Kicking It: Too much stuff

The fact of the matter is I (may) have too much stuff. Indicators being? My closets are crowded and my dresser drawers are bulging.

Truth be told, I have a collection of treasures that will be to my inheritors classified as “so much crap!”

To that end, because these select items are too dear to donate, I’ve decided to turn my treasures into ca$h. But.

Here is the rub. One can quietly hold a garage sale filled with all sorts of happy trash and avoid the tax man. (And, once upon a time, online sales slipped through his greedy fingers). That was then before the King of Tax Collectors. This is now. The Guv has reduced the online taxable sales amount from $20,000 in annual sales to $600. You heard me. If you sell more than $600 of personal items, you need to collect and forward money to the state of California. Known as use tax, regardless of whether or not you collected it from the buyer. The onus is on you.

Oh, you haven’t heard of “use tax”? Silly you. Anything, any-one-thing sold by you to another person – regardless of age, condition, or usefulness, within the California border is subject to use tax, which for ease of calculation, is the same rate as sales tax on new items. In San Diego County that is .075% of the total. Labor, as I understand it, still isn’t taxed, simply because they can’t figure out how to get away with it. Yet.

Anyway, so, what’s in your closet? I am reaching out for help. Even though one of my bridge buddies has made some recommendations, I am still unsure about what I need to do in advance to sell items online.

Along with my personal accessories, there is still some very fine sterling silverware, multiple place settings of the collectible Clearwater pattern by Wedgewood for Ralph Lauren, along with many prized pieces of vintage costume jewelry.

Naturally, I still have a select few vintage handbags with matching wallets by R. L. along with a couple of beautifully beaded evening bags, and too many silk scarves of multiple sizes.

Then there is my pair of lady’s size 8 Tony Lama tall-stacked-heel-lizard-snip-toe-cowgirl boots in black and tan.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. For you see, I have also preserved a few (I use the term loosely) jackets, pantsuits, and shoes of some merit that deserve to be re-loved. Most items would be classified as country club casual. They not only easily go from business travel, to cruising, they also transcend seamlessly into the workplace for the sophisticated professional woman. After all, good taste is always in style.

Switching gears completely, (I attribute this to early onset of dementia) have you read anything recently about having a “pickle a day?” According to the article that I read last week, in addition to sauerkraut and kimchi, eating pickles will help with gut health. What about that?

And while I am on the subject of pickles, what say you about the Sussex’s banging their gums from the safety of our shores? It’s like the tea party all over again on social media. Two wealthy twits thumbing their noses at the hand that feeds them.

Not only am I exhausted by the nattering from both sides of the pond, I say, kiddos, if ya don’t wanna have to play by the rules, give it all back and stop your yammering. Aren’t we all over spoiled rich people regardless of skin color?

But then, if one is just married to the king’s by-blow, sans his title, his funds, and his celebrity status...goodness, they’d be nobodies just like before they came together.

One wonders after all, what a mid-level American actress of no particular consequence expected when she slipped into one of the oldest institutions on the planet?

I for one, along with gobs of others around the world including royalty, am so over the drama, drama, drama complaining to Oprah of all women who has for decades been the recognized queen of America, that nobody liked her. Ahh.

Better still, to dig up sympathy, they are comparing their wedding to the release of Nelson Mandela from prison? Isn’t that the height of arrogance?

And while on the subject of over-the-counter drugs (told you my mind does this, it’s like it goes from room-to-room without warning), it happened because I went searching for my itch free topical medication. As I was digging through the OTC box, I discovered, as a side note, all of my drugstore cough and flu meds had passed their expiration dates last December. Which means, in addition to ordering new meds for the flu season, now I am carrying around a bag of dead meds until I can swing into the Sheriff’s office to drop them into their recycle bin. Yes, I know, there are other places too, but those are rarely emptied.

Okay, I’ve run out of words for now which means “the end.”

Elizabeth can be reached at [email protected].