Cleaning up while cleaning up

Well we finally got around to the yard sale that has been several months in the making. After moving into the new house back in February our garage has steadily been collecting "extra" stuff that we either don't need or don't want. This came to a head last month when Jenn cancelled her storage unit and the remainder of stuff we had been hiding (out of site out of mind) found a home in the garage.

Turns out that having to park both of our cars in the driveway for the past month was sufficient motivation to finally hold the yard sale. So after a long night sorting, organizing, pricing and setting up we managed to roll out of bed at 6:30 to let people rummage through our belongings searching for treasure.

It is an interesting thing to watch people poke through your things and haggle over the price of anything and everything. Is it really so much to expect people to pay a full dollar for a purse that started the day being marked at $5 and probably cost upwards of $30 when it was new? Apparently so, at one point Jenn was offered 50 cents for a purse and when she didn't budge on the dollar price it was put back. It amazes me how cheap people can be sometimes. Not that we were against cutting deals (something we did with great frequency all day long), after all the goal was to get rid of stuff, but sometimes you just have to shake your head at it all.

Another interesting yard sale phenomenon are the swoopers. Late in the day when pickings are getting slim, the good stuff is gone, the crowds are slowing down, sure enough someone will come in and cut a great deal on a bunch of crap that was destined for the dumpsters. As we helped this lady load her large truck with the rest of our clothing, some low end furniture and about 50 VHS tapes we noticed this clearly was not her first yard sale today as the truck was stock full of goodies. This led us to ponder what will happen with our stuff. Will it really end up with this lady or is she just a yard sale middleman? Buying our stuff for 20 bucks and peddling it to someone who thinks they can sell it for more? Tough to say.

What is safe to say is we are glad it is over. We were able to get rid of most of our unwanted furniture and many many boxes of clutter that have been residing in our garage these past 7 or 8 months and we made a nice chunk of change along the way that went straight to the wedding fund.

Despite the work and the early morning having a yard sale is a fun and profitable way clean house. Plus we got to meet some more of our neighbors. Now all that is left is getting rid of the stuff even a swooper wouldn't want.

** It was brought to my attention that I failed to mention the wonderful support we received from our good friend Kim who, on her day off no less, woke up early to bring us coffee and hot chocolate. We rewarded her with some great deals on a couple of DVD's, a purse and a pair of stinky shoes. Danke Moto!