It’s Friday and that means a writing prompt from the amazing Sidie at Viewfromtheside’s Blog. This week offering: “Nothing Much.” Today I’m straying away from fiction to write a bit of slice of life…
SVDG Yard Sale 8235 (Photo credit: RussellReno)
Yard Sale Manifesto
Tomorrow I’m are having a yard sale. For the past several weeks I’ve been gleaning, purging, editing and CLEANING various items that I think might actually sell. The strategy is three-pronged.
- Prong One: make a bit of money to help play for some one’s tuition to grad school.
- Prong Two: get rid of a bit of stuff that I don’t use very much.
- Prong Three: say howdy to our neighbors.
Please note:
- “haggle over the already very reasonable prices” and
- “put up with idiots who tear up the lawn by parking while stupid” and
- “smile while people judge the crap I bought in the 1990’s”
are NOT among the guiding principles of the almighty three prong approach.
I’ve got a lovely little table for little folks where everything is marked a nickel. I’ve got some “Free with the purchase of…” flower pots and starter sets. I’ve got some small appliances that work great and cost a fraction of what they are selling for on Ebay. In a nutshell I’m being really, really reasonable…so please don’t demoralize all the hard work I’ve put into this and try to dicker me down another buck or two. It will only serve to tick me off.
I’m being fair, now return the favor.
Obviously I’m tired. You can hear it in my “voice,” can’t you?
So… what do I expect to come of the 8 to 10 hours of yard duty (plus untold hours getting ready)? Frankly NOTHING MUCH. But having admitted that from the start things can only go up from here, right?
Well, here’s hoping.
Yard sale in Moultrie, GA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) [Not my yard, or my yard sale.]
Also: when I say “I” what I really mean is “WE” because this has been a team effort. I hereby acknowledge the help, support and patience of my beloved family.
Related articles
- 6 Tips for Hosting a Successful Garage Sale (mint.com)
- Woman Holds ‘Pay it Forward’ Yard Sale (fox17online.com)
- 4 Steps to Cashing in on Spring Cleaning (mint.com)
- 5 tips to make more money at a yard sale (savings.com)
ritaLOVEStoWRITE 
August 17th, 2013 at 8:42 am
good luck with the garden sale. I hope it raised lots of money and cleared out everything
August 17th, 2013 at 10:20 am
Thanks Sidie — Hope you are having a great weekend.
August 18th, 2013 at 4:37 pm
So how did the yard sale go? We did that once when Chris was little. People started showing up before the posted time and trying to come into my garage to snoop around while we were moving stuff out onto the lawn.
Chris set up a lemonade stand and that made more money than any of the junk we were selling. Most of it wound up getting boxed up and going to Goodwill. So now we skip the middle step and just take most of the stuff to Goodwill in the first place.
Hope yours was a hit!
August 18th, 2013 at 5:17 pm
You are wise beyond your years, my friend.
Of the three pronged goal–
We did NOT make much money
We did NOT get rid of much stuff
We DID get to say howdy to our neighbor.
Of the three things I did not want to happen —
We DID have people haggle over prices
We DID have people park stupidly
However I’m not sure if people judge me on the crap I bought in the 90’s
The one thing that really ticked me off and I feel is NOT good yard sale form is when people would park across the top of the drive way (with out pulling in) — preventing other customers from pulling in — jump out of their car and say “I’ll just be a minute” when we requested they actually park IN the drive, look around, then leave with out buying anything.
The BEST thing about the day was spending a beautiful day outside with my hubby! That was a lot of fun.
I think I’m going to put some stuff on Craig’s List. Anybody ever done that?
August 20th, 2013 at 8:55 am
Sorry you didn’t sell much, but it seems you had quality time with OH and that’s not to be sneezed at 🙂
August 20th, 2013 at 11:41 am
🙂 Absolutely!