World's Larget Rummage Sale 2009

Whew- it's over! It took weeks and weeks to get this thing together and in two days it's done... sort of like taking hours to prepare a fancy meal that everyone has consumed in 25 minutes or spending months Christmas shopping to have gifts torn open in 10 minutes.

But it's over and done with and I'm nearly $500 richer. Curley and her son's made some moola- as did Daddy-o so all and all it was worth it.

Even when we were done this afternoon, Curley's Hubby came into town and helped us pack all the left overs into boxes and then donated it to the local mission (think a local version of Goodwill). So I think it was a win-win situation for everyone!

Curley and I laughed lots and had lots of time to gab. She saw lots of people she knew and I just tried to hide when I saw people I might know!

We were sorry Daddy-O wasn't in town for the big event but we managed without him. Now I'll be spending the next week putting the garage back into some sort of order so he can at least park in there again!

I'm not usually a person who goes to rummage sales myself as a ritual, but I like to go and poke around. I might find a buy or two here or there. Curley is really good at rummaging and getting good prices and knowing what the good buy is so she was my "go to" woman this weekend, no pricing and negotiating. Thank you Curley for helping me and keeping me company and just hanging out with me and EVERYTHING! *Kisses and smooches*

I was surprised at some things that didn't sell, and we did run an ad in the local newspaper, which is like a rummage saler's weekend Bible and survival guide. My 6ft tall Christmas tree in it's original box didn't sell- no it's not pre-lite and I was only asking $20 OBO- and it's a beautiful tree. One person made me about pee my pants when she looked at it, which was in pieces in the box, and asked me, "Is it artificial?" Need I say more?

We also had a bunch of white unpainted ceramic Christmas village pieces- none of those sold. They're the kind that doesn't have to be fired in a kiln, just painted and sprayed. No one bought a danged piece of it.

We did keep the tree and the village pieces so if any of you...?

It's funny to be what does sell- Granny's who don't have DVD players loved all the Disney VHS video tapes. Little girls want old makeup and baby dolls. MY old Barbie furniture sold. This stuff is 30 years old and people just snapped it up. I sold a set of dishes. A piece of 4 ft long coax cable sold. The infamous Barry Manilow cassette tape, all my wicker baskets, jewelery, pots and pans, a pellet shotgun style gun-- all sorts of things sold.

I love watching people go to rummage sales. There are those who walk through quickly, obviously looking for something specific. There are the browsers. There are those people who are the rummage salers who are out for blood- they come early, have the newspaper Bible in hand, will negotiate on the first day, demand sacks and always have small bills and change. There are the women who come in a group and it's obviously just something to do while they socialize. There are those Indecisive rummage salers who pick it up and put it down and have to carry something around and touch it all, before making a bit purchase. (I would hate to see these people in a "real" store if trying to decide to spend a quarter for a picture fram still in it's store wrapping is a tough choice) There was a little old man who was trying to get me to lower prices on everything and then trying to shame me for no budging. Take the cool for example. it was an igloo cooler, on wheels, with a pull handle and a carry handle. It's in perfect condition- no dents, mildew, mold, no anything. We just have about 194 coolers so we sold this one. For $3. It looked practically new- hell it might've only been used once after an unplanned visit to Sam's Club and lots of cold things were bought and needed protection- that's how we seem to acquire lots of our coolers around here. Anyway, this guy wanted to know if I would take a buck. Hello, buddy, this is a rummage sale I realize, but you're already getting a$10 cooler for $3 and it looks like new so back off.

We did the rummage sale for 2 days and yesterday was furniture day. We sold it all and we sold it early. I could've sold my book case 10 times over and the wicker patio furniture at least that. Not one soul said a word about it today, thank the goddess since it was sold, but! All day yesterday people would show up, look around and ask "did you sell the wicker?" Well, do you see it anywhere? Duh- it's gone and then they would try and peer into the back yard or garage to see if there was more, like I would lie? At one point one woman was pointing at everything in Daddy-O's yard, wanting to know if it was for sale- hell, I could've sold her the whole house, I think.

So the sale is over. Whew. I'm glad I did it, though. And now I can clean the garage and call it a day. Well, maybe I'll call it a day tomorrow. Or Tuesday. Or sometimes next week. But I have to get it done by next Saturday since a small town a few miles over is having a town wide sale. I need to find room to put more, er, ah, my stuff...!

Rummaging around,
Maggie