It was quite an experience to put together and hold a yard sale of this magnitude. Trust me, I’m still exhausted! We got the idea (not that it is THAT original from combing many adoption blogs and the internet) to have a yard sale. We thought, that’s an easy idea, but the only problem was we didn’t have a ton of stuff. I’m sure you have all seen the show on A&E or TLC, I can’t remember, called “Hoarders.” Ashley would never be on that show. If it’s junk, it goes I n our house. After every winter, the clothes we didn’t wear have to go. So, our house is sparse when it comes to extra junk lying around. The basic problem of this yard sale was how do we get more stuff? If anyone has every questioned social media, this was another example of it’s power; if social and political revolutions weren’t enough. We took our idea and problem to Facebook. We asked that people donate any extra items they were looking to get rid of to our cause. Then, next thing we knew the items were rolling it. Looking back on it, I wish that I would have remembered to take a picture of the garage. It was filled beyond capacity. The only space that didn’t have stuff for the yard sale, was a small trail from the door of the kitchen to the garage door! I didn’t even cut my grass for two weeks because I couldn’t get the lawnmower out. After multiple days of picking up donations, pricing items one by one, it was time for the dreaded move of the items from the garage to the sale.
The best idea of this entire process came when we came up with the idea to hold the sale at our friends Kami and Patrick’s house. It’s located on a pretty busy road near two busy highways with 378 and #1 close by. What we didn’t take in to account was all the traffic going to and from the flea markets the day of the sale! Which was a nice added bonus. Plus we felt it had the best area for parking and shopping. Likely not knowing what they were getting into, Kami and Patrick agreed to let us hold our yard sale at their house. After the yard sale Saturday, everyone was in agreement that had it not been for Kami and Patrick letting us hold the sale at their house, it likely would not have been as successful as it was.
But back to the story...
Friday morning we began the move from my garage to the sale. Armed with my truck, Ashley’s Edge, my mom’s SUV, Ashley’s dad’s truck, and my cousin’s SUV and trailer the move wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. After filling up everything to the roof, or strapping it in tight, we only made two trips back and forth before all was at Kami and Patrick’s. Then there were a few trips to get tables, some other donations, and large furniture which Joshua and Jordan handled quite well using the trailer.
The best idea of this entire process came when we came up with the idea to hold the sale at our friends Kami and Patrick’s house. It’s located on a pretty busy road near two busy highways with 378 and #1 close by. What we didn’t take in to account was all the traffic going to and from the flea markets the day of the sale! Which was a nice added bonus. Plus we felt it had the best area for parking and shopping. Likely not knowing what they were getting into, Kami and Patrick agreed to let us hold our yard sale at their house. After the yard sale Saturday, everyone was in agreement that had it not been for Kami and Patrick letting us hold the sale at their house, it likely would not have been as successful as it was.
But back to the story...
Friday morning we began the move from my garage to the sale. Armed with my truck, Ashley’s Edge, my mom’s SUV, Ashley’s dad’s truck, and my cousin’s SUV and trailer the move wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. After filling up everything to the roof, or strapping it in tight, we only made two trips back and forth before all was at Kami and Patrick’s. Then there were a few trips to get tables, some other donations, and large furniture which Joshua and Jordan handled quite well using the trailer.
The Yard Sale Moving Begins!
This whole adoption process is not complete with setbacks, right? So, that Friday afternoon in the 105〫F heat we hit our first setback. Rain. After working for a few hours to get tables set up, and items places out, we felt we were moving at a good pace to get all of our items set out. Then, came the rain. This wasn’t just any rain. Nope. I kid you not when after running around like crazy to get stuff under protection (which was 2 tarps with holes in them), moving the “good stuff” under the carport, we looked on the radar. The rain was a small blimp that was just hanging over us. You could drive about five minutes down the road and it wasn’t raining! The stupid WeatherBug app was still showing a 0% chance of rain even as we stood there soaking in our wet clothes. Now, we were back to square one with tables bunched together to fit under one tarp and heavy stuff our muscles didn’t want to move again cluttered together under the carport on the far side of the house. To make things even better, Ashley was only an hour away from having to leave to go to work. So, we decided to take a dinner break. Everyone went home and we returned later that evening to start all over. Except returning was me, mom, Jordan, his girlfriend Madison (who made all the signs and was a huge help in pricing and setup), and Joshua. This time we set up the tables and items so that we wouldn’t be scrambling with this at 5 o’clock in the morning the day of the sale. Setting up a yard sale with no lights at night isn’t too fun. Especially when we had to have someone wave at the flood light sensor every two minutes or work by headlights. We decided to finally call it a night around 10:30, knowing we would only be back in a few hours.
We went home, but an old friend rose again... RAIN.
