We woke up on Saturday morning to a miserable, rainy, generally yucky day. Not what I was hoping for on the day of our garage sale. We bought balloons to put out and as soon as they got outside, they just flopped over. Thankfully, it was a true garage sale and we were inside. We advertised on Craig’s List and got some people from that ad. We also put out signs in the major intersections and got a few people from those. It helps that we live across the street from a shopping center so there’s a fair amount of traffic coming through on Saturday.

We had a steady stream of people come through. My favorite were the ladies who came in speaking Spanish criticizing some of my prices. I had $30 for a piece of luggage and they said “$30? Who is going to pay $30?” To which I replied, “Hola, como estas?” I think they were a little surprised. They did buy something for $1 which I thought was out of obligation. It made me panic for a second and question my pricing, but since it was only 8:15 I decided to relax. The luggage sold for $30 a few hours later.

I think we sold about 60% of our stuff. Most of the stuff that didn’t sell was all the knick-knacky stuff, scrapbooking stuff, picture frames, sweaters and handbags. I will say that I probably priced the handbags high because I thought I could get a good price for them on Ebay. We divided up the stuff into goodwill and Ebay. The goodwill pile is considerably smaller than it was pre-garage sale. The Ebay pile is also smaller than it was. Yay!

So, you’re probably curious as to how much money we made. And the answer is (drumroll please) $287. It exceeded my breakeven point. And I feel it was a fair return on the amount of time I put into it. And I did put a lot of time into the preparation. The last two photos are of a “table” I put together. I was needing more horizontal space and couldn’t find another table so I balanced two planks of wood on our recycling bins and then threw a bedsheet over it. Actually, it did the trick even though it looks pretty unstable.

I’ll put together some garage sale tips and put those in another post. It was successful this time, but I’m not going to be doing this for a few years.

Tags: garage sale

Oh my goodness! I am looking forward to tomorrow at 3 o’clock when the garage sale is over and the unsold items are boxed up for Purple Heart. This garage sale has been a lot of work. It’s one of those things that is as much work at you want it to be and I’m hoping we see some results. I’ve decided that $150 is my breakeven point. We shall see. Almost everything has been priced and arranged. Pretty much all we have to do on Saturday is open up the garage. Yay!

This hasn’t left much time for crafting. I did pull out my scraps and machine for an hour on Monday to make the cute little books in the picture. They are from Joelle Hoverson’s book Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. The book on the right is my favorite. I’m usually pretty matchy-matchy and with this one, I didn’t obsess as much. But this was a very fun project, easy to do, and a great way to use up scraps. I love Joelle’s book!

Lastly, I have been doing some planning for a master bedroom redesign. The walls are pink, not bright pink but more like the lightest pink in this fabric. I’ve been toying with the idea of repainting the room a neutral khaki color but haven’t done anything about it. I’d have to hire a painter because the room has cathedral ceilings and that’s beyond my comfort level. Plus I really need new floors and the money would be better spent there. Anyhoo, the lastest issue of Country Living gave me an idea - black and white. And I’m inspired by my absolute new favorite show, Find Your Style on HGTV. In the show, the designer, Karen McAloon, goes to the house, looks around the room and identifies their style based on what she sees in the room. Then, the homeowner picks 4 design elements and then they shop based on those elements, arrange the furniture and Karen provides advice and does last minute finishing touches. Most people learn by doing and that’s the foundation of the show. Love it! Anyway, my four design elements would be the pink on the walls and as an accent in throw pillows, honey colored wood furniture, black and white fabric, and dark metal finish (my headboard). I’ve done some shopping (at the Target) but I already have a lot of what I need. I’ve got ideas for custom art pieces which I’m hoping with cost me about $20. I should set a budget and see what I can do for $200. Okay, I’m going to have to tally up what I’ve already spent. This is fun!

I’m hoping that Sunday will be spent relaxing with my feet up. Bill too. We deserve it. Happy Mother’s Day to everyone (pet mommies count too!).

Tags: decorating, projects, garage sale