I was so proud of myself for filling the box, but then I realized that this box contained nothing but lotion, body wash, and a topical pain reliever cream. Seriously... an entire box containing:
10 tubes of topical pain-relief cream
7 bottles of plain lotion
4 bottles of scented lotion
5 bottles of normal body wash
13 bottles of cucumber melon body wash
14 tubes of scented hand cream
Total value of the products in just this one box? Over $390. Seriously? Many many years ago, we joined one of those clubs where you have to order so much product per month and then you'd get a check every month that was a percentage of the people signed up under you... We signed up under a local charity in hopes our purchases would help them out. Well, it turns out that after a while we would forget to place orders, so they'd send us automatic orders with products we (clearly) didn't need or use. At one point we had a dozen bottles of their laundry soap before we gave up and just used it for months instead of our regular stuff. It actually came in handy when we had a financial issue come up and were able to cut laundry soap out of our budget because we had all that sitting on a shelf!
In addition to this box full, I also found 14 unopened bars of soap, eight bottles of assorted shampoo (three different kinds), one bottle of conditioner, one bottle of foot scrub, one bottle of "hair finisher" (something you use to get knots out?), a couple little tubes of first aid gel, and one tube of toothpaste that still had the foil seal but was missing the cap. Needless to say, now that I've discovered all these hidden goodies in the back of the cupboard, we can certainly save some money on bathroom needs for a while!
I thought about trying to sell some of them off, but last time I tried to sell something from this company they came after me and threatened legal action - something about their contract not allowing resale of their products. They're pretty vicious about going after people too because it was just one candle I listed on eBay last time - and it wasn't even one I'd bought, it was something someone gave me to sell. We aren't members of their club anymore, but I still worry they'd come after me. My mom suggested offering them at a garage sale or something, but do I really want to unpack the only box I've packed? I mean, I even taped it up and labeled it! I really felt like I had accomplished something! Clearly moving is going to be a complex event for our household.
I need more boxes. I'm going to try working through some stuff that we don't use all the time... The bookshelves are overflowing with books and movies, so they'll be next to get boxed up. Some will go on Amazon and eBay and Craigslist or wherever, and some will come with us. Surprisingly we do have some movies that we watched one time, didn't like, and they've been collecting dust ever since. I question why they were even bought, or why we received them as gifts. I'm more reluctant to part with the books... I mean, they're books... and books are awesome. I think we'll just need more book shelves.
It'll be nice to get some stuff packed away, and start paring down our household to things that we actually have a use for. The added money from selling off our extras will help us to buy the things we will need. This property does not have a washer, dryer, refrigerator, or stove, so these are all additional expenses we will need to procure. I mean, I can wash laundry in the bathtub and dry it out on the laundry line, but it takes a long time for blue jeans to air dry, and what about rainy days? Food can be prepared in a microwave or toaster, and I do have some experience cooking over a campfire. Canned goods, sandwiches, and microwaved soup/ramen/chili/vegetables/oatmeal/etc is a short term solution, albeit not a very healthy one. I can make it work in a pinch, but I'd rather not if I don't absolutely have to. A refrigerator and stove are going to be things we absolutely need before we move in. We will need a chest freezer too.
That said, still no word from the real estate agent.