Journey of Faith Part 3– downsizing

Upon selling our home, I knew  I was going to need to downsize before I packed our possessions for a moving truck. I began months ago making a list of furniture and items that I wouldn’t move with us no matter where the Lord sent us. Our NC home was only 1100 sq feet, then from there we went to a 2 bedroom townhouse for a temporary stay, then into this 2600 sq foot home. So, all that to say, we have accumulated a bit of stuff over the few years we have lived here. All, of course, from yard sales or thrifty stores, but nonetheless, I had too much stuff to even consider moving.

My list became pretty lengthy and I knew I was going to have a yard sale that looked like our home was being placed at the curb! 😏
And, I was not exaggerating….

I will have to say, if you ever plan or don’t plan and are forced to move, have a yard sale!! As I packed every room, drawer, cabinet, closet, I made a yard sale pile. It honestly made packing so much easier and avoided us moving a bunch of stuff we didn’t use or wouldn’t use anymore. We packed our garage first so we had a place to store all our yard sale items. As I found stuff for the yard sale I’d hand it to our children telling them a price and they’d take it to the garage put a sticker with price on it and put it in a designated place depending on the item. When yard sale morning came, we just had to pull the items out and arrange them how we wanted them. It was so stress free—-which is not normally the case when doing a yard sale.

I had decided to do our sale Friday and Saturday from 7-2 each day. I was a bit skeptical because yard sales in the area typically were only Saturdays and only from 8-12 at most. I had prayed hard that I would sell most on Friday so I had less to move out on Saturday and less to drop prices for. I had about 40 pallet signs I was selling too from my craft show stash and from places in our home. I was a bit concerned about putting higher prices on these, but I wanted to make more than a typical yard sale price. So, most were priced at $10-$15. I figured if I didn’t sell them I could try to sell a different way in the few weeks we had left in the area.

When you have a yard sale make sure you advertise well!! I made big green poster board signs and set up in over 8 places with details of times, days, and arrows showing the right direction. I also listed an ad with multiple pictures on craigslist, a yard sale app, Facebook marketplace and 8 other Facebook groups I was part of in the area. I would caution you to try hard not to attempt to answer every question though that comes from people on Facebook who are too lazy to just come to the yard sale. I spent much of the morning trying to answer prices or other crazy questions. I finally just put a statement up asking that if people are interested to just come and see what was left and know the prices were great! Later in the day several customers would comment saying similar things.

Friday morning started and I was in an all out praying mode! And, in moments God brought a steady trickle of people. At about 10 in the morning we had an onslaught of customers making huge piles all over the yard. Within the hour we had sold over $800 worth of stuff. And, by this time almost 3/4 of my signs were gone! There were loads of women who came just for the signs. And, the best part was not one individual asked to lower prices! I was shocked, but not, because I knew, once again, that God was in this. And, He was just sending yet another hug to His ‘lil ole servant me.

One o’clock Saturday we had fill a bag for $3 and had only a small pile of items remaining.We called a local men’s home to come pick up the rest as a donation. Way easier and rewarding than loading up leftovers and taking to Goodwill.

Our grand total sales for the weekend was $1813 and our children made $64 from their cookies. This was God alone! I am so thankful for how He provided and met specific answers to prayer above and beyond what we could have thought.

Several days later my mom called and asked how I was. She knew I loved our home and worked hard to find thrifty pieces to make our home beautiful to us. I was so excited to share with her how Jesus had prepared me for all of this too. Is was just stuff, stuff that I did love, but it wasn’t worth being stressed or sad over. As I visited with customers at our sale, conversations arose, and I began seeing my “stuff” differently. They were stories. Stories about God’s provision, His blessings. Like the cabinet I found on the side of the road for free and later turned into a workable and beautiful piece for many years. I got $50 for it. Or the couch I paid $17 for at Goodwill and shoved it into the back of the van with 4 kids around it. I got $100 for it. Or the abundance of signs I created to fit certain spots in our home. You see, God’s gonna give me more stories. More things to be reminded that He cares even about the little accents that help make our home beautiful to us. They are temporal. There were far greater things to think about than my stuff.

Don’t get me wrong….we still are a family of 7 and we still filled a semi with our “stuff.” I am excited to one day soon make the next home Jesus gives us beautiful for our family and the ministry we crave to have through hospitality in our home.

So, here ends yet another part of our journey of faith. Another “wrung of the ladder” was complete. Jesus gave me some pretty tight hugs through this part in order to help me as we continue down some pretty bumpy parts ahead.

My faith continues to increase each”wrung” at a time.