Monday, May 25, 2009

VERY THANKFUL and also...........

exhausted, aching all over and sunburned!!!!!!


Part of being frugal is having a giant garage sale.....which is what Mickey & I did Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.


Actually we have been preparing and planning for this event for weeks. We had everything ready and were just waiting for our 22 days of rain to cease!!!



The preparation took a lot of time. I had piles and piles of Aric & Oksana's clothes they had outgrown and hadn't been cleared out in years. I washed all of them and then ironed each and every piece. Here is one, of several piles, I am working on.

We were so grateful to have the 5th wheel in our back yard where I could hang, and stack all the items as we got them ready.



A couple of shots of everything set up and ready.


We did very well on selling things and it was certainly worth all the time and effort we put into it. We also feel good because we know we were able to bless the people who purchased the items with good deals for them.


Those of you who know my "attachment" to my ice cream buckets will get a kick out of this.......I had 11 pair of Aric's socks rolled up and I placed them in the bucket to hold them (I truly use these buckets for everything!!). One lady bought all 11 pair and when I was going to get a plastic bag to put them in she said, "Oh, I'll just carry them in this little bucket." I said, "Oh no, you can't have the bucket. I use it all the time." She said, "I was thinking it would make a nice little scrub bucket." So I placed the socks in the plastic bag :o) I had to laugh at myself. Especially now that our freezer went out I can no longer buy the ice cream in those buckets :o(

Here in our little town to have a Garage Sale you must get a permit from City Hall and you must get signed permission to put up a Garage Sale Sign in some one's yard and you CANNOT put up a sign on any City right-a-way. You can have the sale for up to 3 days but cannot have another within 3 months. Not that I plan to have another for a L-O-N-G time.......perhaps 3 years!!!!

I'd love to hear whether you have garage sales or not. Actually, I think this is maybe the 4th or 5th one I have ever done. We usually just give everything to Goo*dw*ill but with endeavoring to truly be more frugal we had this one.

10 comments:

  1. I love having garage sales - but they are a lot of work. That is a lot of effort to have a garage sale in your area - we haven't any restrictions like that. I think I just enjoy the opportunity to talk with those that come through - rather than just dropping it off at good*will. One year, my neighbor and I did one with all our proceeds going to World Vision and I was amazed by the outpouring of love and generosity as they people not only paid for their purchases but gave more as a donation to the cause!!!

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  2. Quite the rules there in your little neck of the woods. We have had a few sales in our past. Usually it's when someone is moving and it's time to sort and sell. I love doing them and meeting all the people who stop by. It's been years since we've had one, but it's always worth the work. Around here you can have one at anytime and as many as you want. You can post a sign any place as well.

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  3. I have had sales in the past, but recently have been giving things to our local charity store. Glad to hear yours went well!

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  4. I just wish I could've gone to the sale! Yes, we have had those sales, and I've been shocked at what people actually will buy especially since it was my idea of "junk." We need to have one now, but may wait til October when things are much cooler. Way to go on the efforts and preparation. Ya'll are such hard workers. Blessings-Kathy

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  5. I used to have garage sales frequently, but it has been a long time now. I also once shopped at them a lot, but gotten out of the habit. I can't believe you washed and ironed everything. What a blessing for those people who bought them. I don't know about your area, but people around here don't seem to be into garage sales anymore.

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  6. My daughter has moved to a very visable spot, and I see many garage sales in our future:) The whole permit thing is unheard of here (thank goodness:)

    good for you:)

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  7. i love the ice cream bucket story, you sound like my mom! she used those for everything too. i have only had a couple of garage sales in the last 10 years, they are time consuming and i don't normally have a place to put the stuff before getting it ready.

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  8. Hi Susan,
    Wow, those are pretty strict regulations. Never heard of having to jump through so many hoops. Glad it was a success for you tho'. I'm excited to be able to go to yard sales in Springs this summer, so many more than Flagstaff.

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  9. We aren't allowed to have garage sales in our community. So if the clothes are nice I take them to the consignment store.
    If they are play clothes I just donate them.
    If I have big ticket items I place them online to sale. We have a free posting service in our community. I've sold several pieces of furniture that way and one Brighton purse.
    I've got a few odds and ends posted right now. But not much interest so far.

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  10. I enjoy your blog and so this blog is my featured blog of the week! Thanks!

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