10 Tips For A Successful Yard Sale

May 2, 2013 at 7:55 AM (Antiques, art, bargains, Decluttering, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Goodwill, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Uncategorized, Yard sales)
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musical notesIt’s the most wonderful time of the year ... Yard Sale Season!

If you’ve been following this blog for any time at all, you know that between the months of March and November of 2012 my weekly yard sale adventures were chronicled herein as the “Yard Sale Documentation Project.”

That was 33 weeks of very early mornings, many amazing bargains, a few price delusions, some tepid lemonade, and a lot of laughter. There will likely be the occasional blog installment when an amazing deal is scored this season, but a regular accounting during the 2013 season is not to be.

HOWEVER, I’m going to pass along some time-tested tips so that if you are inclined to embark on hosting a sale of your own, you will have some prime information to get you started.

Yes, one friend did say he’d rather have birds peck out his eyeballs than host a yard sale. And sorry to say, I’m not going to come over and help you clean out … unless you hire me as She’s NEAT, then I’m all yours!

Nonetheless, having a sale is a great way to clean out your house, get rid of some “old baggage,” and bring in a little tax-free cash in the Yard Sale Documentation Projectprocess.

Here you go — 10 Tips For A Successful Yard Sale

1. Plan ahead. Give yourself several weeks to clean out, gather your items and other material you’ll need (such as display tables and signage), and then organize and price your goods. Yes, things should be priced. Customers get nervous when it comes to asking about prices; let customers know the ballpark they’re playing in and then get ready to haggle.

2. Watch the weather report. Catch the 10-day forecast for your area and wait for the best weather on any given Saturday.  Saturday is still the preferred day for die-hard yard salers … and the earlier start in the day the better! A 7:00am start time is not unheard of.

3.  Be aware of other events going on that day. Is your home right down the street from an annual open-air art festival, church fair, parade, or other community event? If so, that’s a great day for a sale….. customers are already in your neighborhood! On the other hand, if you know that everyone heads out of town on July 4th weekend  … you should too.

Yard Sale Documentation Project 4. Advertise – Use the newspaper, and Craig’s list too, which has become an important resource for any yard sale event. Yard Sale pros check these listings out in the days prior to any given weekend. Also, don’t forget to work your own contacts: your email lists of friends and family, your social networks, and don’t be afraid to use work/school/local business bulletin boards.

5. Good signage on the day of the sale is a MUST. Even if people have seen your ad on Craig’s list or the newspaper, they can’t buy your stuff if they can’t find you. Put your signs up the night before if possible, and remember to get that permit from the city if your town requires it.  Large bright signs complete with arrows and street address will steer even those customers who had no intention of stopping by your sale right into your driveway.

6. Enlist your neighbors. Nothing says “STOP HERE” like a neighborhood full of yard sales. Even if you can rally a couple of dsc00256homes in your area to host sales on the same day, everyone will fare much better than going solo.

7. Be on time and ready to go. If your sale is scheduled to begin at 8:00, be ready by 7:45. Don’t get caught pulling stuff out of the basement while your sale is supposed to be happening. Nothing deters potential buyers from purchasing Grannies afghan quicker than having it sitting up on the deck under a pile of newspapers.

8. Suggest uses for some items at your sale. Sometimes customers just need a reason to buy something! For instance, place a sign on a used TV– “perfect for kitchen or student room” … or alongside a camera: “Give this to gramma for her weekend visits” … “Once-worn prom dress: Great for kid’s dress up.”

9. Price your items reasonably. Price items at what people will likely pay for them, not for what you think they’re worth. “Yard Sale dollars” are a different currency than “US dollars.” I like to work on the 10% rule: If something is $50 new, I’ll spend around $5 for it at a yard sale. Also, don’t sell anything you really don’t want to sell; nobody will feel good about that transaction. Those are “emotional dollars” and that’s slippery business.

10. Create a happy atmosphere and have fun! People will be glad to spend their money when they feel good about where they are. Light music, some cookies, a box of free give-aways … these things make customers feel welcome and more willing to like you and your stuff!

