The Joy of Giving

An unexpected benefit of planning to join the Peace Corps, and needing to get rid of three quarters of your "worldly possessions", is that you get to give things away to family, friends, and even random passersby. It's a good lesson in economics. Our need to get rid of stuff is much greater than any artificially imposed pricing scheme. So right now, the best price that people can offer to us, is really just to take more stuff! "You want that chest of drawers...well ok, but you have to take that fake ficus in the corner". So far, I feel that most of our stuff is going to really good homes, where people will use it. Even stuff that really was junk is being well used.

The process of "shedding" all of our stuff has been very revealing as to what's really important. It's easy to get rid of most of the big, nice furniture... it's typically the small things like slides or photos that you have to keep. The process really does turn economics on it head.

On a side note, Katie made it safely to Guatemala, and is begining her Spanish classes this morning. For those that don't know, as part of our nomination to Latin America the PC really stressed the need for Katie to bulk up on her Spanish as best she could. Sure, she could have just taken classes at the JC, but it's more fun to have her go to Guatemala for immersion...especially when we are in the middle of selling the house...huh?