After our shipping container left, it was time to start clearing out our house. Everything left in the house that wouldn't fit into a suitcase, had to go.  

We have a condo community facebook group page. That's where I started listing things for sale. Cheap small things moved really fast on there. I sold the Art Cart including the art supplies for $40. It sold within 10 minutes and there was a queue for it. Shelving or storage of any sort was very popular.

I also posted kids things for sale in our neighbourhood mom's group Facebook group too. I felt bad for taking over the Facebook group. I posted additional items ever few days. There were at least 3 of us expat families, emptying our houses via the condo Facebook group, over the same few weeks.

I wanted to limit our exposure to Covid, so I only had people come to the house to buy items or to pick up large donations. Helpers (the maids) were quick to rush to the house to pick up bags of free clothes, which are easy for them to ship overseas to their families, particularly in the Philippines. It's like a serious race for them. I also moved everything I could to our lobby which is separated from the house by a solid door

I gave our own Helper all our linens and the kitchen stuff like the dishes, pots and pans, baking gear, cutlery, dry foods. She said she will send some to her family and keep some for herself for when she finishes building her house. She also took some of the kids clothes and shoes to ship to her nieces.

Over a number of weeks, I left free items at our bulk garbage area under our condo block. I posted the picture of the free stuff on the condo page and the items were picked over fast.

As I became more desperate, I learned more way to move things along including how to use Carousell. I listed about 12 items on that website and got lots of messages, but only sold the Massage Chair, Multi-Function Printer/Scanner, 50 gallon Fish Tank, King Size Bed Fram, and the Helper (Maid's) Bed on there.

I also tried listing some of our things on Facebook Marketplace.

I also got a contact for donating the last of our furniture through someone on Carousell, but even though I had told them the exact date and how much stuff it looked like we would have, that pick up fell through a few days before, when I reached out to reconfirm the pick up.

I listed our only 2-year old, formerly $2000 Ikea couch for $700, reducing it every few weeks. In the end I found out about some donation pages on Facebook and gave the couch away for free on "Blessing Items for Low Income Families". It was picked up just 2 hours after I posted it and with one night to spare in our deadline.

The new tenant for our condo contacted me directly and bought our King size mattress and shoe bench off us.

Here's a list of what I sold over 5 weeks:

• 32 inch TV $75
• 8-cube shelf (3 of them) and a 4 cube shelf $200
• 6-cube shelf, 2-cube shelf, and 8-cube shelf (2 of them) $140
• Toy bin storage cabinet (1st) $60
• Toy bin storage cabinet (2nd) $50
• 2 nightstands $40
• King size mattress: $100
• Shoe Bench $25
• King size bed frame $50
• Printer/Scanner $100
• 8 matching picture frames (sold as a group) $20
• 6 matching picture frames (sold as a group) $15
• Loft bed with built in desk, shelving and wardrobe $200
• Bunk bed (#1), 2 mattresses, jungle bed canopy and carpet $150
• Bunk bed (#2) and one slightly stained mattress $25
• Desk and chair $20
• DIY Massage Chair (back and foot as separate pieces) $250
• Helper Bed and mattress $50
• Travel Vest (they're used as carseats for age 3 and up) $50
• Swim Tunnel Toys $40
• Art Cart, including supplies $50
• Under bed storage bins (2) with lids $25
• Under bed storage bins (and the other 2) with lids $25
• 50 gallon fish tank and accessories $150
• 2 Ikea bookshelves $30
• 2 outdoor folding chairs and a small tray table $10
• 16 cube bookshelf and optional desk $50

Grand Total: $2000 or basically the "new" price of the couch I gave away. Everything was 6 months to 2 years old and almost all of it in Like-New condition. We did know this was going to happen though, that's why we'd mostly stuck to Ikea furniture purchases - although we really thought we were there for one to two more years until not long ago.

Most people paid by PayNow which is an app, for bank transfers via your phone number. That was super handy. People are so trusting in Singapore; many paid before they even had our address. A few people paid cash - one even had the nerve to ask me for the $5 change when I gave them our bunk bed for $25.

Our table and 6 chairs I gave to one of the movers who loaded our shipping container.

I donated the double stroller through a church group, and paid the $15 delivery free to have it delivered to a mom in need.

The morning of our inspection and key hand off I met with 2 guys to give them out super heavy 16 cube shelving with optional desk. They paid $50, but really they saved me having to pay for disposal. It was only after they left that I considered that maybe I shouldn't have met two men alone in my apartment early in the morning - although we do have condo security that I could have paged if I'd felt uncomfortable. For all the other hand-off there had been all 6 of us at home.

The only thing I absolutely could not get rid of was the Glider Recliner. Everyone who considered it, which were not many, it said it was too big for their home. It was! We should never have brought it to Singapore - just like Jonathan said from the beginning. In the end we paid the Gardener $30 to help Jonathan carry it out to the condo's back Garbage area.

The other glitch I ran into is I kept selling beds too soon. I needed to keep the beds until the morning we went to the hotel. People kept asking for them sooner and couldn't understand our scenario - that we were leaving the country; we weren't replacing these beds with new ones.

I got the most money for MsC's bed so when they insisted on movers picking it up one night too early, I said O.K. and MsC agreed to sleep on the couch for one night. We decided to take it apart a day early, so MsC got to sleep on her mattress on the floor for one night; the next night she was supposed to sleep on the couch.

But then I had a horrible time getting rid of the couch. When someone offered to take the couch with only a few hours notice the night before our move to the hotel, I was so excited to have solved the couch problem, I enthusiastically said yes. Jonathan and I were out buying more suitcases when the couch movers arrived and "stole" MsC's bed for the night. We arrived back a few minutes later to everyone looking distressed and sitting on the floor wondering where MsC was going to sleep.

We ended up taking the last bunk bed apart, putting 2 single mattresses in MsC's room - Jonathan and MsC slept there for the last night. The Littles and Mommy slept in the King size bed together. The next morning was a steady stream of families and movers picking up beds, and the last few pieces of furniture.

I refused to give up the chairs and table I used for my morning coffee on the patio until our last morning. Someone came running over when I listed the set for $10.

Actually there was a lot of confusion with so many people coming to pick up things on the same day. Mostly it was movers who didn't really know what they were there to pick up - they would say they were there for a bed and we would be like, "Which one??" In the middle of the furniture confusion, the cleaners showed up to pick up our curtains for cleaning and due to the language barrier, I took me a while to figure out what they were there to do with a ladder. It was also interesting trying to keep track of whether people had paid in advance or not. I had a list on the door, that I kept referring to (item, name, cost, paid/not, pick up time).

By the time pick-ups were over that morning, we only had the glider recliner and the black 16 cube shelving with attached desk left to get rid of.

But I still had to finish packing suitcases.