Wednesday, February 13

People Are Just Plain Crazy

Yard Sale. Worked for about 2 weeks getting everything sorted and ready. This was a huge process for me..putting it in the "to go" and then taking stuff back out. And, while I had sorted most of the vintage/antique pieces I held off on pricing..waiting for Dawn to come down and help me!!



To save time, I'll let you know that we worked until 2:30 or 3 the morning before and were up and ready to begin set up at 6AM. We weren't very pretty, but we were up.







Opened the garage door at 6 to start setting up the tables and as I peer out into the DARK I see cars already parked in front of the house!! We got the tables set up...we had 8 long banquet type tables and 3 medium sized tables...and the setting up process began. My good friend Jill, who brought her bunch o' junk over, was the table supplier. Her Hub works for the city and he borrowed them for us. Good thing. I had originally asked for 3 tables..whatever was I thinking??



Anyway...the crowd began to grow and even though we had the end of the driveway blocked by a table, the people kept creeping in. "I want that quilt", "I want that teapot", Can I see that chair?", "Can I look at the linens?" Now the newspaper ad was very clear...NO EARLY SHOPPING. Obviously these people don't read well or they just don't care.



At 7:40 one lady says "It's 8. Why don't they just open? What's the big deal?". Well, I had heard just about all I wanted to hear and I spun around on my converse sneakers and through clenched teeth said. "It is not 8 o'clock...can you tell time? We will open at 8!" I knew at that point we were facing a hostile crowd....



At 7:45 we let them in and they RAN...RAN to the tables. One guy pushed another guy down to the ground to get to some reproduction Americana bunting that was priced at just $3. Dawn was yelling, "Dude...it's just fabric and it's not EVEN old!" I mean...it was like nothing I had seen before. So, the first 30 minutes were pretty scary and I do think we made the bulk of the $$ then. As it got later and hotter, the crowds thinned and most shoppers were there because of the sign we put down on the corner. It really had nothing to do with the great old stuff. We did have some dealers there and we negotiated on some of the stuff, but not on everything. We did ask one lady to leave because she was incredibly rude and guess what?? It's MY stuff and I'll price it however I want to....if you don't want it, put it down and leave...and she did.



After a much needed run to Dunkin Donuts, we got a second wind and began re-organizing. Finally, the end was drawing near...it was so hot and we were sunburned, so we put the "good" stuff in one pile and the "donate" stuff in another pile. I was amazed to see what was left and what had sold. It's true...one man's trash is another man's treasure. Thank goodness. ;)



SO...how does this sound? I will take some decent (ha) pictures of the stuff that's left...and that some have asked about...and post them all at the same time. Then if anyone wants anything, just post a comment and whichever post time is first will be the one who gets it. We are planning another sale sometime next month, so whatever doesn't go will just be added to that pile. There are some sweet sweet saucers..so shabby...some linens and hankies, old kitchen stuff...good stuff. I will have to take some time to get the pictures done and all of that, so I'm thinking maybe Monday or Tuesday..but, I'll let you know the day and time, so it can be fair to everyone. Yes??



I don't think I want to do another big sale like this for a while....such stress can't be good. Ack.



I will let you know on FRIDAY about the little French girl...and yes, she is on the potty, hence the title "Business Is Business"!






3 comments:

Andi said...

I personally think you're very brave to have a yard sale. I did one once with another girl years ago and said at that time I would rather just give my stuff away or throw it away than go through the ordeal again. I hope you made a ton of money!!! I'm glad you survived...I think rude people should be shot!!! I guess there's a law against it though...

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

cant wait for this

Yaroslavna said...

I just happened to come across your blog. Not so funny to have rude people. If you ever be brave enough to have another sale, put "EARLY BIRDS PAY DOUBLE" sign up and stick to it. Or no early birds at all.