"Hmmmm." she says, "Good luck with that."
And then she walked away muttering something under her breath.
So Pat took the day off on Friday and literally spent the ENTIRE day pricing out his collectibles and organizing the sale. Cribs, strollers, toys, glassware, fine china, toys, high chairs, baby swings, papasaan chairs, baseball cards, posters, baby slings, books, etc., etc., etc.,
Saturday morning I was supposed to take Aries to a meet and greet so that he could find someone to adopt him, but after realizing how much work was left to be done...and how much I did not want to handle my three kids and a dog at the Farmer's Market for the day...I decided to stay and help out.
I turned the kids' rooms upside down to sort out there old toys in order to sell the things they're no longer interested in. I went through every room in the house and did the same. And then spent the afternoon in conversations like this one:
lady: HOW MUCH FOR THIS SNAKEY THING
me: First of all it's a dinosaur. Second of all 5 dollars.
lady: WHERE THE BALLS AT!?!?!
me: Hmmm...I don't know probably lost which is why I'm selling the stupid thing.
lady: WELL I MEAN WHAT KIND OF BALLS DO I GET IF I WANT BALLS FOR IT???
me: First of all I'm pretty sure you do have balls considering the tone you're choosing to take with me right now. Second by the looks of it any ball smaller than that ball hole should work just fine Einstein.
lady: Hmmph.
me: Hmmph your head.
After all is said and done, we spent hours of our time tearing our house apart, organizing chaos in our garage, haggling with strangers, juggling children, and breaking our backs moving furniture and boxes for...
...wait for it....
70 bucks.
And we just ate fifty of that for dinner tonight.
Our garage is still filled with crap. Our house is disturbingly messy after being over turned in a desperate search to add more to the sale. And my back is throbbing
Never.
Again.
Instead, I anticipate with great joy the moment when Mama Maile (or Kainoa or Laina) shares with me that she and her husband are planning a garage sale. I will look at her and smile in that sweet, knowing way that mother's smile when they know something sucks, but they know you're going to do it anyways because you need to experience it sucking firsthand.
"Hmmmm." I'll say, "Good luck with that."
And then I'll walk away muttering something under my breath.
58 comments:
hilarious. ....ANY BALL SMALLER THAN THE HOLE ...serious idiot. made for. seriously funny story.
bummer! i love garage sales! apparently that woman was in dire need of some balls....
OH yes! My mom does the SAME thing! We both love going to yard sales, but hate putting them on.
We were going to buck up and do one this past Saturday. We decided it on Friday. An hour later JUST as I picked up the phone to call her, the phone rang. It was my dad.
"Did you change your mind about the yard sale yet?"
Me: YES! I was just about to call you!
Dad: Okay, good. lol.
Except, bless your heart, the last time I did one last month, I made $300 something. What the heck!? $70?? That would SURELY make me want to never have one again.
Aren't the people just a riot to watch though??
So much for so little? Sad. Your time is worth more than $70. Getting rid of stuff is such a pain. The balls lady made a wonderful story, however.
Hahaha! Yeah, garage sales are way too much work! One year I organized a neighborhood garage sale and I paid to put it in the paper and everything and so we didn't really make any money with the costs of paper advertising....
Sounds like a hit to me. Know how much I made at my last garage sale? $0. Guess I just had a bunch of crap (plus I live in a strange place). Got up at the crack of dawn, hauled loads of junk outside, sat in the blazing sun all day, and then loaded it all into the car and took it to Goodwill anyway. That was 2 years ago. Now I just skip directly to last step. It's more financially beneficial for me as write off:).
I've never had a garage sale, but I like going to them ... my wife wants to have a yard sale someday soon ... I'm cringing just thinking about it.
Those are way to much of a pain. I sell anything of value on Ebay and donate the rest - way easier! It's too bad - I've been looking for one of those "snakey thing's"!
Check out the ReUseIt or Freecycle groups on Yahoo (there might be one in your area). You list the junk you want to get rid of, someone offers to take it off your hands. Then you don't have to pack it up and take it to Goodwill.
Of course, there's no tax write-off using this tactic, but you also don't have to lug the stuff and the kids to Goodwill to dump it off, either.
Maybe e-Bay or Craig's list would help with the rest of it? Only then you have to deal with dragging 3 kids to the post office or UPS store and ship a bunch of crap.
But at least all the moronic questions would be asked online and not in person. :)
OMG! This was too funny because I know exactly how you are feeling! We had one a few years ago and will never, ever have one again!
