If You Want Our Treasures, Check The Saving Way

Well, this past Saturday was our  big blowout garage sale. My dad and I have worked for the past four-five Saturdays to get ready for it and he worked throughout the week as well. I placed an ad on Craig's list that ran for two weeks prior to the sale and my cousin Jessica listed it on facebook as well. I was so excited about this big blowout sell. I felt confident that we would have a big crowd because we had done such a good job advertising and preparing. My dad and I put up big bright neon signs the night before and I felt confident we were going to have a huge crowd. 

I could not have been more wrong, y'all, and it was so disappointing. I woke at 5:00 a.m. and gathered up the last minute things I needed to take with me, brushed my teeth and hit the road. When I got there, my friend and co-worker Maria was already there. You may recall that she had some treasures in the sale at my house back in the summer and she brought what didn't sale as well as many other items this time around. It was sprinkling a little and so we decided to pull the boat out of the garage, which wasn't in the original plan. We moved things out of the way, pulled the boat out and discovered a treadmill and a filing cabinet that could be added to the sale and it's a good thing because the treadmill actually sold late in the day. 

We spent the next hour and a half or more setting up for the big sale. Usually when you're having a garage sale, people start showing up as you're dragging things out of your house or garage, but not this day. I don't think we had any customers until about 7:30 a.m. and it was three ladies that attend church where my dad preaches. They bought some baby clothes that my cousin brought over to sell and some other odds and ends and one of them bought the dining room set that was my granddad's. They got the table, six chairs and hutch for $300 which is quote a bargain! I'm glad they got it because I know they will use it well and take good care of it. Slowly but surely we got a few more customers throughout the day and made a sale here and there. Since it was so slow, my dad and I did some yard work during the slow periods. He is basically chopping down every shrub in his flower beds for the winter and if they come back ,great and if not, he's replacing them. So, we chopped and hauled to the road when the garage sale business was slow. 

Towards the end of the day we had a surge of about five customers at once and after they all went their ways, we started packing everything back up to put back in the garage for The Saving Way Thrift Store to pick up. Unfortunately, they don't pick up on Saturdays, but hopefully it will be some time this week because I know my dad is very, very anxious to have his garage back in order. It took us a couple of hours to get everything boxed up and put away and we finished around 1:30 p.m. When all was said and done, we made around $300 in total, not including the dining room set. We, of course, sold a lot of weird things that we didn't think would sell, and didn't sell things that we thought would sell. It was quite an interesting experience and a very draining day. 

When I went home, I noticed what seemed like hundreds, but was probably more like 20, signs for yard sales. So, undoubtedly it was a big day for sales in the heart of the city which probably contributed to the lack of people who wanted to drive "over the mountain" to where my parents' live. So, needless to say after the hours and hours and hours and sis I mention hours that my dad and I put into the sale, it was a bust. I didn't even make the $50 I set out to make. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes I guess. I'm thankful that we are done with garage sales for 2015! 

The Third Yard Sale

Well folks, I participated in yet another yard sale this past weekend; only this time it was at my own house. I think I mentioned that after the yard sale at my grandmother's house at the beginning of the month, we brought most all of my things and some of my grandmother's things back to my house to see if we could sell them in my neck of the woods. We planned for June 27 and I was more than anxious to clean all those boxes out of my guest bedroom. 

Friday after work I went over to my parents' house to pick up some tables to use and while I was there, my dad and I ended up cleaning out the closet in his office. It was completely a last minute decision but it worked out to be a good decision as the items from the closet brought $48.50 on Saturday morning. One of the items from the closet was a Keebler picnic basket which had not been unpacked since we moved to Birmingham in 1994. I opened it up and inside was a bag of Keebler snacks that expired in 1986. I cannot make this stuff up, y'all!

My co-worker and friend Maria also decided to participate. Both of her parents recently passed away and she has been cleaning out their house and had quite a few items she wanted to try to sell. She came over on Friday night and we unloaded her car and for the next four hours we worked on pricing her items and getting things organized for Saturday morning. 

I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. which is what time I normally get up each day so it wasn't that big of a deal. For whatever reason (nerves, excitement, etc.) I ended up waking up at 4:30 a.m. and just decided to go ahead and get up and start getting things ready. I loaded up Pippa and my signs and we set out to tape up the signs on this intersection and that. I also made a stop by Dunkin' Doughnuts to get some breakfast for the gang. 

Pip and I soon made it back to the house and I began to set up tables and drag things out from the bedroom. Rain was forecast for Saturday morning and I had been praying all week that the rain would hold off for our yard sale. It rained all throughout Friday night, but for the most part the rain stayed away on Saturday morning. It drizzled on occasion and drops of water sometimes fell from the trees, but all in all it was mostly dry. Prayer works, people! 

We had quite a few people stop by - probably three or four times as many as showed up at the sale at my grandmother's house. A little before noon it looked like the rain was coming in again and so we started packing things away. I kept a lot of the nicer items that I thought might sell as we have at least one more sale to go this year. We are planning on a sale at my parents' house this fall and then I'm done for a while, y'all! My cousin Jessica and I packed up the things we were tired of dealing with and took them down to The Saving Way Thrift Store. 

