2020 was a rough year:
- Bylaw killed my workshops,
- Threats of Covid and a cold followed me from Australia as they closed the borders
- The city restricted what kinds of guests I was allowed- only potentially sick ones who were serving their country were allowed
- I closed the doors to the B&B for good
- CRA demanded their $10,000 CERB grant money back
Talked to all my local bed and breakfast owners about the hardships they were encountering and the things they were having to cut out. Heard that all the hotels were virtually empty and I absolutely couldn't imagine cleaning the way most of the other B&B owners had dedicated their lives to making their places safe so on the spur of
Many have asked why. Well, a week and a half previously I had tried to climb up and down my stairs and my knees were in excruciating pain and I got scared that knee replacements were going to be needed. Was I going to need a bungalow now that I had turned 60? Was it really all downhill from here? I called a realtor friend just to get a feel for the lay of the land if ever I did one day maybe decide to sell.
She discussed what a seller's market it was due to the pandemic and all the bidding wars. My head was spinning so I invited myself over to my neighbor's place for glass of wine and to pick their brains. Collectively they told me to sell. Then I called my sister and she told me to sell and close the business. Close the business? But that is how I have identified myself for 6 years. Who would I be without it? It had become my identity altho if I could, at age 60, get rid of my mortgage, as sister suggested, I would be truly blessed.
to looking like a regular home. And then the serious decluttering commenced. What an adventure.
It was an eye-opening weekend in relation to planning a move. The moving lady said I needed at least 60 boxes and to pack 10 boxes a day to take care of this move by myself, and save money. Most days I packed one or two boxes so I knew I was in a heap of trouble.
Crammed to the gills with 20 years of light hoarding and 6 years of bed and breakfast clutter, on Monday the Stager and Realtor showed up to talk about what might be involved for moving and they was stunned by how much had been accomplished. You know you are in trouble when the stager says she really wished she could have done a before and after video or show; I'm sure she meant it as a compliment. Maybe I am a hoarder, or maybe I'm not and she's just a monster!
Next I had to decide what to do with all my stuff. My head hurt because I couldn't decide do I get a pod and then pay storage and pod fees or buy a C-can or just do storage and pay moving fees. Back and forth it went. I went to sleep and when I woke up the answer was there. Hire friend Louise to help me clean my garage so I could store everything there until I sold the house and put it all in storage. She hurried over, performed her miracles and the boxes being stored began.
I had hired someone to build a large deck up front and we amended the size since I wasn't going to be living there anymore. Three deck guys came everyday while I was packing inside. It was like Grand Central Station because I also hired a couple of painters to do my main floor in the most boring of colours I've ever seen- Gray, like every other house on the market! I also had a neighbour take down my real indoor living room tree while I lovingly took down the branches and all the tree life.
The house was to be put on the market on Friday and on the following Thursday, I kept on finding new pockets of evil to clean and then I waited for them to show up only to find out they were coming in the afternoon and everything was being delayed. OMG I was ready and I wanted to get it done. Lets just get this property listed already!
When they finally came in the Stager almost fell down, the place looked so spectacular. Fresh paint and the deck and the decluttering raise the price an additional $60,000, hard to believe. They placed pictures removed more ornaments and dragged a box around the house and filled it with unnecessary loved items as they scraped new draglines on my newly waxed floors. In the end I think I waxed them five times and the house is now a little bit smaller due to all the floor wax.
I'm not agreeing that I'm a pack rat but going through a box full of manuals I found a package of receipts dating back to 1988, 32 years past and it was for a Tupperware party bowl purchase. Maybe I am taking this hoarding just a little bit too far.
So the deck was finished as much as it could be. The painting was finished as much as it could be. The for sale sign was up and the surprisingly small trickle of bidding war viewers started their parade. When there was a long stretch between viewings I would just stay home. When there were shorter stretches I would sit in my car up the street, waiting for them to leave. Selling your house is a very anxious time. Any questions from the realtor had me rooting around in my 35C furnace of a garage to try and find it among the burial ground where paper goes to die in poorly packed boxes.
Selling my house alone had in some ways gone beyond my wildest expectations of what hell would be. The lack of sleep, the twitching, the lack of food in the house to eat and never being able to find anything is so very annoying and now that I think about it, very much like having a newborn. The only thing different is a baby screams rather than me. The house echoed when I walked. All the dishes I thoughtfully put aside for my upcoming RV trip were pillaged for everyday living and then accidentally packed. How can I live like this until next summer. I'm getting the yearnings now to buy another place or start looking for one in the Belleville area at top dollar. If I really thought about all the changes coming up, quitting my job, selling my house and moving, I would probably curl up into a fetal position but I can't concentrate on that.
I'd never bought or sold a home by myself in my life but it's like everything I've done over the last 15 years has prepared me for it. Working at the catering coordinator job taught me about extreme attention to detail. Working as a bed-and-breakfast owner helped me always be ready for guests and be able to pull it together in minutes for a showing, if need be. I know the best ways to show off floors with high gloss and I can see a crumb of sand that needs to be picked up across the floor or a piece of lint or wrinkle on a bedspread that needs to be smoothed out.
