So the garage sale is finally OVER. Lessons I learned…NO MORE GARAGE SALES.
It wasn’t a terrible experience, but the weather didn’t cooperate much. It was enough of a problem that I believed it affected sales.
Our hours were:
Thursday 4-7
Friday 8-6
Saturday 8-10
Thursday was a little crazy. If you remember, Rick had his carpal tunnel surgery that day. His appointment was for 10:45 am. We got there…and waited. At 2 pm, we were still there. I called Kalissa to make sure she was at my house putting the stuff outside and had finished setting her stuff up. She had worked the night before…and then she over-slept. She was still home.
Rick and I had to get his meds after he was finally discharged. We ended up leaving town shortly after 3 pm. It’s a half-hour drive home, so we hurried and got to the house, and Rick settled in just in time for the sale to start.
We had good sales on Thursday. It wasn’t a wild rush, but good sales.
Carver helped a couple of people carry their purchases to the car, and two people gave him tips. He was thrilled!! He said to me, “Grandma, this could become like a job.” HA!! Thanks to those ladies who showed him that if you work, you are rewarded.
Friday was miserable. It didn’t just rain. It poured. It was ALWAYS raining. It was a cold rain, so we were trying to keep the garage door open, but we were cold. Here’s Kalissa wrapped in a quilt.
We didn’t have many people, so I cross-stitched. I actually got quite a bit finished. HA!! It was fun for me even though sales were slow.
Saturday was slow. We made deals. We got quite a few things cleaned out. By the time sales were over, Kayla and Kelli were at my house for a cross-stitch weekend with our friend Nell. They ended up helping Rick and me get everything packed up and loaded in the van. In a short hour, we had the garage mostly back to normal.
Rick and I were SO-SO-SO relieved. We were so tired of having all the stuff in the garage. I think that’s what bugged me most about the sale: giving up our living space…We both just love the garage.
Saturday at about lunchtime, Nell showed up, and we started stitching. (More on that later) By 9 pm, I was SO READY for bed. It had been such a long week. Between grandkids, the prepping for the sale, Rick’s surgery, and the sale and the cleaning up…I was done.
We made enough money to help pay for the delivery of the pool table, which was our goal. Of course, we wished for more, but it wasn’t bad.
We have a few things that didn’t sell that we are listing on Facebook Marketplace. Rick listed the tiller…
I listed the crib and my brand new shoes that I can no longer wear.
I have my 99K Singer that is for sale. It’s in a small wooden cabinet. If anyone local is interested in that, let me know. I’ll happily sell it for a reasonable price.
My two little cabinets didn’t sell either so I’ll list those too. Again, if you’re interested, let me know. I’m listing them tomorrow.
All in all…the garage sales were good. We got some stuff cleaned out. We learned how much we love and how protective we are of our garage space. We learned we’d prefer to sell a few things on Marketplace and donate the rest.
It was a good experience, and I don’t regret it, but NO MORE GARAGE SALES!!
For your sake, I’m glad your garage sale is over. I reached the same conclusion for me – no more garage sales. They are work! So sorry that the weather didn’t cooperate either. Enjoy your garage again!
I love “NO MORE GARAGE SALES!’ My friend and I used to do them and came to that decision a few years ago. The thrift store gets all the things I can’t sell on Marketplace. : )
Jo, I know you aren’t going to do postage auctions anymore, but if I remember correctly if you put a quilt you made in there, it did quite well. I don’t know how much work it is, but perhaps occasionally you could try that with one of your quilts. If not…sorry I didn’t get to your sale! :)
Wish I was local; love that singer!
Been there, done that, done with it. Weather doesn’t help. It is a lot of work and people like shopping on line more than going to garage sales these days. I am trying to downsize. So I send my pictures to family 1st, then to Market place, I usually bump it or relist it once, and I share the post to my facebook friends. Then it goes to the Depot outlet. So much easier to do a room or a storage area at a time. So nice you can schedule pickup on your own time. I took in over $1000 in past 6 months and cleaned and organized most of my house. I am ready to do it again come Spring…maybe.
Yeppars….garage sales are so weather dependent! We’ve done a few in our lifetime but if the weather is so-so it often keeps the shoppers away. I have purged my quilting/cross stitch room. No garage sale for me. I’m driving 2 hours away to donate to a thrift store. Their focus is repurpose and recycle art and craft supplies. I feel it’s worth the drive to give these goodies renewed purpose!
I wish I were closer; I would snap up that 99 in a flash! Great machines! It would be such an honor to own something you used or quilts you made.
I’m sorry the weather didn’t cooperate and that sales weren’t better. That seems to be the nature of garage sales. They are so much work! We did a couple and put everything that hadn’t sold by the last 2 hours at half price, and then we gave away what was left for free; we didn’t want to have to haul things off somewhere to donate. But your garage is all the better for having had the sale!
I hope Rick is doing well.
Back when we used to do garage/yard sales, we did them on Friday and Saturday, 6 am to noon, always at beginning of month, when some people had more money. We would have people waiting at 6 am on first day to get in to get the best stuff. We always had them at my aunt’s house who lived on an high traffic street. Our local newspaper had a whole page of garage sales listed on a dedicated page. Problem now is not many people get the local paper. About the only garage sales I see now are when a certain neighborhood has a neighborhood garage sale. Just don’t see many garage sales anymore.
I agree with no more garage sales ! It is sooo much work ! I prefer to donate throughout the year ..also market place is a good way to sell stuff., if it doesn’t t sell you can always put something on for free and you’ll have a lot of takers !
At first, I thought that I’ve only had one garage sale. Then I remembered a couple of times that I listed things in the paper (before craigslist) – one time for craft items I was getting rid of, and then another time items that I had bought at home sales that I didn’t really use. And the one time there was a neighborhood garage sale. NEVER AGAIN. All that work getting stuff ready and priced. Then the people trying to dicker about prices when I priced very low.
Now I either donate items to charity thrift stores or set the item by the curb. In my town, that is one way people get rid of items they don’t want. Set it by the curb and if someone drives by and wants it, they are free to take it.
My Daughter lives on the route of the world’s longest Yard sale. She had her husband participate most years and we get rid of a lot of stuff too.This weekend is the sale, and we will not be doing it, DH has been sick and I don’t think he could or should be up for that long. Also it will be HOT, Steamy, rainy! But I have a few things I want to get rid of Probably will take them out there for them to sell….