Yard Sale a Rousing Success

Well, its over...the hugest purge I have ever done. And I am $250 richer for it, YAHOO! Things went quite well, and what was left was either moved to the spring garbage pile at the corner of my yard for pick-up, or taken to the local women's shelter (clothes and household items), and I dropped off a huge pile of books for the second hand bookstore for either credit/money. I only brought just a few things back into my house that I either was unable to sell, and a few pieces of Tupperware I couldn't "give" away. One lady asked me how come my prices were so expensive for the Tupperware. Now this Tupperware is not your mother's old white and avacado or orange tupperware that smells like rotting plastic, this was relatively new stuff in mint condition, and I had a price of $5 on a container that is priced at $20 in the catalogue. So I politely told her that and that Tupperware has a lifetime guarantee regardless of owner. Still didn't budge, so I told her if she wanted to pay a dollar for a container, she should go to the dollar store and buy brand new Sterilite instead, because I wasn't giving away my Tupperware for a dollar. She ended up buying one instead of two, so it wasn't a total loss. Now, of course I didn't have that attitude about pretty near anything else, but since I was a Tupperware "consultant" for a number of years, I am quite partial to it, ha ha.

We had others selling with us - a friend of Amber's was there and had a whole table of stuff of her own, as well as two friends of mine brought some of their stuff to fill a table and a half. It was busy, that's for sure! People were coming by (as usual) as we were setting up, rooting around and asking questions. We also had a lot of "drive bys", you know the kind and you likely do it yourself - you're driving by, slow down as you pass the house and decide whether or not there is anything there worth stopping for, and whether or not you really want to get out of the car, because its kind of cold, and then step on the gas and head out.

We had a ton of kids come over, and they are Amber's usual customers as she clears her room of childhood things to make way for grownup stuff. There were two kids who came back about four times, and left with a shopping bag full each time. Their mother's will surely kill them, or come looking for us! Amber sold her bike, which was the main thing as it has just been collecting dust for years.

We served coffee, juice and cookies, which were a big hit, especially with it being so frigid out early in the morning. I was FROZEN. which in itself is unusual as I rarely find it cold. And in spite of the cold, most of us sellers got sunburns, on our faces of course as no other skin was exposed.

I managed to buy a few things myself from other sellers...books, a scrabble game (yeee haw!) and a picture frame. Following the sale, I also went out and bought a few new things that were definitely a splurge, but that has always been my one rule - when I have a yard sale, I must buy something nice for myself. I don't have to spend it all, but there must be at least one nice thing coming back into the house. So I bought four. I bought a mattress foam - you know the kind that they talk about mattresses being made of on TV like NASA stuff, where you put your hand in and it keeps the shape of your hand. This is a two inch thick piece for the top of my mattress. And boy did I sleep well last night...granted, it was likely exhaustion induced from a BUSY week, but I don't have sore joints today like I often do. I also bought a new pillow (who doesn't like a new pillow once in a while), a wooden and cloth magazine rack and my favorite purchase - a new polished steel lamp. I had sold my set of dusty rose (ick) lamps and needed at least one new one to replace it. I bought a white linen shade to go with it and it looks very smart in the living room. I didn't spend all my money, but feel happy enough about the money and the purge. I got rid of SO MUCH STUFF.

Now comes the time to clean up...cleaned up most of the upstairs last night, but the basement is a bit scattered since I had been going through boxes to find things to sell or put in the garbage. Now I have to pack up the boxes again and settle things away.

Phew!