Last Saturday my sister and I held a yard sale here at my house. We spent the week before decluttering/dejunking our little hearts out at our respective houses. I had our kids go through their things to get rid of their junk. Ross was wanting to get rid of anything and everything, from broken pieces of plastic to some beloved PlayStation 2 games. He has his heart set on upgrading to a Nintendo DS. Elizabeth, too, was willing to depart with a lot of loot. I did notice, however, much of the stuff she was willing to depart with belonged to someone else. Drew wanted to get rid of NOTHING! He was so funny. There were things he has never played with in his life that instantly became treasured heirlooms.
Last Friday Andrea and I spent the day organizing and rearranging my spacious three car garage to make a shopper's paradise. We had that place packed! I originally thought I really didn't have that much stuff, but we absolutely ran out of room. Between Andrea's stuff, our stuff, and a little bit of my parents' stuff we were jam packed.
Friday was rainy and yucky. We hoped for a nicer morning on Saturday, but I awoke to icky drizzle. I got up at 6:30 for the start time of 7:00 (most of you know I don't particularly enjoy mornings). At 6:40 I happened to look out a front window and noticed our cul-de-sac was bumper to bumper cars. I thought, "That CAN'T be for us." I looked out a back window and saw the same scene. It was NUTS! I continued getting ready, telling myself these eager souls would just have to wait for the advertised start time of 7:00. Can you believe my doorbell rang at 6:45!!!!!!! Now, normally I'm a pretty patient, laid-back person, but if someone disturbs my early morning slumber or takes the chance of waking my sleeping children, I'll come at you like a maniac. I raced down the stairs, threw open the front door, and nearly scared the poor girl to death! Wouldn't you know it was a young girl of about twelve standing at the door, obviously sent by an impatient parent. Rather sheepishly she asked, "Do you know where (my address) is?" I responded, "YES! THIS IS IT, BUT WE DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 7:00!!" Ooohh, I was grumpy!
When I finally opened the garage doors at 7:00, it was an unbelievable stampede. As the doors were slowly lifting, I couldn't believe the number of feet I saw. The people literally ran in. You would have thought it was Black Friday, the start of Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It just shows you how much "yard sale people" miss their beloved pastime after taking a winter hiatus.
We couldn't believe how well we did. Andrea's family came out the winner with over $400. Our family made over $200, and my parents made $80 off of the miscellaneous junk. That was insane to us because we really didn't have any high priced items. Andrea got rid of a day bed for $50, and I got rid of all my baby stuff -sad but true:( , but nothing over $20. It was all little junk that netted us a nice payoff.
As to our monetary reward, I plan on using it toward our purchase of airline tickets to Orlando. Edward just qualified for a trip to Orlando at the end of June. We had originally planned to take the money the company would give us to drive. After all, it costs the same to drive two people as it does six. After a recent one hour family car ride to St. Louis, I decided I would do whatever it takes to earn money to purchase the extra three plane tickets for the kids (the company either pays for the mileage to drive or it pays for the agent and one guest to fly - we have to cover the three big kids and Mallory can still ride in my lap). I am not cut out to entertain my kids for a long car ride. I know that sounds terrible, but Edward and I can't take the constant bickering for that long! (I was excited to find round trip tickets from St. Louis to Orlando for just $144!!! But I digress!)
If you are wanting to to earn some spare pocket change, I suggest having an early spring yard sale!
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