Garage Sale Bust

This was me at the beginning of my garage sale on Friday...all geared up for selling off my junk and making some sweet moolah to spend on our vacation in July; or updating our kitchen, getting me some highlights, or a spa pedicure...you know the options were endless.

I must say I rocked it with my organizational skillz. My garage sale looked pretty. Mark told me I was made for this kinda stuff. LOL!! I took the time to organize my items, price them, and Mark cleaned the garage out so everything was looking spic and span. I can't stand when the garage is dirty, junk is just dumped on a table, or worse on a blanket on the lawn...I hate when garage salers do that. That is poor garage sale etiquette...if there is such a thing! LOL!! I know what I appreciate when I am garage sale-ing, and I tried to remember that when I was prepping.





Friday was a gorgeous day. Weather was conducive to sale-ing it up!! Ha ha!! I actually was enjoying just sitting out in the garage, listening to my new Ipod, and chatting up my customers. We met neighbors and fellow Tonicans we'd never met before, and that part was actually kinda cool. It's amazing how people come out of the woodwork for a garage sale!! I did pretty well on Friday...we sold about $100 total. Not too shabby. I've done better in the past, but it was a weekday and the beginning of a holiday weekend.

This was me on Saturday a few hours into our day. It was a completely different story. Wah, wah, wah...you know the sound that you make when you have a big, fat, let-down. That was it. We had a few customers, but no big sales. We were hoping to unload our riding lawn mower, our a/c units, baby items, etc. We sold bits and pieces and only made $20 in a matter of 4 hours. It sucked. So we shut down early, and I cried a little at the thought of having to bag and box everything back up. I was feeling so liberated from my hoard, and the weight of returning that junk to my basement about gave me a panic attack.



But with the help of my trusty team, we got through it. We bagged up junk to go to Goodwill, and junk to go back downstairs, and we got it done. We've just got 1 load left to donate and we should be done. My family were troopers. Mark was a huge help, and I need to thank him publicly for all of his hard work and the biting of his tongue in many a sticky situation. (Me + garage sale anxiety = crazy town!) I am sure you know of what I speak, LOL!! Maryn and Avery set up a beverage stand hoping to make some sweet moolah themselves...I think they made 50 cents.



Parker only sustained one casualty to her eyelid and chin. She was obsessed with crawling up and down the front porch steps...you can imagine what happened next.



Lessons learned?
1. Illinois Valley garage sales PALE in comparison to Idaho garage sales. NOBODY wants baby stuff here. They are content with their 2 child families, and not populated with the breeding Mormon baby machines that is Idaho...gotta love that Gem State!! When I had my garage sale in Twin Falls, I made $900 and most of it was baby stuff. Nuff said.
2. Having a garage sale over a holiday weekend is not a good idea. This was the case more with Saturday than with Friday I think.
3. Having a garage sale in the middle of nowhere in not a good idea...we did as well as we could with our advertising, but it still wasn't enough. IF we do this again, it will be on the same weekend as the Tonica town-wide garage sales.
4. Weather has to be optimal for garage sales...we had thunderstorm warnings looming over our heads on Saturday...we actually closed up just in time. Bad weather is bad for business.

We definitely learned from our experience, it wasn't a total loss, but I have to admit I'm not too crazy about wanting to do it again any time soon. A lot of work, a lot of stress/anxiety, and not a whole lot of pay-off. Oh well. It won't stop me from going garage sale-ing. I will always love that part of this crazy bizness!!