This time, it wasn’t actually raining, but it was the threat of rain that made us nervous. We looked at the weather and it was calling for an 80% chance of rain from midnight to 2 am. So, we rounded up a number of tarps and went back out to the sale site and covered the tables, toys, furniture, clothes, etc. with the tarps. Finally, at about midnight, it was bedtime. Jordan, Joshua, and I turned to get in my truck and head home to crash, but instead we found setback number two. Keys locked in my truck. Since we had to have the headlights on to give us light to put the tarps on, I left the battery on with the keys still in the ignition. As Jordan climbed out from the extended cab part, apparently, he accidently hit the door lock button. So, mom had to drive all the way over to give us a key at 12:30 at night.
4;45 am rolls around fast and we were up for the day of the sale. The sale was posted in the newspaper, Craigslist, and other classified sites to start at 7am. We woke up so early to get everything ready for the old folks who can’t tell time and would show up at 6. Our tarps survived the night and luckily it didn’t rain. Which we joked that we wished we would have known that because it would have allowed us to get an extra hour of sleep and not have locked any keys in a truck! Anyways, after scrambling around we had everything out and some of our wonderful help started to arrive. Then it was time to open shop and man did it open up!
We went home, but an old friend rose again... RAIN.
This time, it wasn’t actually raining, but it was the threat of rain that made us nervous. We looked at the weather and it was calling for an 80% chance of rain from midnight to 2 am. So, we rounded up a number of tarps and went back out to the sale site and covered the tables, toys, furniture, clothes, etc. with the tarps. Finally, at about midnight, it was bedtime. Jordan, Joshua, and I turned to get in my truck and head home to crash, but instead we found setback number two. Keys locked in my truck. Since we had to have the headlights on to give us light to put the tarps on, I left the battery on with the keys still in the ignition. As Jordan climbed out from the extended cab part, apparently, he accidently hit the door lock button. So, mom had to drive all the way over to give us a key at 12:30 at night.
4;45 am rolls around fast and we were up for the day of the sale. The sale was posted in the newspaper, Craigslist, and other classified sites to start at 7am. We woke up so early to get everything ready for the old folks who can’t tell time and would show up at 6. Our tarps survived the night and luckily it didn’t rain. Which we joked that we wished we would have known that because it would have allowed us to get an extra hour of sleep and not have locked any keys in a truck! Anyways, after scrambling around we had everything out and some of our wonderful help started to arrive. Then it was time to open shop and man did it open up!
Early Shopping
Checking Out the Bake Sale!
Just one of the many toys tables!
Do we look tired?
Oh, the shoppers!
Our FANTASTIC help!
Lemonade anyone?
Just in the first hour a great deal of our larger items had sold. By 8:30, things were going really well. Throughout the entire day it was a constant stream people. By 12 o’clock there wasn’t a moment in which we didn’t have any less than three shoppers at any given time. Even slightly after lunch, there were a few moments were it got somewhat sparse, but there was always at least one shopper.
It’s sort of amazing the type of people you’ll get to encounter when you have a yard sale. We found it amusing the things people wanted to buy. The best non sales came when a guy asked, “How much for the plastic rock.” Only issue was, the plastic rock wasn’t for sale. The plastic rock was the cover for Patrick’s well pump!
By lunch time, we were ready to collapse. Especially Ashley, who had been up since 11:30 Friday morning. So we closed shop around 2 o’clock and began the packing up process. Since His House couldn’t do a pick up, we were not looking forward to loading everything up, driving it there, and unloaded it. So, the last few straggler shoppers we told them whatever they could take, we sell for $5 a box. They began stuffing boxes. One lady even left and came back again. It was okay though, we got rid of a good deal of the left over stuff, didn’t have to load it, and still made alittle something off of it. After they left, I’d would estimate about 70% of our “merchandise” was gone. The only thing I was okay with having leftovers was the bake sale items!
With everything packed, delivered to His House, and being back home, everyone’s attention turned to how well did we do? Some background on this very question goes back a few nights as Ashley and I sat on the living room floor putting $1.00 and 50¢ stickers on items. “What do you think will be a good goal for us to set?” I asked Ashley. “I dunno, $500 or so sound good?” she said. We both agreed that $500 would be doing pretty well. So you can imagine our excitement when at about 11 o’clock ( four hours into the sale) our wonderful cashier for the day, Becky Gunwall, informed us that there was about $800 just in twenties! So we counted everything and arrived at a total of a total of $1,548.85! One thousand over our goal! Amazing!!!!
What’s more amazing is due to the success of the yard sale and money we have saved, we now have the amount needed to get through the costs of the home study, and other fees to get us officially waiting! Now, we only have to worry about the larger costs that will come when we finally have the adoption finalized.
We can’t thank everyone enough! Seriously. It’s pretty amazing to have wonderful family and friends that are so helpful and supportive. From donating items, baking, moving stuff, sacrificing gas and muscles, and selling. We really appreciate it and love you guys!
Here’s our Wall of Fame of Helpers!
