Im Glad Its Over With... Todays Yard Sale

diggummup

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I'm Glad It's Over With... Today's Yard Sale

Nobody ever talks about their own yard sales so I figured i'd give it a shot.

It was a long day for sure. Sale was postponed due to rain last weekend. Started out at 5:30 this morning setting up. Had people pulling up before 7, when I snapped these couple shots. Didn't even have everything set up yet, banana boxes still strewn everywhere. Listed as 8am start time with "absolutely no early birds". Turned away the first 6 cars and gave up. All in all I made just over $700, not too bad considering the most expensive item sold for $20 and the vast majority were less than $5 including lots and lots of $1 items. I had 3 van loads to start with, ended up with 2 banana boxes of stuff i'm keeping and about 6 i'm giving to Salvation Army. I forgot to snap an after the sale shot.



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These tables were emptied (almost) and refilled 3 times during the 5 hours of the sale-

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billjustbill

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Thanks for you pics. Garage sales are WORK! ....and, the early birds are always there... early. Looks like you had it all clean and organized, well done!! Making it easy on your customers does take a lot of early prep work and setup time, for sure.

I've found that "Going" to garage sales is much EASIER than having one.. except the one my wife and I went to yesterday. Listed as starting at 7:00 A.M., there were four cars of early birds that arrived during the wait. Then, the two young wives finally got the garage door open. I quickly asked, "Do you have jewelry today?" One said they did. As they started carrying out their tables with kid clothes and toys, they kept going around a large ice chest that appeared to have been setting outside overnight. So, I reached down to simply scoot it long ways so they could get by easier...

The ice chest turned out to be rock-solid heavy at first tug. I thought it might be full of tools, so I gave a big jerk. Turned out, it was full-to-the-brim, of water.... as it ran down my pant leg, having sat in 104 temps the day before, it was old hot water. It sloshed out between the lid and the side of the ice chest. Not only did it soak my pant legs, my right sock and into my right shoe, it sloshed out so bad it made a 4' wide path that ran down the length of driveway.... That's when the other young wife said, "Oh, sorry. Some friends borrowed it and left it like that here on the drive way. With this garage sale, we haven't gotten around to cleaning it because I think it's got old ham in the bottom...." That's when the smell hit......

As I looked up at her, I simply asked, "Could you show me the jewelry?"

She looked back at me on her return trip to get the last table to set out and said, "Oh, we don't have any Jewelry."
 

Catobra

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I know how you feel, "Glad it's over", but you did a great job-$700!
 

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diggummup

diggummup

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Thanks for you pics. Garage sales are WORK! ....and, the early birds are always there... early. Looks like you had it all clean and organized, well done!! Making it easy on your customers does take a lot of early prep work and setup time, for sure.

I've found that "Going" to garage sales is much EASIER than having one.. except the one my wife and I went to yesterday. Listed as starting at 7:00 A.M., there were four cars of early birds that arrived during the wait. Then, the two young wives finally got the garage door open. I quickly asked, "Do you have jewelry today?" One said they did. As they started carrying out their tables with kid clothes and toys, they kept going around a large ice chest that appeared to have been setting outside overnight. So, I reached down to simply scoot it long ways so they could get by easier...

The ice chest turned out to be rock-solid heavy at first tug. I thought it might be full of tools, so I gave a big jerk. Turned out, it was full-to-the-brim, of water.... as it ran down my pant leg, having sat in 104 temps the day before, it was old hot water. It sloshed out between the lid and the side of the ice chest. Not only did it soak my pant legs, my right sock and into my right shoe, it sloshed out so bad it made a 4' wide path that ran down the length of driveway.... That's when the other young wife said, "Oh, sorry. Some friends borrowed it and left it like that here on the drive way. With this garage sale, we haven't gotten around to cleaning it because I think it's got old ham in the bottom...." That's when the smell hit......

As I looked up at her, I simply asked, "Could you show me the jewelry?"

She looked back at me on her return trip to get the last table to set out and said, "Oh, we don't have any Jewelry."
Yeah right, let me leave this cooler with a stinky rotten ham in it out here in the way, while I set up my sale. Some people have no common sense.
They wanted to get you out of there, now that you stunk the place up trying to help them. LOL
Hopefully you made up for it at the next sale.


