Hours under the sun: 6
Official total sale for the day: $128
Ethan's expression when he saw strangers walking away with his things: Priceless
I personally like to go "yardsaling". You can't beat paying .50 cents a pop for baby clothes that have barely been worn, if at all. My best deal to-date is an authentic Coach purse and wristlet that I was able to talk the seller to dropping from $200 to mere pocket change. Who expects anyone to yardsale around with $200 anyway?
But I digress... I didn't realize how much work it would be to be on the receiving end. Let's just say I started "spring cleaning" before winter even ended [I finally got tired of the skinny clothes taunting me from the closet], so we ended up with boxes of junk in our hallway for months. Part of the problem was finding an open weekend for both Mike and I so we could finally try to sell our clutter. One person's trash is someone else's treasure, right? I thought I could make a killing on my dust-accumulatingting size 5 jean collection. So at the last minute, we decided we would have it on Saturday -- ironically what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the week. And by last minute, I mean we (majority me naturally) were up til past midnight on Friday trying to price things and then back up at the crack of dawn the next morning trying to organize them in boxes.
I have to admit, I felt emancipated finally letting go A LOT of my old clothes, but I felt almost disappointed that they went through the whole day ignored at the yard sale. As expected, Ethan's baby stuff were the biggest sellers -- toys, clothes, baby monitors, blankets, diaper bags, crib sheets...... My haggling skills definitely got a great workout during my interactions with some particularly bargain-minded moms and grandmothers. Once, a dad stopped by to look at some baby clothes, only to be interupted by a 3 year old in the backseat yelling "Daddy!!!!! I want out! I want out!". Poor guy was so flustered, I think he would have paid boocoo $ just to get out of there, but I wasn't one to take advantage. I was happy though to see some very pregnant girl leave with my jester hat that I got from Carnivale in Venice for $2. Mike's cowboy hat, he let go for a buck. Purses I had ridiculously been harboring since [probably] high school, $1 a pop.
Ethan, the Entertainer, waved, blew kisses and even helped seal a deal a couple of times. I just drop a phrase like "He LOVES that toy... we just have too much stuff in the house", and the transfer of dollars often followed. Mike? Let's just say he was delegated mostly the carrying duties. And what didn't sell by the time I threw in the white flag, went into huge trash bags that we IMMEDIATELY drove to Goodwill. I was adamant about not bringing anything back in the house (at least before judiciously making an exception for some baby clothes that I think could rack up money on ebay --- if I ever find the time).
Would we ever have another one? Probably not in this lifetime. But should the time come and I am pursuaded to have another yard sale, here are my lessons learned.
1. Put sunscreen on.
2. Quit being a pack-rat, or at least condense the tendencies.
3. Wait til we have an actual GARAGE. Hauling things back and forth to the parking lot was a pain in the ass.
Official total sale for the day: $128
Ethan's expression when he saw strangers walking away with his things: Priceless
I personally like to go "yardsaling". You can't beat paying .50 cents a pop for baby clothes that have barely been worn, if at all. My best deal to-date is an authentic Coach purse and wristlet that I was able to talk the seller to dropping from $200 to mere pocket change. Who expects anyone to yardsale around with $200 anyway?
But I digress... I didn't realize how much work it would be to be on the receiving end. Let's just say I started "spring cleaning" before winter even ended [I finally got tired of the skinny clothes taunting me from the closet], so we ended up with boxes of junk in our hallway for months. Part of the problem was finding an open weekend for both Mike and I so we could finally try to sell our clutter. One person's trash is someone else's treasure, right? I thought I could make a killing on my dust-accumulatingting size 5 jean collection. So at the last minute, we decided we would have it on Saturday -- ironically what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the week. And by last minute, I mean we (majority me naturally) were up til past midnight on Friday trying to price things and then back up at the crack of dawn the next morning trying to organize them in boxes.
I have to admit, I felt emancipated finally letting go A LOT of my old clothes, but I felt almost disappointed that they went through the whole day ignored at the yard sale. As expected, Ethan's baby stuff were the biggest sellers -- toys, clothes, baby monitors, blankets, diaper bags, crib sheets...... My haggling skills definitely got a great workout during my interactions with some particularly bargain-minded moms and grandmothers. Once, a dad stopped by to look at some baby clothes, only to be interupted by a 3 year old in the backseat yelling "Daddy!!!!! I want out! I want out!". Poor guy was so flustered, I think he would have paid boocoo $ just to get out of there, but I wasn't one to take advantage. I was happy though to see some very pregnant girl leave with my jester hat that I got from Carnivale in Venice for $2. Mike's cowboy hat, he let go for a buck. Purses I had ridiculously been harboring since [probably] high school, $1 a pop.
Ethan, the Entertainer, waved, blew kisses and even helped seal a deal a couple of times. I just drop a phrase like "He LOVES that toy... we just have too much stuff in the house", and the transfer of dollars often followed. Mike? Let's just say he was delegated mostly the carrying duties. And what didn't sell by the time I threw in the white flag, went into huge trash bags that we IMMEDIATELY drove to Goodwill. I was adamant about not bringing anything back in the house (at least before judiciously making an exception for some baby clothes that I think could rack up money on ebay --- if I ever find the time).
Would we ever have another one? Probably not in this lifetime. But should the time come and I am pursuaded to have another yard sale, here are my lessons learned.
1. Put sunscreen on.
2. Quit being a pack-rat, or at least condense the tendencies.
3. Wait til we have an actual GARAGE. Hauling things back and forth to the parking lot was a pain in the ass.
2 comments:
I need a garage sale too! I can't believe all the stuff that accumulates with children.
I LOOOOVED yard sale day in our hood....but you are right...dragging the stuff out is a PAIN!
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