Spring Cleaning, Garage Sales, and No More Babies?

So the past few weeks have been very busy around the Malott house. We have been in super spring (almost summer) cleaning mode. For the past two years, I knew I needed to have a garage sale, but never seemed to fit it into the schedule. This summer it is happening! I have set a date already and have started to get a game plan together. I absolutely cannot believe how much crap we have accumulated in the 6 short years that we have lived in this house. It is insane! I am going to guess anywhere between 30-40 boxes worth of stuff. My husband has been great about moving all of it to the garage for me to start going through during the next couple of weeks. Ugh! IT is going to be quite the job. Do I think it is going to be worth it? I am not so sure. I do know that I have researched how to have a successful garage sale and have taken some notes. I am no amateur to the garage sale world though...I attend garage sales regularly from May to August and also grew up in a home that had a huge garage sale every summer. I am just hoping that I will be able to get rid of a lot of stuff and make a little cash too. I am trying to decided where to take everything that doesn't sell. I will probably end up taking it to Goodwill, but I wonder if there are other organizations around here that could utilize some of the clothing and housewares.

The biggest stress with this whole garage sale business is the decision to sell all the baby gear, clothing, and maternity clothing. I am seriously having an emotional breakdown every time that I think about selling all of it. It just makes everything seem so final to me. Dustin and I have talked a gazillion times about whether or not to have more kids and the discussion usually ends with no definite decision. We know we are more than happy with our two beautiful children and that most days the two of them more than enough for us to handle. Then but there are those times that make me super, duper sad because I will never be pregnant again or  never experiencing that amazing moment of the first time the doctor lays your newborn child on your chest (seriously that moment makes me cry every single time I think about it or see it on TV). So needless to say I will be doing a bit more thinking about this during the next few weeks.

The biggest reason that we are purging so much of our unused belongings is because of recently attending an seminar/training event called "First Steps to Success." I am not sure if you have ever heard of Dani Johnson, but if you haven't you may want to check out her website danijohnson.com. I will have to save details about the event for another post because there is just so much that I want to say about it. The event changed my life and my husbands for that matter. It really opened our eyes to so much about what we need to do to be more successful in life. So this brought us to sell everything that we no longer need, living with less, and getting on track financially.

Just in case you can't believe how much junk we have to sell, I have included some pictures. This is only half of it. I literally have about 20 more boxes in the attic including mostly baby clothes. I will post the other items that I am going to sell just in case my junk could be a treasure to you.