I saw a monarch butterfly yesterday in my perennial garden and I froze. I'd spent countless 1000's of dollars over the last 20 years on flowers to attract butterflies and they'd never come. On the day the For Sale sign went on my front lawn, the butterfly came -WTH! Was he saying goodbye, and thanks for the flower goodies or she saying "screw you, your ex house is now on the Parade of Homes for butterfly migration. Bazinga!
Nothing group that I had long pillaged and never given back. Now it was my turn to start giving away so much stuff. I filled the driveway with a free yard sale. With every person agreeing to take different stuff they had to bring boxes and newspapers. I even posted an indoor free yardsale and while they told me it would never work, I got rid of lots. I received many angry looks and some heated words from most of the husbands warning me to cease and desist giving my trash to their wives. Not my problem if you ignore them and their only passion is garage sales and hoarding.
I did have a few, lets say frustrating moments. I had hoped the new owners would let me leave a couch that had been cut in half and carefully put together to bring down the narrow stairs. Nope. I used my sawzall to cut it to firewood and I'm sure I'm the only one to ever cut the back of my leg in the process. Who does that?
I had put 4 lawn chairs by the road and only three cushions. A 'shopper' came by when my daughter was watching over things and demanded the last cushion which I had planned on keeping. Daughter reluctantly gave it without knowing but can you imagine the utter gall of someone getting free stuff and demanding more? Then she pointed to the patio set and said she would take that for free too. Nope, never you ungrateful b*tch!
Kijiji gave me a run for my money too. One young lady bought my fabulous dining table for next to nothing. Her father examined it and said it was very good. They took it apart, paid and went home. I got a call asking if I would take it back because it wasn't a good fit. Uh, no. I suggested she just repost it and she told me that there is a chunk missing from the table and "maybe it happened during the move but she couldn't sell it anymore." Not my problem.
Another asked if I would take less for something and I told her no. Her mom jumped in with "everything stinks". Nope. I can't smell it but I totally understand if you don't want to buy it, I told her. She argued and argued and finally the daughter told her "Mom stop!" She wanted it. There was no smell.
One man bought a heavy bed and while they were cursing and bringing it downstairs, they bashed up the walls pretty bad. No apologies. Finally there was the woman who wanted to buy a patio table. 52 messages both before and after the purchase. OMG! And it was only $60.
The time came to start filling the storage unit that was woefully too
small. I loaded up my car twice and put in 39 boxes in this tiny little Prius. I was totally amazed. By the end, I was up to maybe 300 boxes.
I finally went to see a storage unit and was shocked as I went inside the 10'x20' unit when I realized how tiny it was. I have 60 years accumulation of junk to put into this tiny unit. It couldn't be done. I was going to have to sell so much more stuff and then give away so much more stuff from my house for this to work. I took the recommendation to pay for a whole year, almost $4,000 for the best rate and will get back all the money for the full cost months if I found a place sooner. As I opened up the unit for the second time I realized with sadness that my entire life would fit inside the unit very shortly. Then I cheered myself thinking yes but as I downsize and simplified my life I was going to become more mobile and travel.... yes, in a pandemic. By the time I finished, I could barely close the door.
Initially, the larger unit had been put together masterfully. The right side was to be long term, the left side -short term. There was to be a hallway in between so I could quickly access everything. I had two clipboards; one for long term, and1 for short term. Every box that went in there was itemized numbered and put on the correct board. By the end the aisle was gone up to the rafters touching the ceiling was full and there's not 1 ounce of space left. I would never find anything in there now.
My life used to be cleaning and cooking and then after I prepared and sold the house it became packing and lifting and a massive game of Tetris in the10x20 unit and 5x10 two storage units. Yes you heard that right- I was the proud owner of two Staycation storage properties.
The original plan was always to have a particularly hard-working family member join me, DIANE ! but #$%&*t that did not occur and it scared me to realize I have to count on myself for the logistics, the packing, the unit organizing and all the cleanup. How do people do this. In the past it was always taken care of by the military but not this time. I knew I could do it but it was terrifying as the days counted down.
On the last day, I had stuffed every last crumb from my house, like the the grinch from Whoville and filled not just my Prius but my daughters Nissan and some stuff with friend Benny, my neighbor Marie and my realtor. God help me if I remember where everything is. I sold almost all of my furniture and gave away so much of my stuff to anybody who walked into my house and said oh that's nice -here it's yours.
My actual retirement life started Aug 28, a mere 8 weeks later although I actually retired July 1st and closed the doors to Spoiled Rotten Bed and Breakfast. Unfortunately, I hadn't stopped working day-and-night until the 28th when the house was emptied for good and I hobbled away in much pain and with a bad back, and go to a trailer at the lake with my friend and saviour Benny. Free at last after 6 years!
And do you know the most exciting part? The huge basket of ironing is now just going to be put in the closet never to be ironed again. I won't miss the cleaning so much.
This pandemic has changed so many lives in so many ways and taught us what is important by taking away what was really important.
I think I just might join all the other closed B&B owners and pour a really larger pitcher of drinks for us all to celebrate and lick our wounds, and celebrate Christmas in 2020. 
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