Bust out the fanny pack, let’s go to a yard sale!

I had my first ever yard sale last Saturday.

I spent the weekend before going through every room in the house, every closet, and every desk. I even made Lincoln organize his room and closet and we probably had 4 trash bags full of junk he was hanging onto, partly because he just never took the time to sort through it all.

I piled it all in our front room and Lincoln insisted it just wasn’t enough for a yard sale. He wasn’t too optimistic about the whole thing and thought it might just be a big waste of time.

My mom came down with a few bags of clothes and some furniture. My Nana contributed a few things. My older sister even dropped off some clothes and shoes (which some were hand-me-downs from me).

I put an ad on Craigslist Thursday and spent Friday pricing everything. I put everything a little higher than I actually thought I would get for it. I made some signs using some old Guitar Hero/Rockband boxes. I sacrificed a small animal to the Yard Sale/Weather gods in hopes of a clear and busy day (kidding, but I really did have my fingers crossed that it would stop raining and that I could prove Lincoln wrong).

We were up until after 1am getting everything ready. Then we got up at 5:30 to get started. Lincoln took my little sister around the neighborhood to put up my signs. My ma & pa helped me get everything set up outside. I threw together a quick batch of blueberry muffins and my older sis dropped by donuts for sustenance (she actually got to do a preview sale Friday night and I made a little bit of $ off of her).

Due to the recent rain storms, the sun didn’t come up as early as we had thought, but that didn’t stop people from showing up. They arrived right at 7am and didn’t stop coming till 11:30, which was when I called it a day and had everyone help me move stuff inside the garage and sent Lincoln to collect the signs. I think a few more people drove by but I was exhausted.

It amazes me what people are willing to buy and what they will haggle for and what they will accept as firm prices. We learned that the hanging clothes didn’t get purchased like the ones in the bins. Nobody even looked at the glassware. Hairclips and shoes went pretty quick. All but 10 of my CD’s sold.

People would show up in packs. We would have a 5 minute lull then several cars would come at once. Several people arrived in trucks fully loaded with furniture like professional yard sales. Some people didn’t even turn off their cars or would just do a quick drive by. I can’t recall the last time I saw so many fanny packs (which I think are called something else now to make them seem cooler).

After the final count (done several times by several people because running on 4 hours of sleeps seriously affects your mathematical skills), I made $290.10. We priced everything in $0.25 increments but let a few little kids buy things with pennies.

I have a few things left that I am going to put on Craigslist (newer CD’s and some dresses and maybe a purse or 2) but the rest we gathered up and donated to Goodwill.

I spent the rest of Saturday gloating to Lincoln that my yard sale was a success.

Hey Lincoln? Yeah? I made $300 today.
Lincoln, guess what? What? I made $300 today.

Then I treated him to pizza and wings at Uncle Bear’s.