Jeanne Fiorini TarotWorks http://www.tarotworks.com

Jeanne Fiorini will not require a 10% cut of your yard sale proceeds for helping you have the best yard sale ever!  But you can visit the TarotWorks website and/or the She’s NEAT site, that’d be fine.

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“Messy” Isn’t Always Chaotic

March 5, 2013 at 7:55 AM (Aesthetics, Decluttering, decorating, Garage Sales, home decor, Personal Organizer, Tag Sales, Uncategorized, Yard sales)
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She's NEAT logoIn all aspects of life, words and our interpretation of them create a foundation and a system by which we relate to the world.

The work of She’s NEAT is no exception.

Words such as “organized,” “neat,” “messy,” “tidy,” and “disorder” come not only with an emotional charge, but with judgments attached to them as well. It has becoming clear that, not unlike having to describe and then defend working with the Tarot, some of the concepts behind the personal organization work need clarification.

This notion was embodied during a visit with friends yesterday when the conversation rolled around to, ” So how’s She’s NEAT going?”  I caught a furtive glance pass from the wife to the husband as I talked about the joys of de-cluttering; obviously there was a difference of opinion about what constitutes “clutter” and what is considered the normal price of daily activity.

A few minutes later the conversation moved along to another of my favorite things, the opening of yard sale season. (You may be familiar with last season’s Yard Sale Documentation Project.)She's NEAT messy desk

I got spouting about certain things I was NOT going to pay retail price for, since I can get them much cheaper at a yard sale, one such item being a headset for my outdated-but-still-very-much-in-use cordless phone. I saw the wheels moving in the husband’s mind as he rose from his seat and headed into his office. Two minutes later he emerged with an equally-outdated headset.

Perfect!

Yes, someone might consider his office to be messy, but he knew just where to find the thing he was looking for. This man is the owner/creator of an organized mess; this is something with which no personal organizer can or should find fault.

“Messy” is only a problem if it hinders progress, if it makes it difficult to get things done, if it is stress-producing or anxiety-ridden. Clearly that was not the case here, and I’m pretty sure something personal for this guy was vindicated by our little transaction

By the same token: a “neat” space is not necessarily “organized.” I can think of a few kitchens I’ve been in where the counters are bare and no clutter can be seen, but don’t dare open a drawer or cupboard for fear of what chaos might be living within, awaiting any opportunity to leap from an available opening.

You know who you are.

Tarotworks http://www.tarotworks.com blogIt’s not a personal organizer’s job to opine about the state of affairs in another person’s home or office, but to get that space to its place of maximum potential and benefit. Don’t let the words you’ve assigned to those spaces prevent you from living your best life in them: be honest about what’s going on there, and if you need help, ask for it.

And if you don’t need help, it’s OK to feel good about that too.

 

Jeanne Fiorini TarotWorks http://www.tarotworks.com

 Jeanne Fiorini is owner/creator of She’s NEAT personal organizational services, based in Portland Maine.

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2012 Yard Sale Documentation Project: Final Accounting

November 21, 2012 at 9:53 AM (Antiques, art, bargains, decorating, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Goodwill, home decor, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Yard sales)
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And so we say goodbye to another yard sale season. Although it is a sad aspect of the turning of the seasons, 2012’s yard sale scene was one of the best in recent memory!

The sale-ing season was stellar in part because it was an abundant and fruitful affair, but also due to the fact that this weekly report added a real measure of pleasure to the whole thing. THANK YOU for paying attention to these weekly escapades!

As promised  the beginning, here’s the final tally: a record of the kinds of items that were purchased, and the not-so-grand total expenditure. To tell you the truth, I was surprised at how little money was spent during a season that spans three-quarters of the calendar year.

