First Annual Garage Sale

About three weeks ago my granddaughter called and asked what we were doing on Saturday, August 15.  I checked the calendar and told her I thought we were free, and she said “good, could Chance and I have a garage sale at your house? – we’ll do all the work – you won’t have to do a thing!”  Of course, I said “sure.”

Well, I don’t particularly like garage sales, and I had just hauled quite a bit of our stuff over to a friend’s house earlier this summer just for a “social” event garage sale with her and a “cleaning out” thing for me.  I really don’t save things so I didn’t have much.  But papa went through the garage thoroughly and came up with some really cool, great selling items. I did come up with a few things, but what was great was my co-workers at work heard about it and contributed to the cause with great items with the “funds” going to the kiddos!  They were so excited and appreciative! 

I marked our few items, baked some cookies, made some punch and coffee – hoping to sell those for them and pulled up two card tables from the basement – that was it!  I was so proud of these two kids.  They came over earlier that week and made two great big, very creative signs for papa to put on the busiest corners in our town, designed some computer signs, and then the night before the big sale “hauled in their treasures” – all marked and ready sell.  They had brought tables over earlier – carrying them out of the car for their mom. The ad had been placed in the paper by their mom.  The evening before the sale a little neighbor boy was already negotiating the purchase of “the skateboard” – I watched carefully as my grandson thought it over, asked some good questions of his parents but the decision was his and he was pleased and went back to the boy for some more bargaining of the helmet and gear and ended up selling that early also.

They crawled into bed in my upstairs early the night before and were up and going between 5:30AM and 6:00AM the next morning – happy as campers.  They set up the tables, hauled all the stuff out and set up the sale.  They were in charge of the money, the bargaining and decision making when it came to negotiating.  You have to realize these two are 8 and 11 years old – that was the deal with their parents – the sale was theirs to run and they were to run it!

It was a great sale and I got to watch them in action.  It was such a lesson for them.  They had some antique furniture to sell that they had had since they were little as they are getting new – no one wanted to take advantage of them but they were to price it.  They had a desk that I watched some negotiations going on as well as a tractor and wagon.  I watched as little kids that were cute “warmed” them and also watched as they stood firm.   They were very courteous and kind but this was “serious business”.  It was very busy and lots of people came and bought their merchandise – they made much more than they thought they were going to make.  They had to clean it up and they went with their dad to take the remainder to Good Will.

In the end they counted out the money, divided it 50/50 and mom explained to them that the ad cost $22.90 for the newspaper.  Silence.  She reported that lots of those people came because she had put the ad in the paper for them and she would settle for the $22.  She explained that is how it works, sometimes it costs you to make money but that they made lots more than it cost them.  They handed her the $22.  Both had talked that they didn’t know what they were doing with the money but some was going in their savings at the bank (made grandma proud).  It was a great, great learning experience.  I would recommend it to all but the lesson here is more for the parents – LET THE KIDS DO IT!  That is sometimes the hard part.  I was really very proud of all four of them!

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