A Long Day

So I called several of my neighbors and suggested we all do a yardsale the same day. I told them I would take care of signs and the ads in the local paper and all they had to do was put a sign up at their house and send people further back into the subdivision (I am just about the last house). 6 families said they were interested! Hurray, that qualified us as a Multi-family sale. I sent in the ads, made the signs, and then spent an hour or so on Friday riding the loop and putting up signs (there are several ways to get to our house.

I had watched the weather all week. We are actually in a drought and all they were calling for was a 30% chance of evening showers. By 10:00 there was no rain and everyone was in bed, except for me. I went to bed shortly thereafter. No sign of rain and none in the forecast.

I got up at 6 and first thing I did was go to feed the cats so they wouldn't be underfoot while I was putting stuff on the deck. I walked onto wet boards with a heavy mist falling. I couldn't believe it! And if you do yardsales, you know the mist is the worst kind of early morning weather conditions, because people get up, they look out and go....welll people won't be putting out stuff in this and they go back to bed! I just cried. We've been going through a lot lately and it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Daniel went and checked the signs. They were curling up, but he uncurled them. I dried off the tables and hoped for the best. It misted off and on until about 10:00. By 11:00 we had had 2 visitors and I had sold $16 worth of stuff. We had lots of books, great clothing deals...but if no one comes, it doesn't matter how great the deals are.

So I left my 15 year old neighbor and my daughter in charge and I went to visit the other sales. Three other neighbors actually ended up participating. I realized that the first neighbor in the loop had put their stuff out along the road and they were in and out of their house doing stuff. So if someone came to their house and there wasn't anyone to greet them and tell them otherwise, they might assume that was it and leave! So, I drove back to my house, got some extra signs and put them up on the road past that house so people would be enticed further in. By the time I got back to my house, 2 more cars were behind me! We saw more customers between 11 and 12:30 than we did between 8 and 11. In the end I sold 31.50. I had spent 30.00 So a morning of aggravation reaped 1.50....grr.

Daniel had set up some stuff at our office across the street. The 31.50 we made included 5.00 worth of nails that he sold. Jack and Katrina had set up lemonade and snack stands and they had a ton of books, toys and videos for sale. They made about 13.00 between the two of them. So not the most productive use of my time. But the neighbors all seemed to enjoy it and one lady said that in all of years of yard sailing she had never seen anything like it.

So the neighbors and I conversed and if next Saturday is clear, we are going to do this again! I am going to do the signs a bit differently because while they looked great in the house, they were a bit hard to read along the road. We are not going to run anymore ads and we will hope for a nice clear day.

My family was so frustrated that we treated ourselves to a late lunch at Pizza Hut. On one hand, I felt guility about splurging with the money when we have so little coming in right now, but on the other hand, every now and then even when you are in the most desparate straits, you need a morale boost.

A friend of mine called me about 9 pm last night. She must have picked up on my unhappy vibes and she made me feel much better just listening to me and talking to me. Also, I decided yesterday that I have too much on my plate as far as 'businesses' go, so I have closed my eBay store. I have agonized over this eBay thing and agonized over it. I love books, but I personally feel like there are a glut of books on the eBay market and for me that is the least expensive investment up front, so while I personally know of things that sell better, I can't afford to invest in them.

I will continue to sell items we want to get rid of (nice clothes, videos, etc) on eBay from time to time and I have some friends that I sell for occasionally (and one who actively tries to promote me as an eBay seller). But other than that, I am going to stop investing so much time and energy into a business that for me has had limited success. That will free up my time to do other things. So now I have 300 books in my inventory that I am going to be looking to get rid of in one fashion or another. Wish me luck with that!

Today is another day and it dawned bright and sunny and our moods are sunny right along with it.