Clearly I am not cut out to have a yard sale. Neither are my pals. We thought we were; we should be.
After all, back when we were active Junior League members, our big fund raiser was something called Bag-A-Bargain. Sure, there was a silent auction and kick-off party involved. There was some corporate sponsorship. But basically, it was one big yard sale held at the fairgrounds. We raised, on average, $50,000. a year. If memory serves, one year it was in the neighborhood of $70,000. Even if you have $30,000 worth of corporate sponsorship and $4000. worth of silent auction, that's still a lot of money from selling junk for six hours on a Saturday. The year Mrs. Classy was president, she contributed $10,000 worth of thrift and won $1,000. for being top Prize Girl. Being president, she did not take advantage of the perk of not having to actually put on that t-shirt and go to the fairgrounds, but she did buy herself some fabulous black pearls. I digress. It's my hobby.
Anyway, even after we (my pals and I) attained Sustainer Status (because Junior League is like Hotel California. You can check out, but you can never leave), Bag-A-Bargain went on, which afforded us the excellent opportunity to rid ourselves of stuff. Those sweet young girls would even price it for us and coo over us because we had, after all, crawled and clawed our way, dead tired and bone dry, to the coveted line that said SUSTAINER.
Then Bag-A-Bargain went away. They replaced it with an even better fundraiser, American Girl Fashion Show. Good on them but our junk was piling up. So I thought we should have a yard sale. Yep. It was my idea. We thought it would be even better if we used the money to help defray the cost of the beach house that Dr. Great Smile found for our upcoming frolic and sabbatical.
Cutest Girl in the World said we could have at her house and took over. ("I am in charge!" she said. "Listen to me!" We did. I love to have an idea and have someone else take it over. It is the best of all worlds.) She put the ad in the paper, got the permit, and directed me to bring Bloody Marys—with salt and olives. Heart Breaker Soul Shaker borrowed tables from her church. The rest of us cleaned out and priced our stuff. We even dug out our old Bag-A-Bargain t-shirts. I guess we thought they would bring us luck.
I left my house before the paper came; that's how early we got started. We were ready with our pasta makers (never out of the box), novelty mugs, bread machines, and Christmas decorations that had seemed a good idea at the time.
Not being the delusional sort, I certainly did not expect to make Bag-A-Bargain caliber money, but I thought people would want our treasures more than they did. Maybe we sold it too cheap and were all too prepared to take less.
We made $274. I figured, with the help of a rejected calculator that didn't sell, that would reduce everyone's part of the beach house rent by about $25.
We don't know where we went wrong, but we do know this: We are out of the yard sale business.
Have you ever had a yard sale? Do you go to them?
I have had several, usually when I'm moving out of a house and want to get rid of the stuff I don't want to move. The best one I ever had was when I sold all my baby items. I made close to $600 for that one. The others were in the $250-300 range.
ReplyDeleteI do not go to yard sales. Oh, I did a couple times when my kids were little because everyone kept telling me how I could get all sorts of wonderful kids' clothes for nothing. I found nothing. Those friends all had girls, so maybe there was a gender thing going on. The little boys' clothes I found were things I would have thrown away. I'd never have had the nerve to try and sell them.
I never expected to make a lot because people come to yard sales for a reason -- to get something for nothing. And you have to sell it for nothing or be left with it. I'd rather sell that set of 3 TV trays for $2 than have to move it or take it to the thrift store.
Oddly, we could not get a charity to pick up on Saturday but we did not take what was left--and there was plenty of it--anywhere. Kim lives in an upscale neighborhood and she assured us if we put in by the alley, it would be gone in no time. Trucks cruised the alley waiting for us to do that very thing. Half of it was gone within fifteen minutes of putting it out.
ReplyDeleteIt's a whole different world.
lol! Yard sales aren't the money makers they used to be. We had a few when I was young, and my dad frequented them (one of his mottos is waste not, want not). Now I notice the same thing--people wait you out and come back when you've given up so they can get stuff free. I either donate or leave it curbside for those freebie hunters.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Jean! Now I almost feel like I was there. I can picture it all so perfectly. I've never enjoyed holding yard sales, which must be why when my mom keeps saying we should have one, I keep finding excuses not to do it.
ReplyDeleteAll the stuff y'all put in the alley will now appear at some dingy flea market where someone is trying to make a buck off what they got from you for free.