We’ll start with the types of items that came home with me, and the number of “pieces” in each category:

Furniture: Chairs, tables, rugs …..  6
Holiday Items: String lights, candles, décor …..  8
Prints and Paintings: Real art!   …..   7
Things for Vera: Books, toys, puzzles ….. 11
Utilitarian Goods: Stationary, office supplies,  kitchen utensils, baskets, plates, vacuum cleaners, smoke alarms, and a Hamilton Beach food processor  …..  27
Decorative Goods: Frames, mirrors, pottery, pillows, etc. …..   26
Clothing: Jackets, scarves, sweaters, purses, shoes ….. 7
Lawn and Garden: a mixed bag of garden ornaments, a barrel of straw,
and a free beach umbrella ….. 11
Jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, earrings  ….. 11
Books: including cook books …..  5

Total number of different items: 119. Where in this house did I put all this stuff?!

A few observations: I’m proud of the fact that Utilitarian purchases edged out my penchant for pretty things. That Hamilton Beach processor might be the single best buy of the season, especially if none of my paintings or pottery turn out to be valuable.

Clearly I’m not a book hound, with those items ranking last on the list. But my dear Ms. Vera did score pretty well from grammie’s little addiction. And that free beach umbrella, used on the back porch as well as the beach, was greatly appreciated for its form and function.

Now for the cash outlay for the entire season…..drum roll, please!

Care to make a stab at it? It might be fun to offer up a quiet personal guess before the big reveal….. scroll down a bit to see the final amount.

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$158.75. Total. For the whole season. For all that stuff. I am amazed and I lived through it!

Now who thinks I’m a crazy B with too much time on her hands?

Jeanne Fiorini is a crazy B, but not because she lives for yard sales. She’s just started a new local business in South Portland Maine called “She’s NEAT,” a personal organizing service creating orderly and efficient environments. With all this stuff she got at yard sales you have to be organized! Find us on Facebook: ShesNeatCreatingOrder

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Yard Sale Documentation Project: 11-10- 2012

November 11, 2012 at 9:59 AM (Antiques, art, bargains, books, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Gardening, humor, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Uncategorized, Yard sales)
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Let’s see, where did we leave off?

October 20th

Rained out. Just as well, I was feeling uninspired i.e. lazy.

October 27th

We’re at the point in the season where the “just wander around and look for signs” approach is no longer effective. This is now a targeted effort. And while the number of sales in the classifieds for this Saturday is down to a mere 22, there are some tempting listings.

Although there was quite a bit of stuff out there today, I didn’t come home with much, and for two very good reasons:

1.  The “I really don’t need that even though it’s totally cute” mantra that still is cycling through my head.
2.  Severe price delusions by young’un’s who think granny’s stuff is valuable just because it’s old. They’ll get the message when the end of the day comes and they’re faced with a mountain of old pine and rusty tools and outdated junk.

But I did score a new stick vac (I don’t need a sincere vacuum since I only have throw rugs at my house) and a set of “Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf” finger puppets for little Ms. Vera.

Total outlay: $6, plus I was home in time to ready the house for hurricane Sandy who is supposed to show up on Monday. We had an earthquake here in Maine a few weeks ago; what gives, Mother Nature?


November 3rd
I worked this day, co-facilitating a Jung and Tarot workshop. A great group of inspiring and enthusiastic participants made it so that I only thought a couple of times about what I might be missing in YardSale Land on this sunny Saturday.

November 10th

The Portland Press Herald’s classified section declared on Friday that the yard sale season has ended.

I beg to differ. Despite clumps of snow and chilly temps, people were selling and people were buying on this second weekend in November. And, by some sort of fortuitous yard sale telepathy, several decent sales were clustered around a well-to-do area in neighboring Scarborough.

This “well-to-do” aspect can work in your favor and sometimes it bites you in the butt. Sometimes it means there’s high quality bargains in them thar hills; sometimes it’s a pre-cognition of the relativity of money and that the realization that the word “bargain” means different things to different people.

Kate and I operate under “the 10% rule.” If the yard sale price is 10% (or less) of what the item would cost new, a purchase is worth considering. Much more over that constitutes price delusion and we’re apt to be headed toward the car mumbling and grumbling.