What did the Watt and the big crock bowls go for?
The Watt went for cheap, $15 for the large pitcher, and $5 each for the smaller one and bowl. The crock bowls went for $5 and $3. I will say that hardly anything was in "perfect" condition, a small fleabite here or small scratch there. It was a chip and dent sale, kind of. Unless it's a rare piece, I try to sell only the best quality on Ebay to avoid any problems. As you probably know, even though you take photos and explain in detail any condition issues, there will always be that one person that will find fault and I'd just rather not go through it.
I sold a few pieces of Roseville and one JB Owens Utopian piece for $1-2 each because they were damaged very badly. I almost just threw them away beforehand but figured someone might want them. The JB Owens was crazing so badly that big thick chunks had literally started falling off of it all over, the Roseville had big chunks broken off the lip and/or major cracks, but someone still bought them. I did hold onto one box of Fire King jadeite that I will probably list. I couldn't see "giving it away" at the sale, even though I have a ton of it. Even with small utensil marks, it still sells well. That and 2 bakelite Mah Jong sets that people didn't want to give $40 for that I know will get at least $80-$100 on the bay. A few things I refused to just give away. I gotta sale to run to right now (Sunday only), I can't stop. LOL
 

bazinga

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Wow, that's cheap for damaged Roseville. I see damaged Roseville pieces still bring $10-30 at auction around here. Amazes me how much some people are willing to spend on it at times when if you just go to the right auction you can pick up the same piece in perfect condition for under $50 these days.

I had to look up JB Owens. I had never heard of it. Only 21 total pieces on ebay right now. I guess it's not that common to find it.
 

billjustbill

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"The Rest of the Story..."

Yeah right, let me leave this cooler with a stinky rotten ham in it out here in the way, while I set up my sale. Some people have no common sense.
They wanted to get you out of there, now that you stunk the place up trying to help them. LOL
Hopefully you made up for it at the next sale.

Hey there Diggummup,

If you saw the two wives, and all the kids clothes, you'd have a picture of Modern Day Yuppies...:tongue3:

We got home with the smell and all windows down... Plus, the sale was across from the new high school built close to I-20, so 65mph on the Interstate straight back home made the suffering time shorter and offered lots of fresh air..... My shoes, and one especially, has had to be soaked with a spray from a kitchen cleaner that has bleach, but as of this afternoon, the odor is gone after another day in direct sun...

Yet, this sidetrack didn't cause a total disaster. There was one garage sale with two older widow sisters selling their husband's tools. I bought a 5-gallon bucket half full for $10, and a full-to-the-brim 5 gallon bucket for $25. Files, rasps, metal rulers, a Stanley spokeshave, a Rosewood large 14" swing (size) brace and several bits that are extra long and steel cutting bits by Stanley, large and small cast iron American made C-clamps, short Jorgensen bar "F" clamps, heavy-duty Miter clamps, wooden handle hacksaw, Plumb hatchets, hammers, screwdrivers, twist drills, and a tiny 3" long block plane.

On the way to the car, I looked down and under the front edge of a table. I bought this exact shear and an extra pair of sharp blades that sell for $74 a pair, all for $10.....

Miter Trimmer - Rockler Woodworking Tools :hello2:

Went to another that listed R/C supplies. Must have been the X-husbands, but she was selling everything with the help of her mother and a guy neighbor. I bought a lot more Heavy-duty C-clamps for $2 each, or less,,,, Most of the R/C things were based on electric motors, but there was about a dozen different kits. I looked, but between old "Sterling " kits with their "million parts", and many Almost Ready to Fly's, nothing grabbed my attention....

Stopping at unlisted sales by following their signs, I gathered about 43 grams of Sterling, and a tiny bit of 10kt from an old cufflink.... for under $3.00.

Overall, I found a lot of clamps of all types this week. Like I've said before, "You never know what you'll find... (or smell) " ;>)

Keep up the good "Fundraising",

Bill
 

jerseyben

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Diggum,

Are you having your annual sale sometime soon?

Please post up pics for us all to enjoy.
 

G.I.B.

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Lot's of work for sure.

I'll give you $20 for the blue tent.
 

Butter Hat

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I know how you feel, "Glad it's over", but you did a great job-$700!


Amen! We used to have one every year, then hit The Diminishing Returns Zone. But people in the neighborhood would always ask, 'When's your next sale?'

I would have been all over everything Digummup had!
 

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diggummup

diggummup

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Diggum,

Are you having your annual sale sometime soon?

Please post up pics for us all to enjoy.
I've been wanting/needing to have one for months, but something always comes up. I really, really need to. When I do, i'll post pics.
 

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