Yard Sale Advice

We had a yard sale today. Not just me & Dan but . . . Deanne/Shane, Ena Carol/Fred, Vicki/Mike, Mike/Cindy (from Montana), Terri/Brian, Angela/Travis and Tanya/Jonathan. And our friends Dani, Travis & niece Olivia were our fantastic helpers. It was HUGE!! And so much fun. AND so much work!!!

I don't want to brag, but Dan & I made the most.

Okay, I did want to brag because we added up our money after everyone else left & didn't get the chance to tell anyone.

We had a bunch (& I mean a BUNCH) of big things like furniture & stoves, washers & dryers, that went for more money, & then we had plenty of small things too. Lots of baby equipment that goes quickly & baby clothes. Sorry, I don't know why you would want to know all that.

So, I know a little about yard sales now & I want to offer some advice in case you ever have a yard sale (please pay attention--these are really important tips to keep in mind when you plan your own):
1. Put your signs up the night before. That way all the people who don't read the paper for yard sale ads will know that they too can stop by at 6:15 with a flashlight to dig through your not-yet-set-up boxes of stuff in the dark.
2. BEFORE you set out your old coloring books (if you enjoyed coloring books during your college years as I did), check for notes you may have written about old loves (or about the current love of your life before he was actually your love). By the way, this is really important if you have a sister-in-law doing the yard sale with you who might find these notes, & you're worried she might tell the REST of your family about it.
3. Little boy clothes sell REALLY well (as do little girl clothes, I think, but I wouldn't really know for sure).
4. Big boy clothes (i.e., Jonathan's flowery or winnie-the-pooh ties) do NOT sell really well.
5. Women's clothing--well, I guess that depends. Some days you sell 5% of it, some days you sell 10% of it.
6. Toys are another big-seller. For some reason (& I know this because of the way Dan shops at yard sales) it doesn't really matter if you have all the pieces to go with the set. It doesn't even seem to matter if you get around to cleaning it or not. Oh, and another thing about toys, putting 10 cents on everything will help you get rid of everything.
7. Those of you with children, listen up: your kids WILL go through all the yard sale merchandise. They will go through sports equipment, toys, clothes that used to be theirs, movies, and kids' books. They will want it all--even if they had it in their room for the past 3 years & played with it only twice. So, here's the advice: give them 50 cents in the beginning to buy whatever they want. When they get tired of it, put their item back on the table. The catch, though, is that you'll have to keep doing that every 5 minutes unless you think of something more clever to do. Like, say, banishing them to the basement, for instance. You know, just a thought.
8. Ladies, this one's for you: when you put out old purses to sell, check the pockets. Heaven forbid you should forget to take out an old tube of chapstick, a pack of tissues or (ahem) a tampon. Even worse if the person who finds these things is a customer & her husband who want to tell you about it in front of all of your friends and proceed to joke about buying the purse for her middle-school granddaughter who won't be in need of any of these items any time soon. You will do well to heed my advice. (Sorry, Dad B. & Dad L., Tanya said if I didn't blog about it she would)
9. You might want to try to take down your signs as soon as the yard sale is over. Then again, you might not. You might be tired & lazy & leave the signs up & leave your stuff out for a while & you just might make $45 more after your yard sale is officially over. And you just might make $50 for your friend. And you just might have a few more customers that you can simply GIVE things to because you so desperately want to get rid of it all . . . Then again, you might not.
10. If your kids are around but pretty much fending for themselves (meaning you & your hubby are too busy to care what they're doing as long as they're still on the premises), hide the cowboy costumes. Thanks. (When I get the picture from Angela's camera, I'll update this & you'll see what I mean)

I know this is a really long post (sorry, I couldn't help myself--I know you're probably as surprised as Jonathan was to discover how verbose I am)--but I just wanted to update you on Dan's school situation. His second day was much much much much much much better than the first. It wasn't even near being a little bit louder or a little bit worse. And I know all your prayers made the difference. It was an amazing turn-around & I really appreciate your support. Dan's gonna make it after all! YIPPEE!!