Rummage Sale

My neighbor, Sharon decided to have a rummage sale. She said her sister was coming up from Illinois to spend the weekend with her and they would do it together. I asked which weekend and whether it would be OK with her if I did the same. We could share signage and advertising to make things easier on both of us. Plus the commitment to Sharon would make me actually go through with it instead of always putting it off like I usually do.

I spent Thursday evening cleaning out the garage and setting up tables. Since I don't have many, I made some makeshift ones out of old doors that were leaning against a wall in the garage. It was a pretty convenient way to get a big table. Friday I dug out all the boxes of the kid's clothes, furnishings I had long packed away, and a variety of other things I collected from around the house. I stuck price stickers on them with the concept of the more you buy the cheaper the price. (Most items were marked 50 cents, or 5 for 2 dollars.) I stopped at the bank and got a bunch of singles and fives to make change and I was ready. My only concern was being home alone, how would I manage if there were lots of people?

Saturday was a beautiful day. I finished last minute pricing, made a pot of coffee, grabbed my bag of used shopping bags and finished prepping for the long day. The first person who came by spent $11. I felt like this was a good sign. Then it got quiet for a little while but when people started to appear, it became an endless stream. The big ticket items went the fastest, I even sold my treadmill by 10AM. I was amazed by that. The designer clothing went next. Whether it was Tommy Hilfiger, Polo, or Harley-Davidson, the name branding seemed to be an important find for these rummagers.

There were some real characters that stopped by. I man and his daughter bought some costume jewelry, they were both sporting mullets. Another man bought all of our Moda International (clothing from the Victoria's Secret catalogue) items for himself. Yes, he was petite enough to pull it off. One couple asked me if I could shut the garage door and we could have a little "fun". (I was thinking to myself that he didn't have enough money for that-how's that for "fun"?) Most of the rummagers were Hispanic and barely spoke English. They spent a few dollars but the volumes of people times the few dollars equaled lots of cash for me in the end.

By early afternoon I put away two tables, I sold so much stuff. At the end of the day, there wasn't much left. At 4PM I closed the garage door and immediately put the leftover stuff into boxes to take to Goodwill. I figured if I left it out where I could look at it, I might get attached to it and want to keep it. I did not want that to happen. It felt liberating to get rid of the stuff.

I ended up putting 8 boxes in the back of my SUV and I broke down another 14 that I emptied. I took in $341.95 in cash and the garage and basement look a little less cluttered. It was a lot of work and I'm not sure I would do it again, but the extra cash sure is nice.