It was amusing to me, but not surprising, to see again those same young’un’s referred to on October 27th, still tied to their imagined value of grannie’s junk. I picked up a pair of dessert dishes, marked $2, and asked the girl if she’d take $1 for them.

“Yes, $1 each,” with a glare she replied.

I could have done without the attitude. Back on the shelf they went, and I hope she enjoyed packing them up at the end of the day.

At a different sale, I observed a man drop $100 cash on two different piles of art prints. Both the seller and the buyer were thrilled with the transaction, and I have no doubt that the buyer got a good deal there; the prints were authentic and lovely.

As I said, money means different things to different people.

When it was all said and done, and it was done fairly quickly today, an eclectic and useful mix of things did come home with me. Here’s the tally:

1. Two funky cookbooks (I love that title, Lode of Vittles!) for my brother Bill who owns a B&B in the Adirondack Mountains, white Pfaltzgraff bowl, and two small notepads …. from the “Free” pile
2. Fisherman’s cross-stitch for my other brother Mike    …..$2
3. Five pieces of arty-crafty materials, always useful for my New Year’s Intention Map Workshop and the upcoming “Make your Own Holiday Ornament” event …..$1
4. Tall glass vase and Waverly Garden mug ……$1
5. Garden Scissors and heavy brass pine cone (from a coo-coo clock?) ….. $1
6. Three yards of burlap… any gardener knows you can always use burlap. …..   $1
7. Biographical fiction about the life of the Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, dated 1914 …..$1

Total expenses for the day: $7

Stay tuned for the final installment of the 2012 Yard Sale Documentation Project coming soon, where the full season’s accounting will be posted!

How much did she spend? What did she buy? Was it worth the time and effort? Does this woman need a new hobby? Does she need an intervention?

See you next time when you can decide for yourself.

 

Jeanne Fiorini is a Tarot professional and a yard sale addict who can stop any time she wants. Visit the TarotWorks website to see what Jeanne does when she’s not rummaging through other people’s stuff.

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Yard Sale Documentation Project: October Update

October 13, 2012 at 11:50 AM (Antiques, art, bargains, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, home decor, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Yard sales)
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I was going to wait and post all of October’s adventures at the end of the month, but so much for that idea! Today (October 13th) was such an enjoyable day in yard sale world that I had to create a post to honor the event. Here goes, beginning at last week’s entry:

Saturday October 6th

The day opens with bright sunshine: a good sign. The wind is warm and the air is moist; you can tell it’s going to rain later in the day, but for these early morning hours it’s a perfect fall day.

The Maine Today classified section listed 77 yard sales happening this weekend. Granted, some of those are in the Augusta area 30 miles away from here, but that’s still a respectable showing for an October Saturday.

Sometimes when you head out in the morning, you have a focus for the day, a goal to accomplish, an item you hope to acquire, a thing that you need to buy eventually or in the moment but don’t want to pay full retail price for. Today I was in search of costume jewelry to give to Vera for her second birthday.

We haven’t tried to turn Vera into a girlie-girl, in fact both Kate and I shun that sort of programming. And the girl is not what you’d call “delicate” in stature. But she does love “peenk” and she loves wearing Grammie’s jewelry, all of it at the same time, mostly.

I hit the mother lode on this one today, as evidenced by the photo.

  • Two pairs of clip-on earrings          $1
  • Beaded bracelet                       50 cents
  • 25-carat blue cocktail ring       50 cents
  • Turquoise beaded necklace             $1

Those items will become part of Vera’s birthday present. The black/gold beads ($1) are for me. They’re especially lovely and probably have some age, check out that fancy clasp.)

The sale next door to this one was truly fabulous: lots of wonderful pottery, kitchen ware, kids clothes and furniture, but I really didn’t need any of it. I also found, at another sale down the road, a DIVINE 1960’s low coffee table, well-crafted solid wood, about 6’ long…$10. I pondered long and hard as to where I might be able to fit that thing into a niche or corner somewhere my house, it was so cool.

With heavy heart and empty hands I left both these sales.

