Separate the Trash from the Cash

I had an absolutely wonderful weekend.

Memorial Day is one of my favorite national holidays. It’s become the unofficial start of summer. Boy do I love summer. This year the hot weather followed a ton of rainfall on the East Coast. As a result we’ve been really blessed with green grass, blue skies and enough heat to make the cold pool water feel refreshing. This weekend ranks at the top of the most enjoyable Memorial Days in recent memory.

While this weekend was a lot of fun, my schedule was packed. In addition to the normal holiday festivities, I’m in the process of moving. I spent a lot of time packing boxes and organizing my worldly possessions. I’m amazed how much stuff my family has amassed in just a few short years. But what I found eye opening are the dozens of storage containers hidden in the darkest corners of my basement. They’re items I packed away during my last move, and they’ve not been touched since.

Those old forgotten boxes brought back a tide of memories. Wading through them was a lot of fun. I found everything from my high school yearbook to some old Carlton Sheets VHS tapes. Some of the items were really forgotten treasures. But most of it was just junk.

Shuffling through those old boxes really got me thinking. I’d held onto all of these keepsakes for years. They’ve sat unnoticed and undisturbed, the few jewels unappreciated amidst the mass of distraction. In what other areas of my life have I been holding onto junk from my past? What treasures have been lost in the mix?

My home buying company gets a lot of motivated seller leads. In the past the process to screen and follow-up with those leads was pretty much pen and paper. About 18 months ago the system was integrated into a software program which has done a lot to streamline things. The system is something I fought against implementing for over a year.

The initial cost was high. The setup and training was time consuming. And the integration was just another item on my task list that I did not want to do.

Finally I made the decision to move. During the implementation I went through the piles of old leads. I found hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed opportunity. The loss was 100% my fault. I’d been holding onto my old system because it was comfortable and seemed reliable. In reality it just held me back and cost me money.

It’s easy enough to hold onto baggage from our past, so long as we stay put. But when it’s time to move, it’s time to separate the junk from the jewels.

I reduced my keepsakes to just two boxes. The rest will go to the recycling center later this week. During the sorting process I got a phone call on a purchase offer I made last week. I’ll be closing next Friday on a great cash-flow property.

Yes sir, it was an excellent weekend. And I feel a lot better moving forward without all that old junk.