Yard Sale

Madi with a few of her customers/friends

Madi desperately wanted to have a yard sale. She had been collecting items in her room to sell for quite some time.  We finally decided that last Saturday would work for our schedule, and we went ahead with the plan.  We used Friday as our last day to gather up items for her sale.

One item up for discussion was a Ken doll that Grandma Pauline had saved for many years. My friend, Lisa, had mentioned recently that Ken dolls would be worth money someday. When we came across the doll, she immediately wanted to sell it. I refused, pointing out that it might be worth money someday. In a very acquiescing and defeated tone, she replies, "Okay...we'll just sell it on Ebay." Cracked me right up. I have no idea where that came from, but it was priceless. Then she insisted that I move him into my room if I want him to stay. Little does she know, he's hiding on one of her closet shelves...

We emailed some of our neighborhood friends and anyone we knew with little girls in their households. We put out her tables of stuff at around 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning. By 7:15, she was riding her scooter around the driveway complaining that we had no customers, so we decided to make a couple of signs to draw more attention. She and Daddy drove up to the front of the neighborhood to post the signs.  Worked like a charm and people started showing up.

Let me just say that I'm not very good at running these type of events. It all feels somewhat violating to me. For some reason, it is very difficult for me to part with some of these things for so very little, so I sadly found myself leaning on my five-year old daughter for her negotiating skills. Is that wrong?? On more than one occasion, I wavered, "I don't know...Madi...do you want to take $1 for that?" Madi always answered, "Yes!", very vehemently, and it didn't matter what the item was worth! I think she's got the perspective that I need...

At the end of the day, Madi accumulated $50, and we have enough stuff to do another sale. We felt like our customers walked away with some good bargains, and some of them likely needed those good bargains. Win-win all the way.  Except for Daddy, who was hoping for a clean garage!