Dig This Treasure!

A few weeks ago, Adam and I were driving home and as we turned into our neighborhood, we saw the sign advertising our annual neighborhood garage sale. It was about two weeks away, and Adam suggested I participate. I reminded him that Erin and I were already planning to hold a sale this summer during her neighborhood sale (just like last year!) but Adam wasn’t having it. He convinced me that it made sense to try to get rid of some stuff first, and then take the remains to Erin’s sale in June. Conveniently, Adam was going to be out of town for work during our neighborhood sale, so I enlisted my parents (my dad, specifically) to help, because trying to do a garage sale on your own is the worst.

You’ll remember that Erin and I converted my mom Cindy into an estate sale junkie last summer, so she has her own hoard of leftovers waiting to be resold. Like Adam, my dad was thrilled for the opportunity to purge their house of some of the garbage my mom has brought home with her, so we both got to work! 

For example, my mom had quite the selection of vintage Jell-O molds to offer our shoppers! Looks like she had some fun buying these early on and then realized that they’re not that re-sellable, even though Erin seemed to think so at some point. By mid morning on Friday, the sale was jumpin’ (Erin would not approve of that messy table of clothes): 

For this sale, I focused on purging clothes rather than leftover treasures, and that worked out in my favor. Around noon, I found myself surrounded by a swarm of teenaged girls, all from the same family (I swear to god this mom could have given Michelle Duggar a run for her money), and all eager to buy my sh*t! I think my dad was a little overwhelmed (not that I can blame him) because at one point I saw that there were other people (not part of the Duggar fam) ready to pay, and I had to shout, “Dad! These people want to give you money!" 

By the end of the day, our sale was totally picked over, and we were pumped! 

Those tables were stuffed to the gills when we had started! 

Erin stopped by at the end of the first day and I enlisted her help in gathering more goods for the next day. I allowed her to step foot in eBay World, our spare bedroom that is currently used as a warehouse for all of the goods I have purchased at sales to resell or eventually display. I have never seen such a shocked look on someone’s face when she stepped foot inside the room. She begged me to allow her to take a picture, but I wouldn’t let her! But I will show you something else: 

This is a sign for eBay world that one of my nieces made for me last summer. Erin saw this in eBay world and started dying laughing because SHE THOUGHT I MADE IT FOR MYSELF. 

Anyway, she was very helpful in giving me some tough love on what I need to get rid of. Many of these items were things that you’ve seen before. It hurts my soul to admit that she was right about the fact that I should NOT have bought some of these items. With one exception: 

I bought this Murano style glass fruit at the Windsor auction we attended a few times, and Erin is the person who told me to buy it! She actually told me to keep bidding! I ended up paying something obscene like $25 for it! Sold it for $5. 

Now here are some purchases she was right about: 

This bird without a name has a long backstory that I won’t bore you with. Bottom line is that I found it at the sale where Erin wanted some overpriced moccasins for her unborn baby. Erin pleaded with me to not buy this bird. I thought it looked pretty cool, though! Erin insisted it was a seagull but I still disagree. Seagulls aren’t black underneath. They’re dirty and grey. But it’s possible that NEITHER of us is able to properly identify a common animal. 

This kitty has been hanging out in eBay world for quite some time. I found her last spring. I have no idea what I was thinking and I’m sure Erin tried to talk me out of it at the time. 

If this little buddy looks familiar to you, it’s because you’ve seen him before. I thought Adam would be tickled by the fact that there was a lamp with a little Adam and Max on it. But he wasn’t impressed. Erin actually spotted this lamp at that really weird sale we went to a few months ago, and it was priced at $2.50 so I couldn’t pass it up. And she didn’t talk me out of it. 

You might remember these little buddies because I found them at that sale where we got SUPER scolded by a crazy woman. 

Both Erin and I thought this Immaculate Heart of Mary plaque was awesome, but in the end, it just freaked Adam out too much. 

These Muffy and Hoppy dolls aren’t actually things that Erin told me not to purchase–they’re things that Erin loves (just like Beanie Babies), and I’m surprised she didn’t try to steal them when she was over on Friday. Anyway, you’ll remember that I bought a boatload of these at an auction last winter, and these are the little dudes that didn’t sell on eBay. Turns out nobody wanted them in the garage sale either, so I’ll have to put my thinkin’ cap on. 

On Saturday, people must have been in the mood to chillax, because for the first two hours, this is what our list of profits looked like:

The weather was great and people straggled by, but most seemed interested in the free box near the curb and disinterested in walking up my driveway into the garage itself. Speaking of the free box, I put this guy in there because I just couldn’t imagine asking someone to give me money for him. 

My dad warned that the other occupants of the free box might catch hepatitis from him. Of course, someone quickly snatched him up!

In the end, even though Saturday was slow, my dad and I each made about $250 and had lots of fun people watching! 

There are still quite a few items leftover for Erin’s sale, not to mention all the crap I haven’t even gone through in my house yet. Here’s a picture of the state of my garage this evening, three days after our garage sale: 

All in all, a successful garage sale! I can’t wait for round two! 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I have never seen a more seagull-looking stuffed animal seagull in my life.  In fact, Zach just confirmed that this is a seagull.  At one point, Sarah tried to say this was a goose.  Look at that neck!  That ain’t no goose.  What I do know FOR SURE is that Sarah should not have bought this.

And I’ll admit that I was wrong about that glass fruit.  To be fair, I bought some teeny tiny glass pumpkins around Halloween on ebay and they were like $10 each.  So I thought for sure she could sell that fruit.  Whoops!

As for ebay world, Jeez Louise.  I really should have snuck a photo of the place.  At this point, I’m pretty much entirely convinced that Sarah goes home after a long day of sale-ing, puts her purchases in ebay world, and then sentences them to a life of quiet solitude and uninterrupted slumber.  I suggested she get one of those locks with the skeleton key so that she can lock all the purchases in there like Jane Eyre or something.

Ok ok, so I’m exaggerating a bit.  And really, I’m cool with ebay world because it means we get to keep sale-ing each week!