Apparently collecting more than 100 items to purge didn’t take nearly as long as we expected (see the full list of purged items here), so we got ambitious and held a last-minute moving sale this past Saturday. We wanted to get rid of things while our no-nonsense resolve was still strong — you know, before we started rethinking a few items. After taking about two weeks to plan our last yard sale, deciding to host one with only two days’ notice felt a little nerve-wracking. But the weather was calling for sunshine and 69 degrees, so we figured it was a sign to just do it.
We placed a free ad on Craigslist and made some bright directional posters to hang around the neighborhood. If you want practical tips for hosting a sale, check out our earlier post here.
Despite worrying that no one would be yard-sale-ing in mid-November, the sale went wonderfully. Traffic was steady, Clara slept through the first two busiest hours, and we made over $300. The money was great, but the real win was clearing out about 85% of our items — stuff we no longer have to pack, move, or deal with. That saves time and energy for the unpacking, painting, and other projects we’re actually excited about.
Here’s what our driveway looked like early in the sale (we didn’t get a true “before” photo because early-bird shoppers kept us busy).
And here’s what remained by the end of the day. Every leftover item was donated within an hour or so that afternoon — we had a strict no-going-back-inside policy.
Hosting a yard sale turned out to be pretty entertaining. A few highlights:
- The only shoes Sherry sold went to an 11-year-old girl — apparently Sherry’s feet are pre-teen sized (mostly a 5.5).
- A pack of neighborhood kids arrived on bikes toward the end of the sale and bought a random assortment of knick-knacks, some of which they didn’t really know how to use. At one point they insisted a glass spoon rest was a shoehorn.
- We met the new neighbors who bought the charming “bed-and-breakfast” house we’ve admired for a while (shown here). At least our patio furniture has a cozy new home.
- Two blog readers found the sale by chance and stopped to say hi. We don’t share our address publicly for safety, so it was a fun surprise.
- A neighbor who recognized us from evening walks dubbed us “the baby-chihuahua family.” We kind of hope that nickname sticks.
- A customer told us about the Book Exchange in Midlothian, where we later traded our unsold books for a credit — which we immediately used to buy two new books for Clara. New obsession: confirmed.
- The sale gradually turned into an impromptu neighborhood gathering. The warm weather made it easy to catch up on local news and enjoy the day together.
- Like last time, a loose dog paid a visit. This one was much calmer than the rambunctious pup from our previous sale, which ended up taking an accidental swim in an old backyard pond.
So that’s the story of our little moving sale. It feels great to clear out items we no longer need and to have a bit more cash in hand. It will probably be a while before we host another yard sale, but we’d love to hear tips or fun stories from your own sales. Has a random dog ever shown up at yours? Or do you have unusually small feet that make selling shoes to adults tricky?
Psst — we recently revamped our dirty diapers & wipes routine and we chatted about it over on BabyCenter. Worth a read if you’re into that sort of thing.