Yard Sale Saturday

I'm baaaaaak!! Yes, after 10 1/2 weeks away I am finally getting back to sharing the factors of my life with you again. 

Thank You for coming back. I appreciate those of you who kept checking for new posts. I am grateful for your loyalty. Sorry it took so long for me to come back. 

This past Saturday on Main Street in "The Grove" I set up and had a yard sale. It was the first time I've had one in quite a while. 

When I am on the selling side of a yard sale I have three goals in mind (not necessarily always in this order): Make money, get rid of things I no longer want or need in my house, and observe human behavior. 

Since I've lived in Kentucky I've had only 2 or 3 yard sales. The most memorable one being when I was moving from my apartment on Louisville Road back in 2002. 

Now, let's get back to the reasons behind this weekend's yard sale. 

With the redecorating we are working on in our house I have realized there is a need to get rid of some of "the clutter" and "excess" I've collected over the last few years. 

In addition, because of my job I will not be able to take a week-long vacation until this coming December. Since it's the only significant time off I'll be getting this year; I want to be able to make it a trip that will be a memorable one. That won't be cheap. I need to generate some extra revenue. 

Those are the two motivational factors behind my decision to have a yard sale this weekend. I chose this past Saturday to take advantage of the potential customers in the area due to the 400 mile yard sale along Kentucky state route 68. A stretch of that road passes within a 1 1/2 miles of my house. 

These pictures show my set up at that start of the day. 

As you can see there are puppets, Lego kits, a watch, a "Kill Bill" DVD and a ukulele. It's not all I had with me to sell but I only had 2 card tables. 

I knew the items I had would appeal mostly to kids as they came by. I was hoping to make the majority of my sales later in the morning when the families with kids started coming by. 

As a way of persuading the adults to buy something I offered an entry into a drawing for a Mickey Mouse watch with each sale. 

I was set up and waiting for customers by 7AM. I was anticipating a day of watching people coming by and deciding what they were going to buy. But alas it was not to be. 

By the time 10 o'clock came I had 3 sales for a total of $16 profit. Most of that came from the sale of the ukulele. 

I was happy to sell it to a Smiths Grove man. He took it out of the case and played it. In just a few seconds he played that instrument better than I ever have. I was so glad that my first uke was going to a place where it would be appreciated I let it go to $6 less than the price I had on it. 

The other items I sold were my smallest Lego kit for 50 cents, and the puppet I used to call "Agent Orange" for $2. 

About 10 o'clock the shade that had covered the area where I was sitting went away. I was now sitting in the sun and it was warm. Paula was kind enough to bring me some drinks and a mid morning snack. 

By 10:30 the temperature increased and the flow of people trailed off. It was clear that the windfall of customers I had expected from the Route 68 sales was not going to happen. The families weren't going to come. 

In addition, I realize that the majority of what I was selling was made of materials that shouldn't be indirect sunlight for very long. I was also getting very uncomfortable very quickly. 

So by 11:15 I had made the decision to pack up and go home. My day was no where near as long or as profitable as I had expected it to be. But that's okay. I made some money. 

I have put off the watch giveaway until I get a few more entries. When I decide I've got enough I'll pick a winner and contact them. 

Now having a yard sale wasn't exactly my intention when I decided to sell some of my stuff. 

As I mentioned earlier my items are things that mostly kids would be interested in. The ideal place for me to sell these things would be somewhere with a lot of family traffic. 

Since I already have my stuff priced and packaged to sell I am going to try our local flea market one Saturday this month. 
I'll let you know when that will be either here or on Facebook. 

If you see anything you might want in the pictures I've posted come on by and see me.