A HUGE Success!!!

The big day finally arrived!  I have been working for months on this project.  Abby asked us earlier in the year if we could do a yard sale to raise money for her Africa trip.  Our first response, was, "No Way!"  We have only done one yard sale our whole marriage.  It was actually very successful, but the work and aftermath left Rick saying, "Never Again!"  For Abby's sake, he relented.  We decided that decluttering our home was a project that we needed to do anyway, and this would motivate us to do just that.  We have spent all summer going through every drawer, cabinet, closet, and box in this house.  

We advertised on Craigslist, Facebook, my blog, and a Facebook garage sale page, and we posted signs at all the major entries to our neighborhood.  My fingers were crossed that this would bring the people!!

Abby made our signs

 I need to start by saying, during this process I remembered why we don't do yard sales.  Rick and I approach these kinds of things so differently.  I think there should be some kind of marital counseling for couples like us after they do a garage sale.  We wanted to do everything differently.  I think we were mad at each other the whole time!

This is my way of doing things:

 I like everything to be neat, organized, and priced.  Rick created a row of boxes going down our driveway that he called "Dollar Row."  Anything in those boxes cost $1.  That is way too unorganized for my taste.  In the end, I think both of our methods, teamed together, are what made the sale so successful.  We catered to the "organized shoppers" and the "treasure hunters" with the way things were displayed.

Our neighbor came out that morning and said incredulously, "Is this all YOUR stuff?"  

 Actually, it was not.  We had some generous friends who gave us several items to sell.  All of those items added to ours made for a very big sale.  A LOT of it was ours, and we are so glad to have it out of our house!!

Abby's Snack Shack

 We were so irritated with each other at this point, but we put on our happy faces!

 Laura and Sydney came by that morning to cheer us on.  I put them to work setting up my Timbali Crafts table.  Didn't they do a beautiful job?

 This girl worked really hard and is one step closer to her trip!

Her hard work payed off!! We raised $945!!!  $140 of that was Swazi purse sales that will go to Beyond Survival and provide funds for some of the ministry expenses of our trip.

We are glad we did it!  It was worth the effort.  We are also glad it is over!