A lady came to ours with gloves on...medical latex gloves! I am still freaked out by this!
From then on I call charitable organizations and leave bags of stuff at the end of my driveway for them to pick up!
I hate having them and hate going to them. Thank God the only one we've had in the last 5 years, we made $900.00!
Hallie
I love going to garage/yard sales but do not like having them. They are a lot of work and if you don't have a good turn out or get the right people, it can really suck.
Last year over the 4th of July weekend, I let my daughter have one here and told her she could have the money for anything she sold of mine as long as she took care of it all. She had such a good turn out(lots of traffic going by our street and lots of vacationers :) that she sold everything but a few boxes full and she made a lot of money for a garage sale. I know she marked everything really cheap and had it really organized but it was a lot of work.
My eyes welled up with tears when I read this post! God that was funny! Thanks for a great laugh on a stressful Monday Morning!
Haha! Yeah, garage sales never are fun. At least you made more than we did this weekend. We made a whopping $2.00 - yeah. I was so ticked that I packed 90% off it up at noon and drove it all to goodwill - where I will at least get a tax credit AND where I don't have to sit in my garage all day while people lowball me on my stuff. Sigh.
After my last yard sale I will NEVER do it again, either. NOT worth the work.
Mine usually always end up like that! but for some reason when I find myself sorting thru things I say "I will put this up for the next garage sale:)
Try craigslist for the bigger stuff
Too funny... ball-less lady would have caused a tourette-like outburst from me!
As for garage sales, if you really want to sell the stuff, I'd look at craigslist. Free to list, just take some pics and post the price. You'll get an influx of emails and folks come pick the stuff up with money in hand.
Even craigslist is a lot of work though, following up on the emails and all the jazz. I would throw it all in the back of the truck and haul it down to a local Jesus house or other charity that just writes out a blank receipt for tax purposes. You fill in the amount you "think" all of it was worth and voila, you have a write-off! Everybody wins.
Give the rest to charity, get it out of your house you will feel better. We have had a few yard sales. Our problem is we had a great first yard sale, made a lot of money, so we think it may be possible to do it again. So much work though!
Been there done that, never again.
I am much too lazy to put on a yard sale. And I think my junk is worth way more than other people think it is, sooooo.... I just throw crap out or donate. Much easier. Hey, stop by and see what's up with me.... :-)
We have that dinosaur ball thingie. I think we lost all of the balls too.
We have the snaky thing.
I have no clue where it's balls are, either.
Send Ms. Balls Herself here. She can have 2 for the price of one.
I hate garage sales with every ounce of my being. I'm surprised the lady didn't offer a nickel for the "snake."
I did that once too...before I had kids, though...and I made a whole $7. So you did better than me! I figure for that work...I'd rather load it up...and take it to a thrift store. I can make more money on the tax deduction than the garage sale! However, if when I'm sorting I think something might be worth something...I'll either pass it on to a friend, or take it to a consignment shop. No garage sale for me...that is HAVING one..I'll shop at them, just won't have one!
Haha...I'm sorry you only made $70.
I love going to garage sales but I hate having them. You always tend do more work than what it's worth. Now, we just donate everything.
I have the snakey thing too! I got it at a garage sale and it had all of the balls LOL. And now my son has outgrown it and it takes up a massive amount of space in our little place. Was thinking about selling it at a yard sale. Maybe not.
I just saw this snakey thing at my local goodwill...LOL I find all kinds of great kiddo stuff there. Have you looked at a local thrift store???
BTW I am a germ-o-phobe, so of course I have to sanitize everything before I give it to my nieces...But they LOVE their barbie play house I bought them for $5....
Good luck, and I am back! YEAH ME!
That is funny! I tell my mom we are having a garage sale and she says "Let me know when, I'll bring some stuff too". Which really means, yep I'll bring all my crap to your house so that when it doesn't sell it's at your house and not mine! HA!
$70 is a fortune, I only made $25 at my last and owed $15 just for the newspaper ad...and I just got rid of the dinosaur toy because I lost my balls too...lol!!!
Just don't do an estate sale without professional help. You would not believe the lines that form when you have one— mostly antique dealers who ask 10 bucks for something and you see it in their store for 200 bucks (oh the shame).
I love garage sales - but I bet all the good stuff woulda been gone by the time I got there.
Helluva commute , but I woulda brought my own balls.
come visit me!!
Sorry it was a bust :o(
But great fodder for the blog. :o)
Haha that is hilarious but the dinasaur is very cute!!
Dag, now that sucks huge balls.