But I did come home with a classic Moosewood cookbook ($1) and Jill Bolte Taylor’s book, My Stroke of Insight, purchased for the rock-bottom price of one quarter. If you follow the other postings on this blog you’re sure to be hearing more about that book in the near future.

This was a good day, and considering that October is upon us, it was stellar. Could be best of the season still be ahead?

Saturday October 13th

That “best of the season” comment might have been prophetic. I did come home with some great things today, but the hallmark of this Saturday’s excursion was the classic kitch that was out there today.

Even though, as the James Taylor song goes, “the frost is on the pumpkin and the hay is in the barn,” … and the yard salers wore hats and gloves this morning ….  sales were abundant and the throngs were thronging. Let me not waste any time in sharing the joy of the funky junk that was there for the picking.

First we have this fine item: a handmade wooden cross, about 20″ high, fully electrified and bulbed-up, for what we can only guess. Those red lights are the round bulbs from the 60’s, and I shudder to think what the thing looks like when lit. Praise the lord.

Then there were these two chairs, now in poor shape but one can imagine the artful dignity they carried when new or only slightly broken in. These are more like broken down, but they still have more character that much of what I see selling in stores today.

And come on, who doesn’t want a fountain light hanging in the corner of their living room? Certain to add ambiance beyond compare to any decor. I can remember the day when seeing this in a restaurant was the guarantee of a fine dinner, no joke.

Finally, we have a plastic surfing baby monkey.

Nothing left to say on that one.

It’s only 8:30am and I’m already SO glad I dragged myself out of bed.

More seriously useful and lovely bargains were yet to cross my path on this chilly fall morning. Once the LL Bean wool/silk blend sweater coat was purchased (for $1) I was tempted to wear it on the spot, but it does need a little airing-out.

I also picked up some audio cassette tapes (useful for recording Tarot readings for those folks who still have the technology to play them back), some fancy-schmantzy body lotion (I know, that looks like a lady’s “pleasure tool” but it’s not), a 6-pack of artist’s note cards, and a bouquet of fresh flowers from a farm stand.

Total expenditure to carry home the things in the photo: $7.75.

The find of the day, however, is certainly the painting at the top of this article. Done in the 60’s by a Massachusetts artist named Ernest Perry, a quick trips across the internet shows his work to sell for around $275.

I don’t expect to sell it since I love it and it has already found a home in the stairwell gallery, but if I ever do I’m sure to make some money on it, since the woman who sold it had it priced at $1.

Praise the lord.

Jeanne Fiorini is an avid yard saler, a professional Tarot reader, a pro football fan, and a lover of dogs. Visit the TarotWorks website to learn more about Jeanne and the Tarot work!

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Yard Sale Documentation Project: September Round-Up

September 30, 2012 at 8:48 AM (Antiques, art, bargains, decorating, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Goodwill, home decor, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Yard sales)
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Thought you’d heard the last of this, right? Not quite yet.

Yes, the season is waning, but that’s more a result of September’s wet weather than of limited sale-ing ops. I’ve compressed the experiences of the past several weeks into one post, and will likely do the same for October unless something fantabulously amazing happens out there in the meantime.  

Enjoy!

Saturday September 15th

This was an uneventful outing. Although revved up to make the scene due to one supremely up-scale neighborhood having their annual sale, I was home by 10:00am. Today’s was more a case of “I don’t really need that” rather than the less-attractive whine “there’s nothing out here today.” At this point in the game that’s OK.

For the record, here are my purchases:

  • Versatile Crate and Barrel divided dinnerware holder thingee  $2
  • Full box of Metropolitan Museum of Art “Sunflowers” note cards  $2

 

Saturday September 22nd

A rainy and therefore late start to the day. I’m sure many of “my people” were out at the usual hour, but sale-ing in the rain is where I draw the line. I am enthusiastic about the yard scene but I’m not desperate.

You’d be surprised at the number of folks still hosting sales, but not surprised (if you’ve been paying attention at all ) to know that the throngs are still thronging. Ran into Jack, about whom I was beginning to worry since we’d not seen him in weeks. He’s well, and was quick to alert me to several unadvertised sales happening nearby.

