one of our many neon signs:
if you've ever organized a yard sale, you know it takes hours and hours of preparation and can sometimes be enough to make you feel like a crazy person.
challenges we faced: getting high on jumbo permanent markers while making signs, one of our dogs (briece) peeing on a pile of men's shirts for sale, crazy schedules that didn't allow for much preparation time together, and pesky early birds who arrived at 6:30 am instead of 7.
but despite the annoyances that come with organizing a sale, we had a great time and managed to make some money. sweet!
our driveway was packed with trash-turned-treasure, including clothes, shoes, home decor, books, records, and tons of random stuff that garage-salers live for:
(it's hard to see, but those ladders are supporting rods with TONS of clothes hanging on them. our dad is such a helpful harry -- he created some wooden supports for the rods so we could hang it all. he is a genius!)
it was in the high 90s but felt like it was 150 degrees outside. thankfully, our totally awesome dad rigged up this umbrella with dog chains and wooden stakes to shield us from the sun. what a guy!
(tara: thumbs up. trisha: get me out of here.)
in addition to all of our used items, i decided to set up a table of hair treasures. i'm so glad i did! a few people walked away with great hair accessories at discounted prices. one of our early bird customers even requested them by name (before i had them set up & displayed. . .)
(two of our neighbors, now proud hair treasures customers!)
discussing something important (and not complaining at all about the beastly temperatures) :
our paparazzi dad took this from inside the house. i spotted him despite his stealthy attempts at remaining unnoticed. (please note my wardrobe change. i was a sweaty betty!)
ps. my dad took all of these pictures. he has his own digital camera for work and busted it out so proudly to document our day. we continually referred to him as "#1 garage sale dad" all day.
here are some more pictures of our signs. one guy even said that our signs should win an award for the best ones ever! even though our sale took place on a sunday, we had tons of people shopping all day. maybe we should owe it to good marketing?
one of trisha's designs:
i kept it simple:
arrows are key. we actually put arrows on signs in our neighborhood, too, to help direct traffic.
we used open house signs from our mom's office (where i am a super fancy part-time receptionist). they worked out great because we didn't have to hammer them into the ground or tape them on random road signs.
we put our signs out at 1:30 am before our sale. for one, trisha dropped me off on a roundabout and drove in circles until i was finished positioning it perfectly. had to be there?
next time you do have your own sale, you should definitely:
*advertise it on craigslist: be sure to list specific items of interest and even attach pictures of your best items.
*mention it on facebook: you never know who might stop by! (one of the best parts of my day was seeing my friend jeri. we were booth neighbors at the castleton united methodist church craft show back in february!)
*make attractive signs: apparently you can tell a book by its cover -- it might even bring in unsuspecting customers. we used neon poster boards, bold lettering, and balloons (deflated in our photos - oopsies).
*try it on a sunday: we got multiple comments about sunday being the "new saturday" when it comes to garage sales. you never know!
now that i have all that extra stuff out of the way, i have no excuses for why i haven't started packing yet. the only one i can come up with is that i hate packing, which is obviously unacceptable. hopefully i'll find the motivation deep down inside -- and soon!
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