eczblack's Profile

Another way I can "give in" when I have an impulse is to head to the library. While I may not actually be purchasing something, I do get to browse for whatever books, magazines, or DVDs I like and check out what I want. The feeling of getting a new book at the library is usually enough to satisfy my impulse!

I have had great success in offering Curb Alerts in the Free Section as a means of getting rid of lots of items quickly that I did not want to bother to sell. My husband and I called many of the local charities that offer pick-up of items, and many either didn't call back or didn't ever pick up the items. We have listed 3 Curb Alerts in the past 2 weeks, each time a full box of random items, and the box is usually gone within 30 mins.

That being said, I think you have to be very specific in your CL ads. I put up an ad for our yard sale, with photos and a overview list of the items we were selling. Suddenly I had emails from people asking me to hold items or asking me to take photos of specific items so they could decide whether or not to come to the yard sale. It took a fair bit of time to respond stating that it was first come, first serve. Since then, I have been very specific with details in our listings and it has prevented most of the random questions.

@Sarah from Winner Celebration Party

I recently had a very similar situation with a friend visiting in town. While this person was not my house guest, there were some rather large expectations placed upon me that I was forced to decline, rather forcefully. I live in a very popular tourist spot and said friend was coming to town for a week for vacation. First it was "Can you pick me up at the airport?". Not an unusual request and one I agreed to. After dropping him off at his hotel from the airport, I offered to take him to brunch the next day so we could catch up. After that, it got a touch frustrating. When one goes on vacation, it is to vacation: relax, see the sights, etc. This friend expected me to act as chauffeur every day of the week while he was in town. Since I home school my son, this friend simply waited until we were available every afternoon before venturing out to do anything, as he wanted us to go with. It would be one thing if we had been invited to go along, but there was an expectation that we were tour guide, chauffeur and entertainment for the week. When I politely stated that we wouldn't be able to see him that day because of prior engagements, he got a bit snippy with me, stating that this was his vacation. Ok, great, but that's just it: it is your vacation, not mine. I have seen all the tourist sights and don't particularly want to drive to your hotel every day (which was 20 miles from my house). On top of all that, he wanted me to pay for everything because he claimed to not have budgeted well enough for his trip. His last evening in town, he proclaimed he was hungry and wanted to go to dinner. I told him, very sweetly, that we would be delighted to be treated to dinner, if he was inviting us to do so. Then it was "well, I should probably start packing for my flight tomorrow". Suddenly wasn't so hungry when it was discovered that I wouldn't be paying, considering I had already done so many times that week. Once, he simply got up when the check arrived for a meal, and told me he would meet me out front of the restaurant. My husband and I were floored. Incredibly rude........

Said guest is planning a return trip with the statement made that he would like to spend more time with us as he felt we didn't spend enough time this trip (half of the day, for 8 days was apparently not enough). I again told him that we would be happy to take him out to brunch the morning after his flight or to have lunch during the week, but that his vacation is his, not ours. I can't even imagine what it would have been like had he been our house guest!