Take My Stuff, Please

I typically do not go to yard sales (not for any real reason). I also had never had a yard sale, until this past weekend. During this process, I learned a few very important things, which I will be glad to share with you now.

1. It is important to have a friend help, particularly if they have done this before. Yes, you may think your never-used silver plated fruit basket is worth $20, but your been-there-done-that friend will be on hand to tell you that you need to price it at $5, and then be glad if you sell it for $3.  There is a flip side to this, however. If you price some things a bit higher, there is a perception that they are more valuable and thus you may make more for those items.

2. Whatever time you planned to start does not matter. I thought we might start at 8 AM, so I got up at 5:30 to get dressed and start dragging things outside to set up. Only it was raining. By 6:30, I realized it would not rain, so I could go ahead and start setting up. By 6:45 there were people in my driveway and I had made my first sale. (See point #1 – it is important to have a friend here so that while you are taking money, your friend can still be setting up more stuff to sell.)

3. People will buy anything. Here are few gems that came out of my mouth on Saturday morning: No, I have no idea if that dustbuster works, sorry. Um, yes, that sweater is $2, and I realize there is a stain on it. If it was not stained, we would not be selling it for $2. I don’t care if you think I am ripping you off because (a) you are a pain in my butt and (b) you are trying to rip me off. Buh-bye. If something is on the 2-for $1 table and you only want one, you need to give me the 50 cents, as I do not have change. (In fact, I said those words so many times that I now have enough quarters for a college student to do their laundry for a whole year. Or maybe all four years.) Yes, someone did buy my mother’s countertop towel rack, complete with hand towels, that is at least thirty years old. Someone also bought several kitchen items that my mother “bought” with green stamps at the grocery store. Since green stamps were phased out in 1986, we can only imagine how old some of this stuff was.

4. Wear sunscreen. Yes, it was a little chilly, and I was wearing a sweatshirt, but I have short hair and now, a red neck.

Sorry there are no photos of the madness. I figured I’d get at least a few minutes between the time we set up and the time we started selling to get a few shots, but alas, not so much.