Weekend Recap

I have had a corner of my basement dedicated to yard sale items for about 3 years now. Every time I do cleaning or decluttering and I don't know what to do with something, I put it down in that corner.  The problem was, that corner started to take over my basement.  It just started creeping outwards with more and more stuff I didn't feel like taking care of.
I have said all summer that I was going to have a yard sale and then dates kept falling through. I finally invited a friend from work to come over and help out and we set a date. I didn't actually do much other than that, but now I had an accomplice and this was going to get done!! The Friday before the yard sale I posted it in Craigslist and Facebook.  That's about it. I didn't even really start looking through things until Friday evening after Frances went to bed (my mom kept the boys, so they wouldn't be in the way).  My dad helped me bring a bunch of stuff upstairs and we put it all in that tent you see in the background.
I woke up at about 4:30 on Saturday morning and got moving again. My brother Alan had come up the night before and he helped get things set out.  I didn't price a single thing. We just made it up as we went along. I really couldn't decide if my goal was to make money or to get rid of stuff.  It was a little bit of both, I guess.
We didn't do too badly. I made about $100. My parents had donated some stuff as well as my older brother. We sold most of the big stuff and everything else went to Goodwill afterwards.  I did pull aside some of the leftover clothes to give to friends.  I hate parting with my kids' clothes. I had to repeatedly tell myself "The memories of my kids in these clothes are not attached to clothes themselves." And I cried. I even get teary just typing that out!  I like giving our clothes away to friends, because then I know I'll see them again and smile.  My friend Stacey used to give me hand-me-downs for Henry and I always teased her because when she would see Henry wearing them, she would comment about it. I used to wonder how she remembered all those clothes, but now I know.  They just stick in your head!
I have missed being able to go to yard sales this summer. I just feel like it's too much getting the kids in and out of the car over and over again.  Yard sales are such a great place to get good deals on clothes, especially for kids! I had one woman visit with just that mindset!
I had placed a sign near the clothes that they were "25c a piece, small bag for $1.00 and large bag for $5.00." I thought that was a pretty good deal because you can get a lot of clothes in a grocery bag! And I had already told my friend and my brother not to haggle with anyone over the definition of a small bag versus a large bag. I had a woman come over and ask me if I would take a bag price on the clothes. I glanced over, and the sign was half-covered, so I just smiled and said "Sure!"  She said, "Does $3 sound fair?" and I said "OK."  I turned around to get her a bag and when I turned back she said, "Is it okay if I use my own bag?"  Ummmm...OK?  I said "OK," but I was really feeling a bit tricked.  Then I watched her go through all the bins of clothes and stuff them in her HUGE bag and I was feeling VERY tricked!  Don't get me wrong, I am glad that I was able to get rid of clothes, but she knew what she was doing when she started filling that bag and I'll bed she got them all for about 10c a piece!  GRRRR! Plus, she paid me in advance, so I wasn't sure what to say to her. I am not one to be confrontational and she really took advantage of that.
In the end, I cleaned out a huge area in my basement. I made a lot of people happy with new finds. I spent a fun day with Megan, my brother and my dad, and I had a hoot watching Frances sell drinks to our customers! All in all it was a good day!