toying with the idea of Things I'm Keeping. A spotlight of my favorite stuff in the house. But that's for another day.

Thanks for joining me! Let's get rid of more stuff!

Children's Book

What: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Why: I see two copies of this book for little Ellie.

Where: So I sold one on Amazon for $3.53
(Ok, I sold it for $3.00 then Amazon calculated $3.99 shipping. The buyer paid $6.99 total. I have no idea how much of that I'll actually see, but I will update this post when I find out.)

UPDATE: Amazon listed it's fees, so here's the breakdown:
Sales Price: $3.00
Shipping Charged: $3.99 [set by Amazon]
Listing fees: ($2.79)
Actual Sipping: ($2.41)
NET: $1.79

I guess the lesson is selling your cheap stuff on Amazon isn't a cash cow. But hey, $1.79 is $1.79

Epiphany

Today is the 12th day after Christmas, also called Epiphany. It's the day the three kings visited the little baby Jesus. It's also the traditional day to take down your Christmas tree. At least according to an article I read in the WSJ this morning. I take down my tree on the 1st or 2nd of January (depending on the level of my hangover on the 1st).


What: This year I identified 5 ornaments (apologies to those who gave them to me as gifts) that I can get rid of.

Why: I haven't used any of these on my tree.

Where: This one is tricky. They are nice, and some even have the tags still on. I would like to try to sell them online, but who buys ornaments in January? I could save them until November and try to sell them in a more appropriate season... but that kind of goes against this whole thing. I'm going to give ebay a go and see what happens. I'll update with my progress.

Update: So I'm attempting to sell 2 of them on ebay. The rest are going in the Garage Sale Box. Including the creepy snowman.

1/8/10 - Update #2: The 2 sold! For $9.00! Here's the breakdown.
Sale price: $9.00
Shipping charged: $5.00
Listing Fees: ($1.24)
Actual shipping: ($5.35)
NET: $7.41

Stinky Stinky Towels

What: Two light grey bath towels (and the corresponding hand towel) that stink.

Why: I left these towels in the washing machine once. For a few hot days. I then threw them in the drier and baked the stink in. They were never the same again.

Where: Jason is using them as rags, but then they're being trashed. They really do stink.

Ratty Old Slippers

What: Ratty old slippers

Why: We have treacherous hard wood stairs. Pair that with my natural propensity for falling down and I need good traction in my lounging footwear.

Where: Garbage

Extra: O, Christmas Tree!

No, I'm not throwing it away.

Since this doesn't fit my rules (I wouldn't keep a tree longer than its usual shelf life...) I can't count it, but it IS something I'm getting rid of in a different way, so I'm going to share.

I found a local nonprofit called Do The Right Thing! Recycling that is going to pick up my tree and recycle it. The cost is a $15 donation. All I have to do is leave it outside in a clearly marked place. For another $5 they will come into your house, bag it and take it away for you.

Easy peasy!

Gift Card

What: TGI Friday's Gift Card ($50)

Why: This was my husband's Christmas gift from his employer. Weak.

Where: I'm selling it online. I've checked out 3 gift card exchange sites:

Plastic Jungle - The nicest looking of the sites. They offered $37.50 cash or $39.38 in an Amazon.com gift certificate. Trading one gift card for another... interesting. I wonder how much I could get to trade in a $39.38 Amazon.com gift card. Oh surprise! The site doesn't accept Amazon.com gift certificates.

Gift Card Rescue - This site looks like it was designed using Front Page from Windows 2000. They also offered $37.50 for my $50 gift card.

Gift Card Buy Back - Ding ding ding! We have a winner! These folks offered me a whopping $39.00 for the gift card. Sold! Here's how it worked:

I entered the card details. I created an account (username, password, etc). I got an order number and and address where I will send the gift card. It said "Note: Allow up to 10 days to receive your check after you mail your gift cards." I can also track the order using my order number. I hope this works.

1/11/09 Update: The check arrived in the mail today! +$39 to my total. Wheeee!!!

These Crazy Jeans

What: High waist-ed, boot cut, zipper in the back jeans

Why: I think I bought these jeans in 2000. Way before high-waisted jeans were back in. They didn't look good on me then, and they surely don't now. A good friend of mine once said, "if you wore it the first time around, you're too old to wear it the second time." Amen.

Where: Goodwill

Let's Get This Party Started with 2 Playboy Mugs

What: Kitschy 70s Playboy metal mugs. With glass bottom.

Why: I saved these from my mom's garage sale last summer thinking I found something that will one day make me rich on Antique's Roadshow. Then I saw them in every other garage sale/ flea market/ antique store I happened in last year.

Where: Gave to a friend