For You … 1 Dolla

Finally … the long-awaited (okay… postponed) garage sale took place! Procrastinating four months actually worked to our advantage. I capitalized on the opportunity to revisit closets and drawers that might not have donated their goods to the cause. See?… some good can come out of disorganization, flakiness and calendar mismanagement. :)

Keys to a successful sale

No matter how you slice it, garage sales are a lot of work, so take at least a few weeks to accumulate. No one seemed that lots of our items had dust from their 4-month stay in our garage as the sale was postponed week after week.
Advertise. We ran an ad and pt signs on the larger intersection corners at the end of our street.
Price it to go (“one” and “dollar” were the key operative words of the day)
Turn the other cheek when you see someone stuffing the $1 purse with several $1 clothing items and pass it off as 1 item … I mean, really, who cares. Clearly the need is high if swiping from a cheap sale sits well.
Have a couple dozen donuts on hand for the garage sale drag-alongs (husbands, kids, friends …) enduring the treasure hunt search for a great deal. (We gave them away)
Make it easy on yourself and pre-arrange left-over pick-up.

We decided to opt for a Saturday sale, even though Fridays draw a bigger crowd. We had no high dollar items (furniture, electronics, antiques …). Let’s just say, it was a bunch of junk, lots of clothes, a ginormous box of stuffed animals, and knick-knacky things we have moved from house to house for 10 years. Thank goodness “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Within 45 minutes over half of our “inventory” was gone. Our driveway full of stuff turned slim pickin’s before the sale reached it’s scheduled to start (people always show up early). It had a piranha feeding frenzy sort of feel.

Hey … where are the kids who are supposed to be helping?!

Uh-huh.

Wait … where did they go now?
Aren’t we doing this for them?
… so they can learn the value of hard work?

Oh.
4-square in the neighbor’s drive … at least they’re including Jack.

Okay, for the last time, he’s not for sale!
(poor thing… he really is their dog.)

Finally … a little effort on the sale front.

Another garage sale opportunity
… lemonade and cookies for your captive audience.

Ummmm – Cookies!

By this point he had reached double digits.

Lots of friends and lots of stuff … left.

Like these pom poms.

(how could that sea of people

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overlook

all the potential fun?!)

… and the pimp hat.
Okay – so I can understand that one being passed over.

All in all, it was a great day. We made a few bucks. We cleared out a lot of closets. And, even though we could already cull again (don’t you hate when you’ve done all the work and walk in to your closet only to realize more could go), we made a dent and kept an overall happy attitude. Not a small feat with all the kids and “favorite” stuff walking away.
So, at the end of it all, I’m hoping at least a few lessons were learned … and that a few years pass before we decide to garage sell again.