You have reminded me why I dont need to have a yard sale, despite having crap all over the house. To the garbage I guess!
70 bucks?
Oy vey.
At least it makes for a good story, as you just proved!
Ugh...and a garage sale is pending in my near future (whimper whimper)
I so loath garage sales; to much work for too little funds. I feel your pain.
I am not wild about yard sales either. The best thing to do is promise yourself that everything that is left will be packed up at the end of the day and taken to goodwill or the dump. My hubby keeps suggesting that we have one and I keep putting him off. :)
I love the people that come and get all uppity at garage sales. I am not knocking them, because you can find some good stuff, but come on its a garage sale. I surprised she did ask about a return policy
hahahaha I would have increased the price on her, to make up for the balls... she would not have understood that reverse business anyway.
Yeah money from a garage sale is nice but it is not worth it. that is why I just donate all my things to good will and take the tax credit.
but I guess in doing that I miss out on the chance to rub it into my kids faces about how much this garage sale is going to suck. May have to rethink.
Timing is everything when it comes to garage sales. My mom and I do a joint one every year the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Everyone is shopping then). And it brings in BIG bucks. I never leave with less than $250. One year I made $500, but I had some big ticket items.
Box it all up and pull it back out 5 months and try again.
That was funny!
Try Freecycling the stuff you want to get rid of. There is Freecycle.com or .net and there are generally Yahoo Freecycle groups for most areas. I love posting what I have to get rid of, receiving several replies asking for it, and then someone coming to my house to get it! Bu Bye unneeded items!
I also post my free stuff at church or on my blog. Oh, and a group of us get together once a month to offload stuff we no longer want or need.
Then there is always Craig's list for the stuff you really want to sell.
This cracked me up because any garage sale I have ever had has SUCKED!! Seriously, my sister has garage sales and makes tons of money. I can send my stuff to her house and make money. Once we both had a garage sale on the same day......I made $45 and she made $800. $800 SERIOUSLY PISSED ME OFF!! Anyway late Friday night we decided to have a garage sale then went out to the garage and sorted for thirty minutes THEN GAVE UP! I thought about how LITTLE money we would make and decided sleeping in would be time better spent!!
For you
http://www.elftea.com/2009/06/namine-at-clutter-box-has-given-me-this.html
lol! I say 'Never again'...every time. Do I ever learn my lesson? Nope!
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Same story, different time and state. I have friends who make hundreds of dollars on their garage sales. What Is Up With That??
Gotta love haggling with strangers at garage sales! I had on a couple of years ago and get this...I witnessed a customer changing the price tag on an item!
That was my last one...EVER!
Really? 70 bucks, that's it? We made 1200 at our one and only garage sale. Greg is itching to have another one, because anything not going in the house is crowding his work shed. Lol. I told him it has to wait until the fall. Much to hot right now for a garage sale. Everything would melt!
I am laughing my aussie head off here because WE DID THE SAME THING. Our garage sale cost us one full day, lots of organising, toing and froing with various people who arrived at 5am, yes 5am and waited in our driveway til we "woke up" all for the grand total of $60.00! And I think we also bought fish and chips that night for tea, so there half of it goes already.... lolol Oh and had heaps of stuff left over that we ended up giving to charity.
I made about $400.00 at my garage sale. Did you post in on Craig's List? Also, I have noticed that Thursday is the big day. That is when I have always made my moolah. On the upshot, if you want to get rid of everything without selling it you can post a "free but must take all" on craig's list and a random person with a large vehicle will be more than happy to come and take all of your junk off of your hands.
(I am the garage sale guru at my church so if you need to know the tricks let me know.)
Crack. Me. Up. And how did I miss a dog? I totally missed the dog. Whoops.
Bummer they didn't turn out so well in terms of $$ but what a great lesson. I have already determined that I'm NEVER doing a garage sale, but that just clinchedit. Again.
I'm laughing because I KNOW!!!
Did you place an ad? Because if you don't place an ad, you don't get those nutsy garage sale people who show up 3 hours early at 6:00 AM or swing by at the end and offer to take all the crap off your hands for 50 cents.
Haha! I had my first garage sale last year a little while after we moved into our house. We got rid of a ton of stuff and made like 230 bucks!
People will ask the strangest questions and look at you like $1 for a pair of jeans is still too high. I'm sorry. Take it or leave it.
Sorry it wasn't so successful for you!
Oh man and here I am planning a sale. Once I helped my friend at her sale and a man insisted on paying with 3 cent stamps. He argued so much my friend finally let him.
One word: bonfire.
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