Bailey had book club on Friday, so we didn't clean in Dad's space downstairs. But on Saturday, Timmy, our friend and garbage man, came and hauled off several appliances.
I had received a quote from a company in town that wanted $100 just to haul off the freezer, so I worked out a deal with Timmy instead and bartered the hauling off of trash in exchange for a refrigerator that Dad had just bought recently and some cash as well. #bartering
So, Timmy hauled off the freezer that had stopped working who knows when or was unplugged by a neighbor helping Mom at one point in time, an old stove, a smaller refrigerator, a toaster oven, microwave and printer.
None of the items were worth saving to me and would have needed some serious scrubbing to get clean that I was unwilling to do, and even then I didn't know if they worked or not. I'm not afraid of hard work or scrubbing and have done my fair share of that, but these were not worth it to me.
I'm thrilled to have them all out of the way, especially the freezer. I told my sister it was bad, like don't open the lid bad. LOL
I'm not sure what Dad was thinking with all the refrigerators. He had two downstairs, and four in his home across the road, and about three of them were brand new. I put one of the smaller ones in my bedroom to hold some of my medicine that needs refrigeration.
Dad and Mom both were hoarders, but Dad had more hoarded than Mom did, I think. Bailey and I lived with Mom upstairs and I cleaned out and decluttered up here regularly, which could be the difference. Even after Mom's death in 2022, I threw out bank statements with used checks she had kept from the 1960s.
Dad did not throw away much at all. For example, he had about seven printers down in his office. We threw one of the big ones away yesterday and I kept one for use in my own office. The back of Timmy's truck can only hold so much at one time.
I think yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores can be good, clean fun, but there has to be a limit. I buy things that are useful and I use them, and if I don't use them, they are going to the next consignment sale because I like a clean and uncluttered home.
In my lifetime I have had plenty of places I've cleaned out. My Father-In-Law needed help cleaning out his home when my brother-in-law and his wife lived there for a while. Then the same home needed cleaning out again after FIL passed away. We had to rent a dumpster for that clean out.
The home my exdh and I bought when we were married, was left hoarded up by the people who owned it before us, but had passed away. We threw away stuff from the 1940s in that house.
It has been interesting to find some old things like some of the letters and stuff I've found. And there is plenty of useful stuff as well and stuff people are willing to pay for and I've found some things to use up here. And remember that old saying, "one man's junk is another man's treasure".
BelindaHomemaker at HeartMortgage & Debt Free~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27
