Man, yard sales are a LOT of work. Too much work really, but every once in a while you get a perfect combination of GORGEOUS weather, LOTS of shoppers, and a will to purge, even the fun stuff. It could not have gone better. After weeks of culling, pricing, and folding items for sale, the weekend finally came. We stacked all the goods on the porch from floor to ceiling and quickly ran out of room, spilling into the living room, and the dining room, and even the kitchen. This is but a fraction of what we dragged out on the lawn:
The first day of the sale we were too busy to stop and think about photos, so here are a few from the second day of the sale - we still had a lot of stuff, but it was less than HALF of the starting pile, maybe even just a third, so a lot easier to display - but somehow I missed getting a shot of my cute tents!:
Originally I had planned on doing Friday, Saturday, and a half day/half price Sunday, but the first two days really went so well that I decided I was able to call it quits early and avoid one more pack up/set up scenario, which is really the worst part of doing a yard sale. (That also meant I could have Sunday to recover!) There was still some stuff left over, but we had sold hundreds of tiny bits and baubles, most under $1, so the sheer volume was kind of impressive. A lot of people asked if I was moving - nope! This was all really just "extra," and it was the "extra" I thought I would still use above what I got rid of at the last sale, right after I found out I was pregnant. Post-kid, I realized there was a LOT more I wasn't going to be getting back to for quite some time :) Not to mention all the kid-stuff which was newly acquired!
So Saturday afternoon we happily packed up the remaining goods, taking back only a couple of tubs full - I usually consign The Cupcake's clothes with JBF, so I kept the nice stuff for that, sent a bunch to family members, and the rest went back out on the curb for the DAV to pick up:
ALL THAT STUFF IS GONE FROM MY HOUSE! I can actually walk up the stairs to the attic, not to mention move around up there. I still have a TON of cleaning and organizing to do to make the craftroom usable/not embarrassing, and 3 years+ of paperwork I haven't sorted through, but HUGE progress has been made. After three months of being "home" full time, I finally feel like I have accomplished something.
Also, yes, we had our share of weirdos. Parents letting their kids wreck stuff (WTH?!?!), a few sketchy tag disappearances/swaps, people quibbling about prices (usually $0.25 - not worth the headache!). On the prices, I almost never back down. I figure I spent hours upon hours pricing things, I set everything very low by my standards, and 99% of the time the person still buys the item! So I don't even let it bother me anymore, I just say no, and roll on. :)
I definitely feel great that none of this stuff ended up in a land fill, and so much of it found its way to new homes where it will be wanted and appreciated. Above that, I feel pretty proud that I was able to stretch our tight budget by making some of these unused assets liquid again - and to finally feel like I've "done something" this summer didn't hurt either :)
