Yard sale fun

[Sapphire Silk]

We held a yard sale to clean out my grandparents' house. The house had a breezeway between the garage and house proper; we had most of the items in the garage and front yard, some in the breezeway but closed the door to the kitchen (a friend was living in the house until we could sell it to keep everything up, and there were also some valuable items in the back bedrooms that we didn't want anyone poking around in).

We had this problem with Mom's estate sale. We'd sold the house, and had the estate sale just before the closing. The new owners stopped by because they were interested in the cabinet stereo/phonograph. They were very nice people; they bought it even though we told them one of the speakers popped and the radio didn't work (it was circa 1970). I did tell them we always played music on Christmas morning with the record player, and it pleased me to think the stereo was staying with the house.

They bought some other furniture as well. To keep it out of the way we decided to start moving things into my old bedroom which was where my personal property was (I was staying at the house until the estate sale was over). Even though we put a sign on the door, people kept going in there and we had to keep chasing them out. Fortunately, SiL had eagle eyes, and nothing got "misplaced."

Man the place was full of people! We just wanted to get rid of the stuff, so we pretty much took any offer for anything. We had one lady come back with a box truck, she bought so much stuff.

[Jester]

I love going to yard sales, but I am the opposite of an early bird....I often get there near the end. I miss out on some stuff, sure, but I'm also conscious and reasonable when I get to the sales, so it balances out.

I've heard some horror stories about early birds. My one friend had a yard sale and had clearly posted in the newspaper ad, the online ad, and the yard signage that early birds were not welcome. The sale was scheduled to start at 8:00 am. At 6:00 some asshat was knocking loudly on her window.

When I finally get my shit together and move back to Arizona, I have no doubt that I will have a yard sale to get rid of some excess shit. I will probably have a water gun to deal with obnoxious people in general and obnoxious early birds in particular (thanks for that idea), but I may also carry around a sign while I'm setting up, and if anyone tries buying stuff early or even talking to me, will merely hold it up. And it will read: "The sale starts at x time, and I don't drink coffee." Or something like that.