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by Hope

I mentioned a week or so ago, that one of the ways I was trying to come up with some cash to catch up on bills was selling my diamond jewelry from my ex-husband. I got a lot of flack for my ignorance about it’s value. In all, honesty, I had no clue what to expect. I didn’t think it would go up in value, but I didn’t think it would be essentially worthless.

The local pawn shop offered for $120 and the local jewelry store only buys jewelry based on it’s gold weight. (I don’t know if it all being white gold mattered.)

Well, rather than just give up as I have in the past, I determined that it was time to let it go and sell it.

Enter Facebook Marketplace.

Just List It

I figured with the holiday season upon us, I might could sell it. So I listed all but one of the sets on Facebook Marketplace along with some, admittedly pretty bad pictures. Evidently, my prices were too high. All I got were the spam responses offering me above asking, etc. We all hear the horror stories.

I simply responded Cash Only and never heard from them again.

Several days later, I lowered the prices significantly. I was just ready for it to all be gone.

Lower Prices

As soon as I lowered the prices, the offers on the engagement ring began rolling in. And if I hadn’t accepted an offer pretty quickly for $350, I would have gotten more. But I honored the first deal and the woman showed up as we agreed and brought cash. Utility disconnect averted!

The other items are still listed for what I consider reasonable prices. They are all white gold with real diamonds. (The jeweler and pawn shop did confirm this. And I have the receipts from when it was purchased.)

I’m just going to let them right for the next couple of weeks and see if I get any bites.

Personal Note

I held onto this jewelry with the thought that Gymnast or Princess would inherit it someday. But after asking them, they were both adamantly opposed to wanting anything from their dad. There is one set I’m keeping for a particular reason for them, but these pieces are all just reminders of his violence toward me.

I thought I would feel relief, maybe even joy once the engagement ring sold. But I pulled back up to the house and just sobbed. Overwhelmed, by deep sadness which shook me. I called my best friend because the emotion confused me. And what she said made sense…I wasn’t grieving him or the end of the marriage (over 16 years ago,) but rather the loss of that dream of happily ever after the ring had represented.

Hope

Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.

But life has a way of rewriting your plans.

A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.

Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.

Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.

She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.