It was another “I really don’t need that” kind of day … maybe the exertion of having my own sale a few weeks ago really has altered my yard sale gene. A few things about which I’m really happy did come home with me today:

  • This ADORABLE kiddie shopping cart, complete with lift-able baskets and racks.
  • Vera will totally flip her lid.                                             50 cents
  •  Pair of 5” prints, wonderful colors, nicely framed         $2

I spent more than that on the morning’s coffee and bagel.


Saturday September 29th

Today’s event was totally rained out, which was a bummer since I received an email notice during the week about a fab sale to be hosted today. Having advance notice of a good sale is akin to having free pizza delivered to your door or seeing the CandyGram guy standing there with an armload of chocolates.

However, the lack of sale-ing activity today gives me a chance to share with you one more facet of The Yard Sale Experience: The Integration Process.

Sometimes this is the more time-consuming aspect of being a yard sale hound, the fact that to effectively and gracefully integrate all these new belongings into one’s living space requires thought, patience, ingenuity, and oftentimes more than one trip to the hardware store.

You may remember this frame on the left from a sale in July.

Here it is on the right, reformulated; now showing off a print formerly housed in a much less elegant holder but which is now at home in a complimentary style and mutually-enhancing arrangement. Lovely, eh?

This is where the 5′ X 8′ wool rug that came from perhaps the best sale of the season landed, now very much at home in my bedroom. It seems to go well with both the summer- and winter-toned decor in there and I love the soft feel of the wool on my tootsies.

Plus you should know that everything you see here (yes everything) came from yard sales along the line, except for the mattress itself.

And here are those two wooden painted frogs from June that I just had to have. They preside over all activity in the kitchen as they perch upon some baskets atop the refrigerator. Ostensibly I bought them thinking Vera would enjoy them, but the truth is they make me happy.

There you have it. Until next month, when things WILL seriously be coming to close, Happy Trails!

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Yard Sale Documentation Project 9-8-12

September 9, 2012 at 8:28 AM (Antiques, bargains, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Uncategorized, Yard sales)
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I should have done what Kate did today and stayed in bed.

After a full week of teaching second graders she was in no mood to get up early, get in the car with her mother, and go look at other people’s junk. Letting me know last night that I was on my own allowed for a revamp of the travel route for the day.

It was not a sparkling morning, but rather a foggy, cool start to the day. Nevertheless I was up and aiming farther afield than we normally drive, out to Scarborough near the beaches where a big sale had been advertised.

And yet, at the appointed time and place, no action whatsoever could be found.  A large white gate closed off the end of the driveway. No sign, no notice of “rain date” (it was not raining), nothing. GRRRRRRR.

Strike One.

But, it’s only a stone’s throw to Higgins Beach where, because of recent hurricanes, the beach swells were predicted to be extremely high. So I took a wander down to see what was happening. And it was happening at 8am — surfers, onlookers, beach walkers, all sorts of people out to watch the pounding surf.

Ah, beach air. I feel better.

On to the next stop, Cape Elizabeth, for an “Estate sale 60 years in the making.” Although MapQuest had steered me wrong on the street address (Strike Two), the true target wasn’t far from the misstep and I soon found myself in front of a very juicy-looking array.  Proud of myself for remembering to pop the camera in my bag, I gathered my things and exited the car.

“Oh my frickin’ god,” I’m pretty sure I said out loud, as the car door closed.

Sure I’d remembered the camera, but I hadn’t grabbed any cash before leaving the house. I’m standing in front of a yummy yard sale with no money. And I’m about 10 miles from home.

Strike Three.

Yeah, I scraped some quarters out of the change box in the car and looked around a bit. Fortunately there was nothing there that made my heart ache. Made a half-hearted effort at whatever sales crossed my path and wended my way back across to the other side of town.

