Unloading
I just found out yesterday that our neighborhood is hosting its annual yard sale on Saturday. We always mean to participate, but being scattered and lazy usually makes me opt out.
I'm thinking that this might be the year, though. Two out of three kids are in school. I've got a garage full of miscellaneous crap. I've even got stickers that I could use for pricing...
The problem, of course, is the kids. I have to get them away from the action. My friend has her daughter set up a lemonade and cookie stand while she merrily sells off her toys. I can't fault her logic on that, and I might have to set up a competing lemonade stand for our corner.
Because boy howdy do I have toys to unload. We have giant boxes of toys that no one plays with any longer. The problem is trying to get rid of them without the kids seeing them. Because as soon as they spot something, they immediately profess their undying love for whatever it is.
I'm a marshmellow. I need to grow a backbone.
Faster than I can slap a rubbermaid lid back on the object of newly found adoration, they've wisked it off to be abandoned under the couch, or in the backyard.
So. I have two days to sort, spit-polish and slap price tags on all our, er MY unwanted crap. Hopefully, it will change my feng shui, or at least let me approach the garage.
But! What do I do with the kids? Will a lemonade stand be enough to keep them from raiding the tables? Will they even stay at their table? Or should I just leash them to the tree and let them call out to passersby like merchants in a medieval market?
I need some tips, here. Gimme your best garage sale ideas, people!
Comments
Okay, I'm certainly no expert but here's my thought. Let the kids choose a charity (or at least a posession or experience to share) and have them decide what they'd like to trade for that cause. With a specific working goal in mind, (my theory is that) they'll be more apt to both give up those old toys and remain at the table to sell them.
Good luck!!
Posted by: Julie | August 24, 2006 12:28 PM
Is it illegal for minors to sell alcohol in Calidornia? Because I bet they could make a killing with a beer stand.
Posted by: Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah | August 24, 2006 1:11 PM
Are there new toys that your kids are wishing for? (Of course there are.) Make it clear that the profit from selling their old, been-in-the-garage for years toys will pay for new! exciting! not dusty! toys. Might help them get on board with the sale of their junk.
As for the sale itself? Lemonade is good, but you've got competition. How about homemade popsicles in Dixie cups? Or baked goods?
Posted by: Nicole | August 24, 2006 1:11 PM
My mom used to have a garage sale rule for my sister and I. The rule was: you can take something out of the sale, but then you have to put something else (that had been sale-exempt) in to the sale. That way, you are still on the positive side of getting rid of stuff.
If you don't want to go that route, could you foist the kids off on some kind of activity? Away from the sale? Could they go to Grandma's, or have a play date with a friend, or a day camp or something?
Posted by: Erin | August 24, 2006 2:07 PM
Get a bunch of fresh batteries from the dollar store or Big Lots, and put them in ALL the battery-operated toys. Little children will be irresistable drawn to them, and, because it's a garage sales, parents will lose all common sense. That's how Meghan ended up with BOTH of my kids' old Furbys.
Also? Put clothes on the barbies. Nobody buys the naked ones.
And finally... 409 and some scrubbing with a toothbrush can make just about anything look presentable again.
Good luck!
Posted by: EverydaySuperGoddess | August 24, 2006 2:20 PM
You have a husband. Make him take away your children. The park, the mall, a BAR, I don't care. Just make sure they cannot see what's happening.
I speak as the one who had to watch her "favorite" rainbow dog go off in the hands of another kid while I sobbed passionately. Just so you know what damage I'm coming from, yo.
Posted by: Elaine | August 24, 2006 3:51 PM