I Did It!

I had my yard sale!!  Third time was a charm.  I planned it for one Saturday and just wasn't ready, planned for the next one and wound up in the ER (with a kidney infection) on Friday night with bed rest prescribed for the remainder of that weekend.  Needless to say, when last Saturday arrived I was SO ready!  I woke up the hubs at 6:30.  He kept mumbling something that sounded an awful lot like "crazy lady".  Hehe, I've been called worse.  I also dragged the kids out of bed too.

Since this was my first experience with hosting a yard sale, I had tried to do plenty of reading on what to expect.  No amount of reading really actually gets you ready though, does it?  The hubby and I carried out the futon we were selling and immediately people started pulling over.  It was the only thing we had out!  I couldn't believe how fast it happens.  We had most of the items we wanted to sell stored away in the garage so we didn't have to keep running in and out of the house.  That was really good.  I seriously could not have guessed that people would be so receptive.  

Anyhow, we managed to pull things out of the garage and for the first 30 minutes or so, it seemed like every time we pulled something out, it sold within minutes.  Once that first half hour was over, it was a nice steady stream of people milling around, haggling and making small purchases.  My darling hubby thinks I was far too quick to agree to reducing prices.  I figured, we want to get ride of it and I tried to price everything with the knowledge that people would ask for a lower price, so I didn't mind.  

We got rid of nearly everything we had hoped to.  The only thing that remained (that would have been nice to see go) were 4 kitchen table chairs.  They were all the same style but 3 were one color and the 4th was different.  This put so many people off.  I was shocked.  Not a single person asked for a reduction in price nor did they attempt to break the set.   That's the way it goes, hardly a big deal since we cleared out so much space!

Some things that I learned...You'll never be able to get everything out before people start walking into your garage and looking around.  Hehe.  Being prepared with plenty of change is essential!  I went to the bank on Friday and had nothing but 1's and 5's.  It was the smartest thing I did with regard to this whole experience.  I couldn't believe how many folks showed up and wanted to buy something for a buck and had only 20's.  Being friendly is a huge benefit!  A smile and a hello makes a world of difference in the way people view you and respond to you.  (That is kind of true in all aspects of life though, isn't it!?)  Just when you think no one else is coming, another wave of people comes along.  This happened more than a few times.  I would just be saying.."I guess we should close up shop" and boom!  3 or 4 groups would show up.  Keep things off the ground if you can!  I notice quite often around here that a lot of our neighbors who have hosted yard sales drop everything into piles on blankets on the ground.  I was able to put most of my things laid out on tables and it seemed to keep people browsing longer, as things were bought (some of the tables for instance) and things were moved lower, peoples interest in those items waned.  

I'm sure there's more to tell but I'll spare you the details.  Hehe.  I had a great time, cleared out a lot of the items I needed to and put a few bucks in my pocket.  All in all, that's a success in my book.  

It looks like I'm going to move shortly before Thanksgiving...who knows, maybe if I find enough stuff that I don't want as I'm packing I'll give this another try?!