Yesterday morning, we had a lot of stuff we didn't want. By 3:00 in the afternoon, we had a lot less stuff and over $600 in our pockets. Lots of people carted away lots of things they wanted and in some cases, were thrilled to have. In fact, most of the action happened in the first two hours or so - by midmorning, most of what was going to sell was already gone. It was amazing.
It's interesting what people will buy, what they will pay for it, and what we will charge them. As long as I didn't let my mind wander into thinking about what we had originally spent accumulating all this stuff, I could be thrilled at the cash it was bringing in. I suspect our prices were generally low, because there was very little haggling - when asked, we'd name a price and with extraordinarily rare exceptions, people paid what we ask. One woman spent close to an hour poring over everything and assembling a pile of items on my mother's front steps. She literally clapped her hands with glee and gushed, "You have the most interesting things! This is the best garage sale!" Several people commented that we must travel quite a bit. I suppose that laying out the detritus of our lives on folding tables paints some kind of picture of who we might be. I think I can say I'm satisfied with the impression we seemed to make.
And we are not a sentimental bunch. One woman held up a needlepoint daffodil still-life, matted and framed. "How much?" she asked. I directed her to ask my mother, who announced with delight, "Oh, that was made by my daughter! The one right there!" She pointed at me and the woman looked horrified. "And you're going to sell it?" she asked my mother, aghast. "How about a dollar?" my mother answered. I had to assure the woman that I was not offended.
The money we made will go toward immunizing a group of orphans in Cambodia. I made that commitment on last fall's trip, hoping I would figure out how to do some kind of fund-raising, but it turns out that I hate asking for money. So now we've got a bit more than half of what we need to make it happen.
On today's list of things to do: Paint Jaz's room. Goodbye, four years' worth of graffiti...
