Kendra and I have logged in the miles! We have yard saled like crazy. We have found lots of cute outfits. But I have noticed something. The nicer the housing development the higher the prices. I do not think people have the whole yard sale thing figured out! Yard Sale stuff should be priced to sell....you are getting rid of stuff...it is not a profit making sale. Okay in my mind who goes to yard sales? People that are looking for a bargin! Middle class people right? If I wanted to pay $6.00 for a baby outfit I would go to the store. I asked a lady if she would go down on an outfit and she just stared at my dumbfounded as If I had asked her to disrobe, put a daisy wreath in her hair and dance down the street. She said "Why those are practically brand new!" So I guess she can just cart them back into her house when her yard sale is over. My mom told me this is the formula for pricing large ticket items...1/4 of your purchase price...then be ready to dicker. Now for clothing that is another matter....I think .25, .50 and .75 for normal things and 1.00 to 1.50 for something especially cute. My favorite yard sale dickering story is when I tried to buy a purse( of course we were in the "nice" part of town). It was a unique looking kind of purse (unique meaning I thought it is ugly) but I knew a family member would especially like it. The price $5.00 bucks. Now I don't like spending $5.00 on ugly so I asked her if she would take $3.00. She said "Well it was a gift" I might add it still had the tag on it! I said "Oh that's nice will you take $3.00 for it though". She said "It's been in my closet and never been used sooooo nooooooo I can't go down on it." Okay so what's up?...it still had the tag...she never used it...probably never would...so why could she not sell it for $3.00. Needless to say I put it back and it is probably STILL in her closet. Now just to let you know, I do go to yard sales in all parts of town and I have found some really nice stuff from the "middle class" (which is me!) and it was CHEAP! Though I have found some odd things. My daughter and I were at a yard sale on Friday and she picked up a Ryan's (a buffet) nametag with the name Kim on it. It was $.25. She said "Mom you want to get this in case you ever work at Ryans" Hahahahah I have raised a comedian. To be fair though I can't rag on upper middle class yard sales all the time because I got some baby stuff from this absolutely sweet woman ( who lived in a BEAUTIFUL home)and it was CHEAP and in perfect condition. I really need to send her an email thanking her! But for the most part...the rule applies...the nicer the house the more $ you are going to pay for the stuff they have. You ask why do I keep going to the "nice" end if it sends me into a rant? Shouldn't I just keep to my own end of town and quit whining? It's because occasionally you will strike gold and find some nice wealthy woman that was graced with some good old fashioned yard sale sense. These are some yard sales guidelines I have come up with.
1. Do not base the price of your stuff based on the value of your home.
2. Do not sell things with your name, your children's names, dates and birth weights because NO BODY is going to buy it.
3. Have a sense of humor when we laugh at your baby's birth plaque and your nametags.
4.Do not throw your yard sale clothes on a blanket so they buyer has to bend over to sort thru the stuff. It is hard for preganant woman and their older mothers to bend over to look thru it.
5.Have change
6.Be willing to dicker
I had a yard sale once...never never never again...I don't care if I give it to somebody or it goes to the goodwill. I don't care if it is "practically new" and I could make money off of it. My last yard sale was a disasater and I ended up $10.00 in the hole. The family wanted a yard sale. Family members brought their junk over. Paid for ad, set up tables, put stuff out, oddly enough I could not part with hardly anything (hard to imagine) so I had hardly anything in it. It got late, people got hungry. I did not want to fix anything...paid for Wendys....there went my yard sale $. It rained (despite Buzz advising me it would be a lovely day). I had to put away stuff in the rain...it was all in my garage...WET BIG MESS! NEVER NEVER AGAIN!
P.S. When people started buying though I got "garage sale fever" and was running in to get stuff to sell of my husband's that I thought he did not need. He saw his boots...they were like new( he never really wore them often), I put a sticker for a $.25 on them. He removed the sticker and took his boots back in the house. He look offended. I TOLD him I was going to give him all the money for his stuff. He did not look any happier.
Well it is time to run. I am tired. My legs hurt. My head hurts. My eyes hurt. I do not want to run! But I know if I do not I will kick myself later. I must run in the morning because I do not run in the middle of the day or evening. I am a procrastinator so If I put it off it does not get done and there is just too much traffic out and people will stare at the poor pathetic woman that is panting and looking like she is in the throes of death. So I run while the town sleeps....Ususally I see very few cars on the weekends when I run early and during the weekdays when I run it is still dark so even when there is traffic they can't get a good looksie at my pain and agony . Time to shoe up!!! I hope Gwen Steffani can wake me up!
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