For those of you who do not know me, I am married to a military guy. With that, comes a lot of extra stuff that wouldn't be around with a "regular" marriage. In fact, there are days that feel like I am married to the military. When people ask, "How long have you been married?" I want to say....Do you mean civilian time or military time? Because, there is a difference. Technically, we have been married for almost 7 years, but if you take out deployments, TDYs, training, and any other reason they send him away, we are at about 3.5-4 years. LOL!
Being married to a military guy means moving from here to there, and doing it quite often. We have moved from WV, to NY, to HI, and now we will be moving to VA in less than 2 months. There are lots of rules, conditions, forms, appointments, and everything else under the sun when it comes to moving with the military. It is not just going to UHAUL and saying - umm... can I get a big truck? For this move, we will literally have to put our stuff on a boat and ship it.
When we first got married, we moved everything to our station in NY using a trailer and a Ford Escape. Since then, we have collected quite a bit more junk. When we first embarked on our journey to Hawaii, it was just the two of us. The military said that we could move 11,000 lbs for free, after that, we had to pay. So we threw out tons of junk, stored things with family that we didn't think we would need here (lots of winter coats and boots) and when the scales weighed it all, we only had 6,000 lbs. WOW!!! All of our stuff only weighed 6,000 lbs - and that included a motorcycle too!!!
Since then, we have had a little guy.....and I have to say, it is funny how one little person can add so much more stuff to this house. Not only did we add 1 more extra bedroom of things, we added a bazillion toys, inside and outside, and enough clothes that this child could become a fashion model. (However, I am quite proud of the fact that most of this was found super cheap or completely free.) So we have orders to move back to the East Coast, and the military says, you have 11,000 lbs for free, after that, we have to pay. Hmm....I don't think we are going to make it!!!!
Thus enters Craigslist. I have to say, I am in love with this site. I am not trying to promote them or anything, just telling it like it is. I have been placing everything that is not nailed down in this house on that website, and it has been selling like wildfire. I love how I can post something for sale and within minutes, I have 6 people wanting it.
However, I also have to say that I wish that all the wishy washy people would stay away from Craigslist or at least my posts. I had a wagon and tag a long trailer for sale on it. Posted it on Sunday night, and within an hour had 7 people who wanted it. Called the first person and they met my husband the next day. They had specs, pictures, and details about it. However, when he meets them to exchange the item/money - they didn't realize that it would be that big. HELLO - ITS A WAGON FOR TWO KIDS AND A TRAILER. So on to the next person. I called them, and come to find out, I am about 35 min away from them. I was heading their direction to go to Wal-Mart and sell another item along the way, so I offered to meet them about 10 min from their house. She said that wasn't really convenient for her. Again - HELLO - when do I have to make it convenient for the buyer??? After spending the next day trying to figure out when and where to meet her, she decides she doesn't want to pay the asking price. Hmm....shouldn't you negotiate price before you tell the person you will take it???? At any rate, I told her bye and moved on to the next person. The next person lived 40 min away. When I called though, she was so thrilled, she jumped in the car immediately and came to me. It all worked out in the end, just wishing the other two people would stay away from craigslist in the future.
Now that I have sold quite a few things, I am starting to think that this 11,000 lbs weight limit may not be too bad after all. Especially since I have been eyeing a lot of my husband's things - I think I could get some money from them on craigslist. After all, how many fishing poles does he really need??? Just kidding. His stuff is safe for now....well at least until they tell us we busted our weight allowance.
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