When it was all said and done, I made $107, my grandmother made $39, Maria made $59, and as mentioned the haul from the closet in my dad's office brought in $48.50. Not bad for a few hours worth of hosting a yard sale. It was a fun, exhausting and adventurous morning and I'm glad to be done with yard sales for a little while. 

Garage Sale Number One

We had our first garage sale of the year this past weekend at my grandmother's house. My cousin Jessica posted an ad on Craig's List and facebook and also made some signs so that we could get the word out. She did a great job of advertising, but the turnout wasn't as great as we expected.

I got there a little after 6:00 a.m. and Jessica wasn't up yet. So, I called the house phone and she came out and we soon started pulling things out of the garage. It wasn't long before we had our first customers. We had a few people trickle in throughout the morning and sold a hand full of things. We had more moments of no customers at all than we did customers. We had a few people that we knew stop by, but mostly strangers.

My grandmother had a riding mower to sell and Jessica had listed it on the ads as well. One man seemed very interested in it and pulled it out of the garage and probably spent an hour or so looking over it and tinkering with it. He had a pick up truck but no way of getting the mower into the bed and so he finally told us he wanted to buy the mower and that he was going to run to Lowe's and pick up some planks so he could load the mower onto the truck. After a couple of hours, I told Jessica I didn't think he was coming back. His wife was with him and I'm pretty sure she talked him out of buying it. So, we took the sold sign off it, but unfortunately didn't have any more offers. I think she sold it this week though, thank goodness.

Around lunch time we sent Nathan (Jessica's husband) off to Chick-fil-A to get us some lunch and after we ate we decided to start packing up for the day. We still had so many items we had not sold and earlier in the day made the decision that we would have another sale at my house at the end of the month. My house gets more traffic and we hated to just give everything away when we might could make a few dollars. So, Nathan and I started loading up our vehicles and two or three trips later, most everything was in my guest bedroom ready for a sale in Five Points at the end of the month.

At the end of the day I made about $60 and my grandmother made about $130. So, we are hoping for some better results at the end of the month. I'll be sure and let you know how it goes.

More Garage Sale Prep

Apparently garage sales and cleaning out houses is the way of life for my family these days and this past weekend was no exception. Saturday some friends from my Bible school class and I met my mother and dad over at my granddad's house to do some packing for an upcoming move. It was not nearly as organized as I hoped it would be and we got off to a late start but other than that I suppose it went as well as could be expected. 

I arrived at 8:00 a.m. and sat in the driveway for about 30 minutes until my granddad decided to get up and open the garage door. My granddad is an avid gun-lover and I didn't want to risk getting shot that morning so I stayed put until I saw some movement from within. I taped up some boxes in anticipation of everyone getting there at the projected start time of 9:00 a.m. A couple of friends showed up about 9:30 and another about 9:45 and finally our boss for the day, my mother, arrived a little after 10:00 a.m. We got to work packing when mother started telling us what needed to be packed, only it didn't really go like I thought because my dad said pack up everything and it was rather obvious that the majority of the stuff we packed up needs to be put in the upcoming garage sale.

We worked for a couple of hours and then the girls left and Erika came by. We decided we would price some things for the garage sale when Erika got there only we were tired of being there and didn't get much pricing done. We basically made the executive decision that when we have the sale, we will have someone stationed in each room so that nothing gets stolen and we will just tell people what the price of things are. I've decided I'll have a little notebook for everyone and they can give the person a receipt for each room and then they can cash out before leaving. At least this is how I've got it worked out in my head. I'm quite sure I'll have to go by and do some organizing before the sale which is currently slated for June 13.

When I got home from my granddad's I took a nap and then was apparently moved by the moment of the day and began cleaning out even more things from my own house to put in my grandmother's garage sale which is this coming Saturday, June 6. My house looked like total chaos before the night was over and I basically left it like that when going to bed and dealt with the aftermath on Sunday. Y'all, I seriously cannot believe how much stuff I have purged to put in this upcoming garage sale. You would think with all the stuff I've priced that I would have nothing left, but of course, I have plenty because that's the way we do it here in America. My original goal was to make $100 at this sale, I'm upping that to $200 now based on all the stuff I've got a price on. It's crazy how much stuff I'm getting rid of and could probably get rid of more if only I would. The sad thing is there's not that much extra room in the closets even with this stuff gone - the joys of an old house. 

So, my extra bedroom is full of stuff to take over to my grandmother's which I hope to do Friday after work and then the big sale will be this Saturday. It looks like the next project will be purging at my parent's house for a garage sale for them. Mother asked Erika and I if we could purge her house. I'm quite sure we can. I figure we (or just me) can take the whole summer and do a little bit at a time and price as we go and then have a sale in the fall. In other words, by the time 2015 is over, I'm taking a year or so off from organizing yard sales.