The Joys of Purging

A huge part of our transition back to the states & moving to NC has been PURGING. HOW in the world do we accumulate so. much. stuff. And I say we, because surely I am not alone! I knew when we came back that we had way more stuff to get rid of than a trip to Good Will called for. This was the time for our ONE and only yard sale. EVER {we'll see....}

I spent forever getting ready for it. 

I had YEARS of stuff....

I went through boxes & boxes of my old stuff in my mom's attic- ALL of my decor & trinkets from my teenage years & tons of toys. We cleaned out my moms closet & house when I was home in September, so she only added to the huge collection of STUFF.  

I sorted and priced and priced and priced. I am too type-A to just put stuff in a bin that says, "Everything in this box- 25 cents." We had a few for stuff like t-shirts & stuffed animals, but for the most part I labeled every single thing. I wont tell you how many neon orange dot stickers I went through. A LOT. 

Here's what I learned about having a yard sale:

1) People will come rain or shine to get first dibs on the goods. The weather was TERRIBLE on the first day. It stormed like crazy all night, and was monsooning in the morning when we were supposed to start. We decided that we would just leave everything crammed in the garage/basement which is on the back side of the house. I assumed that no one would come that early. I was very wrong. They started pouring in. We made just as much money in the rain on Friday as we did in perfect weather on Saturday. 

2) You can't predict what people are going to want to buy. 

The top sellers at ours: 

Craft/Scrapbooking Supplies, Jewelry, Used/Broken Electronics, and Cosmetics, Toiletries & Makeup. Seriously would not have predicted that. 

Things that didn't sell as well:

Books, Purses & Bags, Picture Frames (had at least 150-200 too) Basic Kitchenware like cups, mugs, & plates. 

3) You never know who you're going to meet. We had so many great conversations with people. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting lots of new people. We even had 2 East Asian families come by and I was so excited to talk to them. One of them went to Grad-school at UK and lived in the apartments right next to my dorm my freshman year. Small world. 

4) Prep work goes a long way. I can't tell you how many people said, "This is one of the most organized sales I've seen" or something of the sorts. People don't want to dig. If they can see it all, they are much more likely to buy it. 

5) Get as creative as possible with how you display things.  I found that flipping rubbermade bins over makes a great way to display anything. 

All of the hard work paid off for sure. 

At the end of the day we loaded up what was left & took it to Good Will. We sold a TON of stuff, and still had enough to have another sale. 

It just about killed my mom & I. She was SO helpful. And has no idea I caught her snoring away on the couch.... icing her arthritic feet with a bag of peas from our freezer. 

My apologies for a picture of my feet, but this is what my normal boney turned swollen feet looked like at the end of day 2. My toes looked like beanie-weanies. 

It was ALL worth it! 

{looking real rough on day 2}

We made $1,650 for our friend's adoption! 

My hope is that we will NEVER accumulate enough stuff to have a yard sale again.... at least not on our own. So my one and only yard sale, was a huge success. 

After the sale, we put the house on the market and moved about a month later. While we were moving I found myself thinking, "How in the world do we STILL have this much stuff?!" 

My goal as we've unpacked has been to continue to purge what we don't need. I've taken 2 boxes to good will, and plan to take more soon. 

I look forward to the freedom of less stuff!