Despite walking into the wind today,  I did manage to find these Pottery Barn decorative strands for $1 each. The tag was still on them: originally $24 each. WTF? I am totally looking forward to the day that my disposable income pile allows me to drop $50 on decorative strands.

Turns out the side trip to Higgins Beach was the highlight of the excursion . And I’m quite sure the surfers had a better morning than I did.

If it keeps up like this I’ll post a synopsis at the end of September and not bore you with the  minutia of such a day. I sure hope the season doesn’t poop out before I do.

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Yard Sale Documentation Project 9-1-12

September 2, 2012 at 1:50 PM (art, bargains, Estate Sales, home decor, humor, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Yard sales)
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I bet some of you just said to yourself, “Huh, she’s still doing this?”

Pathetic as it may sound, I’ll be out there until the snow flies or the sales dry up, whichever of those sad events occurs first.

Although, after yesterday’s outing one might wonder why. There were lots of sales, and some nice things, just not a lot that I couldn’t live without. Looks like I’m taking my own advice from last weekend’s burn-out experience of hosting a sale.

That’s the primary feeling carried over from sale-ing yesterday: the profound gratitude of being the buyer rather than the seller.  A friend of mine, while recently considering having a sale of his own to clear the house of unused and outworn goods, was discussing the prospect to a neighbor who claimed he’d “rather have birds pull my eyes out.”

Yes I was tired for days afterward but it wasn’t all that bad. I guess that’s one more notation in the column entitled “Why men don’t have babies.”

Since there was so little to account for today, I included the vase of sunflowers from the garden to brighten the scene. The Hamilton Beach processor was a find at $2, and the sweet $1 penguin drawing (5/25 print signed) makes me happy. Kate and I had a nice drive, it was a lovely late-summer morning, and I came home feeling perfectly satisfied.

So much so that I set myself on the couch and had a 2-hour nap. That yard-sale hangover is tough to shake but at least I still have my eyeballs.

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Yard Sale Documentation Project 8-25-12

August 26, 2012 at 9:29 AM (bargains, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, Goodwill, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Uncategorized, Yard sales)
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Before

11:45 AM Saturday Morning

I can’t believe I’m still standing … and am awake … and have energy.

It’s nearly noon, and straggler salers are filtering in even though the morning’s high tide has come and gone. I’m feeling like I could probably hang around out here ’til mid-afternoon, but maybe that’s the coffee talking.

Hey — did you know that it’s pitch black out at 5am in late August? When the alarm went off this morning I called the Time and Temperature lady just to make sure my clock wasn’t on the fritz. I’d expected there to be at least a hint of daylight … but no.

As I look at the half-eaten pile of stuff in my driveway I wonder if it was worth three days of hard physical work and not much sleep. As is par for this course, some things which we thought most certainly would fly out of here have not yet sold. On the other hand, people took off with other things (such as the bare-assed gnome squatting in the grass) which made us look at one another with the “Say what?” face.

It does feel good to have cleared out the corners and to have let go of the experiences left like a thin film on some of the items. Plus, money was made through this cleansing process in addition to having saved $20-30 by not being “out there” buying even more stuff at the numerous sales that were being hosted today.

We heard tales of a neighborhood pow-wow, 8 sales clustered together a few streets over. It could be true, who knows; anything beyond the scope of my driveway was beyond my attention span today.

The day was rich and varied. Today I learned that the people who lived in this house, my house, during the 60’s and 70’s, “The Baldwins,” were very popular. During this morning’s comings and goings I heard stories about how the adolescent boys used to play night-time tag in the adjoining back yards; how a woman was friends with one of “the girls” and they all “grew up together in this house.” How, back in the day, this was the happenin’ neighborhood as far as the high school crowd was concerned.

It’s an odd but lovely experience to have perfect strangers gaze wistfully at your home, half-smiling, their eyes full of memories.

It has been a beautiful late-summer day to hang out in the side yard. A spectacled 8-year old girl, here with her parents, proclaimed, “This is a pretty nice place you got for yourself here.” I would have taken her picture but didn’t want to make her feel self-conscious.