Forgot to add: I know this because my hubby dragged me to a dingy flea market yesterday. I was so over it within 5 minutes of arriving. (I love bargain hunting, and flea markets, but this one was awful.)
ReplyDeleteI used to go with my friends Tam and Nellie when I lived in New Orleans. The first time I went with them, I thought, wow, this is New Orleans - there should be really cool stuff at these yard sales! But, no, pretty much regular stuff. But we had so much fun, it didn't really matter.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a yard sale. I've never been to one. It's the perfect definition of my idea of hell, except a perfect hell would have an Ernest Tubb soundtrack playing all the time.
ReplyDeleteReina--Never again. will rip my excess stuff up and flush it down the toilet first.
ReplyDeleteLynn--Wish you had been there to suffer with the rest of us. We were so tired. That's exactly where it will end up. A truck came through before we had the tables folded up. I used to like flea markets but it seems they've all gone the way of pure crap and nothing interesting--at least the ones I've been to.
Denise--We did have some fun. It just went on too long.
Linda--I guess I had to go to hell to recognize it. The yard sale experience reminds me of the time I insisted on going to New Orleans by train. It was not what I thought it would be. And I made five other people suffer with me. I don't know why I thought it would be fun and picturesque. They don't call it "across the tracks" for nothing.
My sister and mother are big into the yard sale. Both the selling and the purchasing. Some years they even go to the World's Largest Yard Sale somewhere in Tennessee. It's like 50 miles of yard sale.
ReplyDeleteI have participated in a few but always thought that they were WAAAAAAAY more trouble than they were worth!
We'd have yard sales when we had to change our duty stations at various Army bases. Those usually went well. Cut to the civilian market, no dice. If something was priced .25, they wanted it for a penny. After that, I turned my hubby and said, "I will not give away stuff to these people who can afford to haggle. If I'm going to be giving it away, I'm going to give it to people who need it."
ReplyDeleteNow about 2-3 times a year, we give stuff to Purple Hearts and save up enough stuff for our church's Annual Yard Sale. I'm happier knowing that my things will bring someone who NEEDS help an easier living.
Stephanie--I should have consulted with you. I don't know why I didn't.
ReplyDeleteKathy--And with you. From now on I will make no major or minor decisions without getting your input.
I might make some bad decisions but I can be taught.
Oh, and get this. We bought stuff from each other. And sent out for sushi. I don't want to think about how much less we actually made.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can truly say that I know about the World's Longest Yard Sale. And I want to go to it. It's way more than 50 miles though. I think it covers 5 states -- starts in Gadsden and goes north. But on tv, they show antiques and cool collectibles and stuff. And that is so me.
ReplyDeleteLOL about the sushi (and of course the buying from each other). ;)
Lynn--Oh, yeah. They show the cool stuff on TV. I bet when you get there, it a bunch of Joe Namath butter up popcorn poppers and knock off Louis Vuitton sunglasses.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd been there you would have bought. It was the moment. You would have ordered sushi. I would say next time but we're done.
I am like PM - the best yard sale I ever had was when I sold baby clothes. I tried to have one more but having those people clamoring at my house at five in the morning quickly taught me to donate. One woman actually rang the bell, then when I opened the door, she came barging into the house wanting to look at the stuff before everyone else. Geesh!
ReplyDeleteI am with Maven Linda. I now view yard sales like hell. I don't stop at them and I will never do it again! Oh, and my view of hell would be constantly opening plastic cases or shrink wrap - I can never get a CD out of its plastic without chewing it off. LOL
I'm absolutely a donate to charity girl now - we did the yard sale once, and exactly what everybody else said. Insane people who want to come and take what is inside and isn't for sale. Early people. Icky people you wouldn't want to walk near that come and hang out and paw things. Charity! It's a tax exemption! Just say yes to donations!!
ReplyDeleteI've had them and I wrote a short story, The Yard Sale, based on yard sales. It made the finals in several contests and was published in a literary review. It remains one of my favorites as far as stories I've written.
ReplyDeleteCheryl and D. I agree. I have learned my lesson. I thought it would be more fun than it was. We did have some fun, but no more than we could have had, say, in a restaurant around a table with someone bringing us stuff.
ReplyDeletePatricia-- I need to read that story. Where can I find it?