Not really drama but a unique experience none the less.
I don't often get to write anything in this area since I sold the RV. Here's today's installment of this saga.
I get a call at 8:15am about someone looking to furnish an entire home. We meet at 9:15. On the way over I devised a sort of pricing strategy.
It's an older woman by herself. I open the locker. It's stuffed to the gills. I tell her what's in there. At first she wanted the bed and some dressers. I honestly told her I'm just a go between since it isn't my stuff. TLDR we agree on a price for the entire lot. It's a good price. But she can't see the stuff jammed in the back. Her husband arrives with a truck. Moving stuff out it's covered with dust. Some things have mold on them. It wipes off easily. After moving a few pieces the missus leaves. She tells hubby to load it all up. His son arrives with a van to take more stuff and provided needed muscle.
She appeared to be the pickier of the 2. So when she left that made it a lot easier for me. The plan was to unload the entire unit into the driveway. Survey what was there. Then devise a truck packing plan to haul it off.
At some point in the last 5 plus years, some water leaked into the unit. A box of purses and boots is now a school science project. In the back, and I wish I was making this part up, I found 2 black trash bags with kitchen and bathroom trash. A critter had chewed through 1 of the bags. It had 1 of those clear plastic bowls you get with a store pre-made salad. You could even see some dried lettuce leaves on it. I quietly moved those to the area where I was putting stuff like books and pictures in frames that I wasn't letting them take.
The leather chair is all moldy. Then we get to the couch. It's in worse shape. But the faithful husband is doing what he's been told. He's getting it prepped to load in 1 of their 2 vehicles. Since the unit was packed so tight, we werent able to get a clear look at the condition of most things. I make a quick decision. I refund the guy half of the money back. While it was in good shape when it went in, that isn't the case today. They will have to scrub and clean that stuff. Murphy oil should bring the shine back to a lot of the wood.
The mattress and box spring were all the way in the back. Moving large pieces of furniture exposed the boxes. The part touching the ground had disintegrated. So the mattress had stains on it. The box spring was OK. ANd right around this time momma comes back. I felt somewhat guilty at that point. I'm sure she wasn't expecting the stuff to be in that condition. So I mostly stayed in the unit. She began to have the guys moves stuff around. Now she wasn't going to take it all.
In the end they left the leather couch & chair, the hutch and the entertainment center along with the mattress. I don't know if big daddy told her I gave him half the money back. She never said anything to me, so I guess they felt they got a good value for the reduced price.
I called Vrai after they packed up what they could. Now I would have to take the leftover stuff to the dump. She said since the guy has a truck ask if he'll do it for a few hundred bucks. Fingers crossed he meets me there Monday to haul the rest of it away. The few other items will be taken to the good will or similar outfit.
Originally I thought it was a good score at the original agreed price. But then the moldy reality slapped me in the face. Some times you just have to make lemonade. But the saga of the out of state storage unit is in it's twilight. 5 years ago the storage unit seemed like good insurance in case life on the road wasn't all it's cracked up to be. We had a small window of opportunity to clear out the unit at the end of travel year two. But that's only realized by the benefit of hindsight.
They came back for the few remaining items after the dropped off the first load. I pulled out of the storage unit complex at 1:30pm. It was a productive half day. But I'm pooped and will probably soak in the tub tonight. If it wasn't such a long drive, I'd head back to PCB and veg out in the resort's hot tub.
I don't often get to write anything in this area since I sold the RV. Here's today's installment of this saga.
I get a call at 8:15am about someone looking to furnish an entire home. We meet at 9:15. On the way over I devised a sort of pricing strategy.
It's an older woman by herself. I open the locker. It's stuffed to the gills. I tell her what's in there. At first she wanted the bed and some dressers. I honestly told her I'm just a go between since it isn't my stuff. TLDR we agree on a price for the entire lot. It's a good price. But she can't see the stuff jammed in the back. Her husband arrives with a truck. Moving stuff out it's covered with dust. Some things have mold on them. It wipes off easily. After moving a few pieces the missus leaves. She tells hubby to load it all up. His son arrives with a van to take more stuff and provided needed muscle.
She appeared to be the pickier of the 2. So when she left that made it a lot easier for me. The plan was to unload the entire unit into the driveway. Survey what was there. Then devise a truck packing plan to haul it off.
At some point in the last 5 plus years, some water leaked into the unit. A box of purses and boots is now a school science project. In the back, and I wish I was making this part up, I found 2 black trash bags with kitchen and bathroom trash. A critter had chewed through 1 of the bags. It had 1 of those clear plastic bowls you get with a store pre-made salad. You could even see some dried lettuce leaves on it. I quietly moved those to the area where I was putting stuff like books and pictures in frames that I wasn't letting them take.
The leather chair is all moldy. Then we get to the couch. It's in worse shape. But the faithful husband is doing what he's been told. He's getting it prepped to load in 1 of their 2 vehicles. Since the unit was packed so tight, we werent able to get a clear look at the condition of most things. I make a quick decision. I refund the guy half of the money back. While it was in good shape when it went in, that isn't the case today. They will have to scrub and clean that stuff. Murphy oil should bring the shine back to a lot of the wood.
The mattress and box spring were all the way in the back. Moving large pieces of furniture exposed the boxes. The part touching the ground had disintegrated. So the mattress had stains on it. The box spring was OK. ANd right around this time momma comes back. I felt somewhat guilty at that point. I'm sure she wasn't expecting the stuff to be in that condition. So I mostly stayed in the unit. She began to have the guys moves stuff around. Now she wasn't going to take it all.
In the end they left the leather couch & chair, the hutch and the entertainment center along with the mattress. I don't know if big daddy told her I gave him half the money back. She never said anything to me, so I guess they felt they got a good value for the reduced price.
I called Vrai after they packed up what they could. Now I would have to take the leftover stuff to the dump. She said since the guy has a truck ask if he'll do it for a few hundred bucks. Fingers crossed he meets me there Monday to haul the rest of it away. The few other items will be taken to the good will or similar outfit.
Originally I thought it was a good score at the original agreed price. But then the moldy reality slapped me in the face. Some times you just have to make lemonade. But the saga of the out of state storage unit is in it's twilight. 5 years ago the storage unit seemed like good insurance in case life on the road wasn't all it's cracked up to be. We had a small window of opportunity to clear out the unit at the end of travel year two. But that's only realized by the benefit of hindsight.
They came back for the few remaining items after the dropped off the first load. I pulled out of the storage unit complex at 1:30pm. It was a productive half day. But I'm pooped and will probably soak in the tub tonight. If it wasn't such a long drive, I'd head back to PCB and veg out in the resort's hot tub.
I'm also grateful that I didn't have to depend on using that stuff to furnish a new house. Ugh.