Partick and Kami Jones
Jordan Williams
Madison Boatwright
Vivian Williams
David and Deborah Cobb
Joshua Williams
Jack and Brooke Holladay
Elsye Kinard
Becky Gunwall
Megan Gunwall
Josh Nichols
Carla Newman
Julie Painter
Ellen Williams
Rachel Williams
Nancy and Pete Driggers
Carl and Pat Carlson
West Columbia Evangelical Church for letting us borrow tables
Joe Gause
Springdale Elementary
All of course all those that donated- it’s a long list!
Someone asked me what’s next? Meaning what fundraiser is next. I know it wont be a yard sale! Here’s where you can help! If you have an idea for a fundraiser, send it to us. We’ll need some more funds, even though we won’t have any major expenses until we are picked by a birthmother, have a placement, and our adoption is finalized, but everything raised can go towards that larger amount, whenever it may come.
Also, some people asked how they can get their own shirts. Visit the link below:
http://www.cafepress.com/AdoptionShop
A couple of people asked me to design something a little more personalized. If you send me a description of what you would like, colors, shirt color, etc. I’ll try to see what I can do and get it on the shop for your to order.
With the yard sale over, our shirt and coffee sales now become an ongoing fundraiser that will be important.
As a last update, we have been assigned a social worker, so our home study SHOULD be starting soon.
Until next time.... (hopefully it won’t be a long break last last time!)
It’s sort of amazing the type of people you’ll get to encounter when you have a yard sale. We found it amusing the things people wanted to buy. The best non sales came when a guy asked, “How much for the plastic rock.” Only issue was, the plastic rock wasn’t for sale. The plastic rock was the cover for Patrick’s well pump!
By lunch time, we were ready to collapse. Especially Ashley, who had been up since 11:30 Friday morning. So we closed shop around 2 o’clock and began the packing up process. Since His House couldn’t do a pick up, we were not looking forward to loading everything up, driving it there, and unloaded it. So, the last few straggler shoppers we told them whatever they could take, we sell for $5 a box. They began stuffing boxes. One lady even left and came back again. It was okay though, we got rid of a good deal of the left over stuff, didn’t have to load it, and still made alittle something off of it. After they left, I’d would estimate about 70% of our “merchandise” was gone. The only thing I was okay with having leftovers was the bake sale items!
With everything packed, delivered to His House, and being back home, everyone’s attention turned to how well did we do? Some background on this very question goes back a few nights as Ashley and I sat on the living room floor putting $1.00 and 50¢ stickers on items. “What do you think will be a good goal for us to set?” I asked Ashley. “I dunno, $500 or so sound good?” she said. We both agreed that $500 would be doing pretty well. So you can imagine our excitement when at about 11 o’clock ( four hours into the sale) our wonderful cashier for the day, Becky Gunwall, informed us that there was about $800 just in twenties! So we counted everything and arrived at a total of a total of $1,548.85! One thousand over our goal! Amazing!!!!
What’s more amazing is due to the success of the yard sale and money we have saved, we now have the amount needed to get through the costs of the home study, and other fees to get us officially waiting! Now, we only have to worry about the larger costs that will come when we finally have the adoption finalized.
We can’t thank everyone enough! Seriously. It’s pretty amazing to have wonderful family and friends that are so helpful and supportive. From donating items, baking, moving stuff, sacrificing gas and muscles, and selling. We really appreciate it and love you guys!
Here’s our Wall of Fame of Helpers!
Partick and Kami Jones
Jordan Williams
Madison Boatwright
Vivian Williams
David and Deborah Cobb
Joshua Williams
Jack and Brooke Holladay
Elsye Kinard
Becky Gunwall
Megan Gunwall
Josh Nichols
Carla Newman
Julie Painter
Ellen Williams
Rachel Williams
Nancy and Pete Driggers
Carl and Pat Carlson
West Columbia Evangelical Church for letting us borrow tables
Joe Gause
Springdale Elementary
All of course all those that donated- it’s a long list!
Someone asked me what’s next? Meaning what fundraiser is next. I know it wont be a yard sale! Here’s where you can help! If you have an idea for a fundraiser, send it to us. We’ll need some more funds, even though we won’t have any major expenses until we are picked by a birthmother, have a placement, and our adoption is finalized, but everything raised can go towards that larger amount, whenever it may come.
Also, some people asked how they can get their own shirts. Visit the link below:
http://www.cafepress.com/AdoptionShop
A couple of people asked me to design something a little more personalized. If you send me a description of what you would like, colors, shirt color, etc. I’ll try to see what I can do and get it on the shop for your to order.
With the yard sale over, our shirt and coffee sales now become an ongoing fundraiser that will be important.
As a last update, we have been assigned a social worker, so our home study SHOULD be starting soon.
Until next time.... (hopefully it won’t be a long break last last time!)
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