On Friday night, I decided I needed a project to sink my teeth into over the weekend. Seeing as my house needed a good clean-up and it is yard sale season, I proceeded to get up with the birds on Saturday morning and go through every bit of clothing that may or may not fit anyone in our house, every piece of electronic crap that no longer had a home in any room in our house, and everything that I could live without - just the idea of downsizing made me feel good.
So I worked most of the day until I could no longer resist the 80 degree sunshiney weather and I hit the outdoors. But Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early and proceeded to set-up for what was dubbed the "Storyland Fund Yard Sale." This monicker made two small - otherwise non-morning - people get up and at 'em with the same kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for "Giiirrrllsss, iiiiccceee ccrrreeaamm!!!!"
We hit the pavement and were ready to go by 8am.
Our first customer arrived and after fingering everything we had, bought all our handbags. She bargained me down to about 75% of what I originally asked (one was Coach, y'all!) but I didn't care. I felt lighter already.
People came in and out throughout the day. I saw cars full of people who were looking for real bargains to send home to wherever they were from. I was a sport, considering I was going to donate all leftovers at the end of the day anyhow.
It's interesting to watch people sift through stuff, MY STUFF, most of which I purchased intentionally at some point. Going through my girls' old stuff brought up some sentiments too, all of which were lost on the lady trying to bargain me down from $2 a piece to .50. Dear lord, what am I engaging in, here?
(For the record, I gave in.)
I had a woman purchase my copy of Lucinda Bassett's From Panic to Power, a book that doubled as my bible doing a different, more turbulent time in my life. As she handed me the buck (I know but it's a yard sale!), I remembered I had a whole Lucinda Bassett "system" comprised of a dozen cassettes (cassettes!!!) that helped shed perspective and give me insight at that time. I ran to my basement to unearth them and I gave them to her.
"You're an angel," she told me. I rolled my eyes - an angel I am not - and she left. And I felt pretty good.
But the best part of the day other than meeting some neighbors I never knew I had and putting enough money in my pocket to almost pay for the hotel part of our Storyland trip came late in the day. It went something like this:
Him (picking up a light thing that seemed to materialize on my lawn magically): "What is this?"
Me: "Actually? I'm not really sure. Looks like some sort of light thing that maybe you hang if you're doing a project? But I don't know."
Him: "I'll take it."
And just like that, I was $3 richer.
Stay tuned for my post on our tales from Storyland!
This is why I've been hesitant to have a yard sale. I couldn't deal with people pawing my stuff :)
Posted by: Jodi | July 23, 2012 at 06:59 PM
Your kids are lucky to have experienced a yard sale at an early age. This will teach them how to be young entrepreneurs at an early age and could be successful businessmen in the future.
Posted by: job finder | August 30, 2012 at 08:34 PM
I totally agree with you. When we eventually become a part of a very wide and very extensive medium of communication, credibility becomes one of the most important thing aside from the revenue. That's why we really have to be careful on what we decide to write and how we write it.
Posted by: Buy Nike Shoes | August 31, 2012 at 04:10 AM
I like going to yard sales! But I haven't tried doing a yard sale yet though I always wanted to. The feeling you had when you really had to do some tidying up, gets to me sometimes when I almost stumble on some toys. LOL. So how rich are you now? How much of your stuff were sold?
Posted by: Pinay WAHM Blogger | September 03, 2012 at 07:58 AM
Baie geluk vir die opstel van so 'n nuttige blog. Jou blog is ook nie slegs informatief, maar ook baie artistieke. Daar is gewoonlik uiters 'n paar individue wat nie kan skryf nie so maklik om artikels wat kreatief. Bly op die goeie skryfwerk! Hey daar! Ek is by die werk navigeer rondom jou blog van my nuwe iPhone! Wou net om te sê ek is lief vir lees deur middel van jou blog en sien uit na al jou poste! Hou aan met die uitstekende werk!
Posted by: doudoune canada goose | October 11, 2012 at 06:06 AM
Beck gives readers permission to do any mindless, repetitive activity.
Posted by: crematory in ga | November 06, 2012 at 10:13 PM