Garage Sale

Man, today turned out to be the perfect day for a garage sale! The weather was great (well, a little too hot for my taste) and the garage salers were out in full force! 

We did our best to wake up on time and get everything set up, but it was difficult due to our late night last night. Our signs clearly stated that our sale was starting at 9am and as we were still setting up, we had a car pull up just after 8:45! Upon seeing that things weren't quite ready, they turned around and Michael and I realized that we had some serious shoppers in our near future.  

We were still putting prices on items when people started to arrive, but they were very understanding and just shopped around us. I tried my best to appear like a garage sale veteran as I told people, "If you see something that isn't yet marked, please feel free to ask or make us an offer!" 

All set up and ready to bargain!

It wasn't long at all before we had our first sale, and as I headed to our cash box (my old notecard holder) to deposit our earnings, I quickly realized that we didn't have any change! I calmly told our customer that I'd be right back and then frantically ran into the house, in search of some coins. As I scanned the living room and kitchen, and came up empty, I knew there was only one place where I was guaranteed to find what I needed...

With each stair that I climbed, I kept telling myself that what I was about to do was perfectly acceptable. And as I entered my daughter's room, I thought back to my customer waiting patiently outside and then the next few seconds were all a blur! That poor little piggy didn't even know what hit it! As I ran back downstairs, I told myself that I had to MAKE SURE we paid our daughter back...with interest! 

Michael took great pleasure in photographing, what he called, "The Scene of the Crime"! Lol

As the day went on, it got hotter and hotter, but that didn't stop people from shopping around. We sold a ton of Michael's extra fishing supplies, some books, DVDs and Wii games, our old blender, some perfumes and lotions. We also had many people interested in our biggest item, our ATV. Michael won the ATV at a gold tournament a few years back and since then, it had only been ridden twice. As soon as I got the idea to have a garage sale, I knew that was going to be our featured item. All day, people were asking questions about it and I just knew that if it didn't go today, one of them would be back tomorrow to buy it.

The hot weather made for a sleepy Buggy

:)

Even though our signs said we were shutting down at 3pm, based on all of the activity we'd had, I told Michael I wanted to stay put for at least an extra half hour. And sure enough, as we were bringing things in at 4, we had someone come back and purchase an item they were milling over earlier! With $341 and some change in our, once empty, cash box, we deemed the day a success! Running on fumes, we managed to get everything back inside before shutting the door and collapsing onto the couch. Not long after that, my mom showed up to get a jump start on pricing some of her items for tomorrow. 

Here's hoping the Sunday crowd is as enthusiastic as today's shoppers!