Garage Sale: The Sequel
The weather was cool today but at least the rain held off as we opened for another day of business. Ken was up bright and early to post the signs but because it was a long weekend and a holiday Monday, there was almost no traffic and the customers came very slowly at first.
It was a chance for me to snap a few photos with few people and no rain on my lens. The carport contained it all except for a few extra items that Delores brought.
One thing she brought, which kept four of us busy for an hour, was a huge box of pennies. We had several bags of coin wrappers and went to it. Six thousand pennies later, we were done and it added another $60 to our kitty. Thanks, Delores.
Who was going to buy our picked over leftovers?
We slashed prices and made deals nobody could refuse. We increased the size of our 'free' pile.
The mountain of crystal we had just was not selling well. The beautiful figurines that were once somebodies pride and joy, were sitting, lonely and unloved.
Who could not give this beauty a new home? Her sister, behind her, was equally perplexed.
These beauties were left right to the end, as were the twin angels below. Has everyone abandoned the aesthetic for the practical?
At the end of the day, we had made an extra $300.00 and had eliminated quite a bit of packing up and hauling off. We will have a final tally in a day or two. My task tomorrow is to empty the tools from my truck and haul all the goodies to the Thrift Store. Fortunately, we have a large selection of such establishments to chose from so I am hoping I come back empty handed.
A huge thank you to all who donated items. Many of you are readers of this blog. Without you, there would be no sale, and then no new bedding for the orphans, to go along with the new mattresses they just received. And, of course, an extra big thank you to Bill and Ella, who worked tirelessly on Friday to help set up and price, and then back again bright and early on Sat. to put in a full day of selling, and keeping us dry with the tent and tarps. And to busylizzy for pricing, for what seemed like days, storing a lot of stuff in her basement for the last six months, setting up, selling, and providing us with coffee and danish and other sustaining nutrients. And to Delores for all her donated items, many of them personal items that were hard to part with, for helping set up, for selling, and helping pack up at the end. And to Henry and Heidi for coming out despite both of them having health issues. and to Frank and Elma for the tables and moral support in times of a relapse of health issues and a multitude of spring projects on the farm. And to Ken and Jan. It is their fault we do this insanity every year. But wow! What workers and organizers. Both days, full time, setting up, advertising and signage, selling, cleanup, trucking, and just doing whatever it took to make it work.
After five years, we know what it takes to do this, but we still do it. I cannot speak for the others, but I think the reasons are many. It is a chance to help, in a small way, the less fortunate of the world. It is an opportunity to work together and have a lot of fun doing it. It is a chance to meet people of our neighbourhood and our city. It is a chance to 'clean house' of the extraneous materialism we are all guilty of. And it is a chance to feel that warm glow of being dead tired after accomplishing something of great value.
See you again next year.
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