Liquidate Your Past and Invest in Your Future

Posted on | August 27, 2010 | 7 Comments

Please note: If you are my ex and are reading this, then it is not your jewelry I pawned!

Ever since being engaged (we are E+ two weeks now, as my fiancée likes to keep track of time after the big day), I have had this consuming desire within me to organize, de-clutter and simplify every aspect of our lives. I suppose I can only relate it to the fierce nesting a woman supposedly goes through during her pregnancy when the entire house must be cleaned and organized and perfect for this next big stage in her life.

Unlike some phases or emotions which can send a person to compulsive shopping, compulsive eating, etc., this one is actually quite lucrative (would you expect any less from me at this point?)!  By cleaning out the recesses of our closets, drawers, hope chests, and jewelry box, I have made a small profit, and have decided that all money earned will be donated to our honeymoon fund.

It started with our guest room closet, aka the pit for things we don’t have a place for. I took everything out of it and made distinct piles: donations, throw away, sell. I threw away all of my fiancées wire hangers (think Mommy Dearest the movie), organized all of my photos into neat little photo boxes, and ruthlessly sorted through a lot of belongings. Next I focused my attention on our book shelves—Paul and I are both avid readers and each have our own book shelf. Between the two of us, we came up with 15 books we no longer want to sell at a used book store.

As I was walking back into the bedroom with a handful of old clothes, my jewelry box caught my eye. How about I sell my ex boyfriend’s jewelry and put it towards our honeymoon as well? Quite frankly I thought my idea was brilliant, although I am sure many others have done the same thing in the past. I picked out two necklaces, a bracelet, and two rings and cleaned them using jewelry cleaner. Now, I have never been to a pawn show before, and my imagination conjured up sleazy men with slicked-back hair, little spectacles and smoke-filled rooms. To my surprise, this was not the case, although the pawn shop I went to (The Write Pawn and Jewelry Co.) did have metal bar doors for an entranceway (this is most likely due to its location on Westheimer). In all but twenty minutes, I walked out of the place with a smile on my face, some money in my hand, and a feeling of weight lifted off of my shoulders.

Here is a breakdown of what I have been able to sell so far:

 

  • Laptop Case: $10, Paid $15 for it
  • Cell phone: $25, Paid $0 for it
  • Jewelry: $50, Paid $0 for it
  • Books: $15, Paid approximately $75 for them

 

With the books we sold, we were able to buy a copy of a used “How to Buy a House for Dummies” for $7.00. The rest of the money, as well as any other profits from sales, will be going into our honeymoon account. One hundred dollars is not much money, but this exercise has been more valuable as an intangible cleansing of the past for me, as well as a way to make room for us—and our belongings—to grow together.

Hurrah to simplifying and decluttering!

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Comments

7 Responses to “Liquidate Your Past and Invest in Your Future”

  1. helen pagola
    August 10th, 2009 @ 2:59 pm

    I love your articles. I first started reading your articles on the Houston Chronicle blog. Do you contribute to any other blogs? I just love your ideas. We all need to live more frugally. Thanks.

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  2. Cmamafishy
    August 28th, 2009 @ 7:08 pm

    Don’t forget to add the sale of your laptop to your brother-in-law to your honeymoon fund!!! It’s amazing what you can rid yourself of. I just cleaned out our “pit” last week and amazingly…that room has a floor in it!!

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  3. Sandra
    August 27th, 2010 @ 2:11 pm

    Where did you sel your stuff? Ebay?

    Where did you sell the books?

    [Reply]

    Amanda L. Grossman Reply:
    August 28th, 2010 at 9:13 am

    Hello Sandra!

    I generally sell through Craigslist because there are no fees (and that is where I sold the laptop case and cell phone). I sold our books to Half Price Books, and the jewelry was pawned in Houston:).

    Thanks for the comment!
    Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Liquidate Your Past and Invest in Your Future

    [Reply]

  4. eemusings
    October 3rd, 2010 @ 12:45 am

    http://www.frugalconfessions.com/beater-cars

    [Reply]

  5. eemusings
    October 3rd, 2010 @ 12:48 am

    Sorry about that! I’ve been having some issues commenting on your blog – keeps telling me there’s an authentication problem.

    ” Fatal error: Call to undefined function add_options_page() in /home/algkent8/public_html/wp-content/plugins/rss-feed-anywhere/index.php on line 19″

    Might be something to look into…

    What I meant to say was I’m pretty there are websites devoted entirely to helping people sell off their ex-BF jewellery!

    [Reply]

    Amanda L. Grossman Reply:
    October 3rd, 2010 at 10:27 am

    Hello eemusings!

    I am sorry to hear you are having trouble posting comments on my website…I will see if I have any error messages.

    Thanks for your comments!
    Amanda L. Grossman recently posted..Frugal Confessions Friday – Frugal Living

    [Reply]

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