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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Pitiful Patio Sale

PATIO SALE!
7:30 am to 1 pm
Great prices!
9:30 am 25% Sale!
11:00 am 1/2 OFF EVERYTHING!
12:30 pm EVERYTHING MUST GO! MAKE US A DEAL!!!q
1:00 pm WE’LL PAY YOU TO TAKE IT!




The morning of the patio sales, Jim and I rolled out of bed at the ungodly hour of 6:00 a.m. We showered, shoved cereal down, and were outside before the sun was fully up. There was something wrong with that picture. Although Arizona is quite warm during the winter months, the early mornings and evenings get quite cool because of the desert. So it was chilly, to say the least, in the pre-dawn hours while we moved our precious MUST SELL! items outside. I tried to display the items so as to entice the buyers. The shoes were polished up and splayed out in a circular pattern on the round table (which was also for sale).

The books were displayed so that the titles could be easily read.

This was the first year that the park provided a map with the addresses of all the sites that were having a sale. It was announced at the Thursday morning coffee/donuts to remember to sign up for the sales. Thursday afternoon I went to the activities office to sign up, and it was too late. What the heck? I wasn't even AT the Thursday morning meeting - I was at water aerobics. I guess if you signed up, you were given a balloon and ribbon to hang out to indicate that you were having a sale. Well, me and a gentleman standing next to me, were too late. The guy asked, "Well, can we AT LEAST have a balloon?"

The lady replied, "Oh, I don't know."

Seriously? She had to ask another person if it was okay to give out the freakin' balloons. Gimme a break. She got the go ahead, and we got our precious balloons. And guess what? The morning of the sale when Jim tried to blow up our teeny tiny balloon? It had a damn leak! He had to run out and get a couple of helium filled balloons.

Since my patio sale wasn't listed on the "treasure" map, I was afraid I wouldn't get many people. Luckily there was a sale at the end of the block, so the people visiting that sale walked down to mine.

We had a portable hammock in-a-bag for sale, that we had paid about $60. It's pretty cool. It was on display, and one man was interested in it. He tried it out and really liked it. He asked how much we wanted for it, and I said, "Oh, how about $10?"

He said, "Great! I'll take it!"

Jim showed him how to take it apart and fold it up. After they stored it in the bag and the guy handed me the money he said, "I would have easily paid $20 for this!"

#$#$#%#$##$#!!!

Bottom line - I made $35.47. Why the odd amount? Some old woman couldn't come up with .50 for a book - said she only had .47, .27 being Canadian! I know! I am a sucker! I bagged up the shoes, purses, and a few odds and ends to bring to Goodwill. The books will be donated to the library. But that coffee table is looking good for outside...... and the round table that my friend wanted to sell - we could use outside too........
And so begins the new collection of junk.

By the way, I did go look at the other sales, but only down two streets. I spent $8 of my profit - $5 on a NEW coffee table, about 2/3's the size of the last one, and $3 on a book. I KNOW, I KNOW, I'm supposed to be getting RID of books. But hey - if I got rid of 50 I think I can buy 1 book. That seems fair to me. Besides, I was going to sneak it in the trailer without Jim seeing it.

I wanted to pop the helium balloons and throw them out, but Jim said we should just release them. Before releasing them, I wanted to write on them with marker, "You missed a great sale at site #193!"

Jim cut the balloons loose, and we stood with our arms around each other, watching them take off in the sky.

12 comments:

Rae said...

That was a lot of work for $35.00 profit, but at least you cleared out some things. Why is it that all sales have to start so early? Ours always do too and I hate getting up and sitting outside so early.

Mike said...

You should just carry your stuff around and swap it with other peoples stuff. You would not even need money!

for a different kind of girl said...

I have so, so much I could sell at a garage sale, and dream of how rich getting rid of my treasures to others who will love them, and yet it's all the work involved for the inevitable profit that exhausts me!

Well, so does asking my husband to clean the dang garage out so I can actually HAVE a garage sale...

;)

AiringMyLaundry said...

Well, at least you got rid of some stuff.

I'm always buying books. I can't help it.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

You guys are just having way too much fun down there!!

Chatty Crone said...

I just found your blog - what a cool lifestyle you have. I've always wanted to do this myself.
sandie

Nancy said...

I used to have garage sales with my next door neighbor. She was really into it. We would take the rest of what was left over and haul it down to the drive in theatre which held a flea market on the weekends. The only good thing about doing that was the home-made tamales and cold beer. Needless to say, we didn't sell much, ate too many tamales and drank too much beer. Then we had to load it back up and take it to Goodwill. But it was fun, and it gave us some giggles.

Valerie said...

You might not have made a fortune, Pat, but at least you had an interesting day. I hope the tables work out well...lol.

Missy said...

I so need to have a garage sale! Sounds like a fun day!

Meeko Fabulous said...

Ah sales! I loved getting paid for crap I abused. LoL! :)

SquirrelQueen said...

You pretty much described why I don't do yard sales anymore, I just donate it to goodwill and save myself some time.

I love how you released the balloons together.

Sunny said...

The picture of releasing the baloons together cracked me up. It sounds like something my husband and I would do!
Oh well, 35 bucks is better than nothing.
Sunny :)