Now comes the final chore of hosting a yard sale — sorting in reverse:

what goes to the Goodwill eventually to be resold, what goes to the Preble

After

Street Shelter where they need clothing, bedding, and personal maintenance sorts of things, and what SMALL PERCENTAGE of things make their way back into the recesses of the house. Reabsorption is never the goal for the yard sale host.

I’m going to need another hour of just being here and wandering around in circles before any of that is gonna happen.


6:30 PM Saturday

Most everything has now been put in its place: the car is loaded with boxes for both the Goodwill and Preble Street. I’ve collected the signs that, miraculously, 10 hours later, are still staked in place around the neighborhood. I’ve had my first substantial meal all day, plus two beers — I was SO thirsty! — so I’m a little fuzzy-brained. The final remains are being hauled into the basement, my tired, aching body is about to lauch a  coup, and I hear footsteps at the door.

Ding -Dong. Opening the door I see  a friendly-faced 70-ish year-old man on the porch with a red T-shirt stating, “I’m a Good Catch.” He’s wondering if he can take some of the things in the FREE pile at the end of the driveway.

These are things that didn’t make it into the Goodwill or the Preble Street boxes, items for which I have no longer have any use or on whose behalf I cannot justify the reabsorption process. Among these freebies is a box of three  hub caps which fit my old Saturn but which are the wrong size for the new Versa.

“My daughter had two of her hub caps stolen off her car last night and these will do the trick!” he explains, bright-eyed.

I’m just tired and buzzed enough to say, “Give me five!” This is the same thing I say to my 2 year-old granddaughter when she does something great.

He does, and leaves the porch smiling, tossing back that “if those green patio chairs are still here in the morning I’ll be by to picking those up too!”

All this makes me very happy. I’m still exhausted, but a purpose for my exhaustion has been revealed.


10 AM Sunday Morning

Hosting a yard sale is like having a baby: Something has left you in a physically strenuous manner, immediately after doing it you determine that “I’m never doing THAT again” and for days after the fact your body feels like it’s been run over by a truck.

I’m glad I did it, I’m glad it’s over, and I’m quite sure this experience will remind me to practice safe yard saleing in the future, being careful about what I allow into my Versa from now on.

And PS — the green patio chairs are gone.

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Yard Sale Documentation Project Week of 8-25-12

August 23, 2012 at 8:33 AM (bargains, Estate Sales, Garage Sales, humor, Tag Sales, Thrifting, Uncategorized, Yard sales)
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Tuesday/4 Days Out

The race is on.

Placed flyers in the mailboxes of the neighbors, alerting them to the fact that there will a lot of people around on Saturday morning, in case they wanted to put some items out for sale. (If there was something like this happening around me on a Saturday I’d sure want a little advance notice.)

Needing to think about what size and color signage to post around the hood (you know how I feel about an effective yard sale sign!), where I can get enough tables on which to place my goods, and what sort of gizmo I can rig up on which to hang clothes, a gizmo that will efficiently display the lovelies in question without toppling and thereby smothering prospective buyers.

Too tired tonight to pull more stuff from the nooks, closets, and cupboards, but at this moment am sorely tempted to put most of what I own out on the street and see what happens.

Wednesday/3 Days Out

Wore many hats today: Radio Show host, babysitter, groundskeeper. No room for much else on this day beyond pricing a few items here and there.

Thursday/2 Days Out

In a moment of poor planning, I scheduled the annual “Pot Luck and Tarot Goods Swap” for tonight — like I didn’t have enough to do this week. At 11:00 last night I found myself in the kitchen marinating a turkey breast.

While in the shower this morning the thought dawned that I NEED to get to City Hall today and get a permit for the sale. The City of South Portland will send one of its representatives by for a friendly visit if you don’t have said permit visibly posted. That is a hassle you don’t need amidst the flurry of your opening hours.

There’s a lot to do today and none of it has to do with yard saleing: a 10:30 meeting, a Tarot reading session mid-afternoon, and the Tarot Soiree tonight.

Oh dear.

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