fern

I’ve had to work through a few hurdles over the years as I’ve learned to be more intentional with my stuff.

One of my big issues, like any hoarder of cute stuff, is the belief that all my stuff is worth good money and has endless potential. There have been times that I’ve kept something I no longer used not because I liked it, but because I knew I’d never recoup what I felt like the item was worth and I knew it could be used somehow and it killed me to not find its best use.

I told myself if I couldn’t make it fantastic in my house, I should at least hang onto it until I could sell it properly on ebay or in some make-believe shop for what I was sure someone somewhere would pay for it. I always felt like it was my responsibility to either give each item a great home in my house, or find it a great home with someone who could appreciate it.

Typing it out here only makes me realize even more how ridiculous that thought was…

boots

I like to think that I have the gift of seeing potential in many things but it can also be a curse, because everything becomes a grand possibility and can seem to have unlimited value, even if I don’t need it anymore. It causes a person to want to hold onto things…until you need them. Translation: Forever.

Back in October when Angela and I had the Big Sale I was able to part with many cute, potential filled items that I’ve held onto for so long. One of the reasons the Big Sale is so rewarding is because I know all my stuff is going to like-minded people who will look at it with potential in their eyes. What a relief! You are giving my stuff a good home!

suitcase in mirror

A few weeks ago I was walking through a local shop filled with booths run by dozens of different merchants selling everything from furniture to drapes to cute, vintage trinkets. As I was looking at all the wares a pair of houndstooth suitcase trunks caught my eye. I’d recognize them anywhere. They had been mine and I sold them at the Big Sale. I bought them for $4 each with my mom five years ago (scroll to the bottom of this post to see them when I purchased them). I sold the pair for $10.

My initial response when I saw them for sale at this swanky shop with a $40 price tag each was Darn it! I’m so dumb, I missed out! I could have asked $40 for these, I knew they were worth more! My worst case scenario had come true! It only took a few seconds for me to realize that yes, I could have asked $40 or $400, but that didn’t mean that I would have a buyer.

jackie

Eight months after someone bought my suitcases they were for sale again for $40. But they weren’t even sold yet. And even if they sold that day, my goal was to get rid of them. Seeing something I had sold months ago now, in a shop for sale for more than what I sold them for was something I had always dreaded–that would mean I lost and was dumb.

But no! Guess what?! I didn’t feel that way at all. I didn’t have to rent out a space for months on end and keep it stocked and pretty and hope those bulky suitcases would one day find the person who knew they how to use them and recognized that they were a good price at $40. I got to get rid of them right away and free up precious space in my home! My goal isn’t to run a cute shop so I can keep it stocked with items I find and then sell them for more. There’s nothing wrong with that if that’s your passion–I LOVE to shop at places like that, I just don’t want to own one.

Guess what?! I won! Not because I made more money, but because I met my goal.

*notice that this post has NO photos of the suitcases I’m talking about? I looked back through my THOUSANDS of photos from the last 18 months that are on this computer and I found NO photos of these suitcases, except for one. If that doesn’t prove I don’t use something, I don’t know what else could. Want to see the one one photo? Scroll up to the photo of my bed, look in the sunburst mirror above the bed, see that reflection? Suitcase.

 “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”  –Yogi Berra