Rummage sale clears clutter

Rummage sales are one of the greatest joys of summer. Bargain hunters are guaranteed to find good deals, and rummage sellers can make some extra cash on items they no longer need.
Last weekend my family fell in the rummage seller category. Getting ready for our move from Wautoma to Stevens Point, we wanted to rid ourselves of all items we no longer wanted or didn’t have room for in what feels like a shrinking house. My wife, Jenny, says our house isn’t actually shrinking, it’s just the clutter we have slowly accumulated over the years has gotten larger.
The clutter has come from two sources – my mother and our 2-year-old son, Braden.
Braden’s clutter can’t be helped; little boys need toys. My job as a father, especially one who enjoys playing with them even more than him, is to make sure his toy box overflows and our floors are littered with the latest Spider-Man figures and Matchbox cars.
My mother’s clutter cannot be controlled, even though we’ve tried many times. She likes to buy presents, and we are often the recipients of them.
Some of these gifts are nice. The leather jackets she got for us will be worn for many years to come. The digital camera will take pictures of Braden until he is a teenager, at which time he will not allow us to photograph him. And seasons one and two of “Lost” will keep us entertained while we ponder whether or not we liked “The Sopranos” series conclusion.
We accumulate “mother clutter,” as Jenny and I call it, when she gives us gifts to decorate our house. Never comfortable in her own home until every square-inch of wall space has some sort of knickknack or art piece covering it, my mother finds our semi-barren walls way too boring for her taste.
This results in her purchasing decorative items for us based on what she thinks is our style. Jenny likes birdhouses. My mom buys her every birdhouse knickknack and painting she comes across. I tell a younger cousin playing with a Scooby Doo toy that I also liked the cartoon dog as a kid. Guess what I get -- a Scooby clock, Scooby remote control holder and a Scooby pillow. The list goes on and on like that.
To be nice, and appreciative of the gifts, we try to keep them out for awhile. That makes my mother happy, which is all she wants.
Our biennial rummage sale allowed us to get rid of some of this clutter. In addition to making $300, we probably eliminated a truckload of stuff we will no longer have to move. A clutter-free house, money and an easier move – you can’t ask for anything more.
Except, perhaps, the opportunity for other people to sell items at your rummage sale. Both my in-laws and a friend of my wife got in on the action, making a small sale into a mega-extravaganza.
For one day only, our house was the Wal-Mart of Wautoma. It was a place to find everything from VHS tapes to Sega Genesis games, from wagons to utility carts and from old tools to antique lawnmowers. The aisles were crowded and the customers battled each other for those last-on-the-shelf items.
Fortunately for us, our Wal-Mart wasn’t open for 24 hours. It closed after just eight, and it won’t open for another two years. Until then we’ll continue to accumulate more clutter to fill a new home.