In efforts to prevent my family from becoming hoarders, I had another garage sale last weekend. There were a few changes from the HUGE success I had with our moving, "Just a Quarter" yard sale in Monona a year ago. First off, LOCATION! In Monona, we were on Main Street. I didn't have to advertise. Once we hauled all the crap onto the lawn and the Flea Market look was complete - we were inundated with patrons. Secondly, I had a lot of cds, dishes, old pieces of crappy, cheap furniture that people couldn't wait to gobble up. So, my inventory was more interesting.
At last weekend's garage sale, I was amazed at the stuff we've accumulated in the past year. I was also going back through some things and saying to myself, "I haven't used this since we moved, I'm getting rid of it." I advertised it as "Just A Quarter" garage sale. I had a vacuum, awesome dinosaur bedding set, spice rack, books, many odds and ends from MIL with the closing of her store, some decent clothes, etc. I gleefully opened my garage door at 4PM to the anticipation of 15 or so older folks. Some had been waiting for 45 minutes! In the first hour I had shed 72 items - bringing my earnings to $18. I thought, "Woohoo! I'm brilliant and doing it again." Then, everything came to a screeching halt. The rest of the garage sale hours, we had maybe 10 customers. :( So, I now have everything boxed up to take to Goodwill. I don't look for a garage sale to be a money maker...just a way to get rid of a truckload of stuff without me having to tote it to Goodwill. From this point on, I will just haul stuff to Goodwill box by box.
Like I said, I have to prevent our home from looking like an episode of Hoarders. I appreciate sentimental value. I found 4 different items I've kept, my whole life, in hopes for a daughter. One item, I put in the garage sale. Jacob saw it and was appalled. "Mama, this is for our baby!" I said, "Jacob, we are having a boy baby." Jacob snatched up the article of clothing and said, "But this is for our girl baby next. I'm taking it and putting it back in our baby's room." I didn't have the heart to tell him, "Son, you're 0 for 2 on guessing the gender of our babies and mama is pretty sure she's done after Sweet Pea arrives." Wouldn't have mattered anyway because he was already off to put that little one-piece outfit back in "our baby's room".
Jacob also saw the Simba stuffed toy, my dad gave me my senior year of high school. Jacob used to play with it, but he hasn't since we moved here, so I put it in the garage sale. In front of 11 senior citizens, in our garage, he started wailing and crying that I can't sell his Simba. In order to pacify him, I gave in. He held that stuffed toy like his new baby brother. He'd announce to the customers, as they'd come to pay me for their finds, "My Simba is NOT for sale!" They'd smile and snicker and give me kind words about how they remember those days with their own children. Then, a grandma came through the line with her granddaughter who looked to be 3 years old. The little girl was carrying another of Jacob's castaway stuffed animals. Keep in mind, my son's room looks like a stuffed animal zoo and dinosaur museum. I didn't dare put anything in the garage sale, which he is and has been attached to.The little girl carried a stuffed animal which always terrified Jacob. I took it out of his room last Winter because he kept shoving it under his bed because it frightened him. I remember having night terrors at Jacob's age and younger that stuffed animals were coming to life and staring at me. Anywho - Jacob saw this little girl carrying the stuffed animal and almost started a scene again, "Hey! That's mi..." I interrupted because I didn't want this thing AND I didn't want the little girl to get upset and for the grandma to feel like she couldn't buy her granddaughter this cool, and amazingly priced stuffed animal. "Jacob, you have two. The other one is in the house.", I lied. Jacob's tongue inside of his wide open trap, stopped moving between his top and bottom teeth. His mouth closed, with a snap. I turned to take the quarter from the grandma. "Where is it Mama?", Jacob asked. The grandma winked at me. I replied with another lie, "I don't know right now Jacob, but it's in there and we'll find it later." The grandma thanked me and they were on their way. Is it shameful to admit that I feel no guilt about lying to my kid? He quickly moved onto other things and he still had Simba. He has not mentioned the "duplicate" stuffed animal and that was 5 days ago. I realize it may not have been the best way to handle it, but for me, in that moment, it was the best way to keep my sanity and prevent a meltdown, and to find the easy way to not give in to him, and to stay on task without looking like a crazed woman for the customers that were lining up.
So...that was my experiences with the garage sale this year. Overall, it was a flop. However, there are no areas, closets, rooms, in the house that have, what I call, a storm cloud looming over them. I love order. Goodwill is getting some nice things too.
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