Well, its been an eventful couple of days since my first ever blog on Friday but the feedback so far has been amazers. A big thank you to all the wonderfully supportive people I have in my life. I truly appreciate it guys, thank you.
Saturday heralded the Waynie's first garage sale, which we tied in with the nationwide Garage Sale Trail. The day encourages sellers to host their sales on the same day, thus creating a trail for buyers to follow (www.garagesaletrail.com.au). We kind of figured, if we didn't do it now, we were never gonna do it. So at 8am we rolled up the garage door and waited to see what would happen.
For the most part, people were really friendly and courteous, with probably only 1-2 people who, I felt, needed a Kello-lesson in manners (if we don't have anything you like, you really don't need to vocalise it while you're standing right next to me... .). Although the classic comment of the day came from a gentleman who upon pulling up in our driveway in his Lexus (and blocking our goodies-exposure to the masses), proceeded to tell us that he didn't have his wallet with him (how did you pay for that choc milk then mate?) and then enquired with Nath if what we were selling was our "parents stuff?". Whilst Nath was highly offended, I thought it was a good sign that my wrinkles aren't as obvious as I was starting to believe.
I also discovered I was way off in my estimation as to what would sell (only one pair of shoes sold... what the?) and what wouldn't (who on earth would want Nath's old pj's?). Anyhoo I think it was a pretty good first attempt and those of you who contributed some goodies (you know who you are!), you're cheque is in the mail! And a big thank you to Lorraine and Trav for stopping by too, you helped those few quiet moments go quickly - by 8.37am Nath and I were already thinking what a long day it was going to be...
So after shutting up shop at 1pm, and doing my best to convince Nath that we would indeed be back in time for the footy, we headed off to check out some of the other local garage sales. Many were in the process of closing their doors too, so we were only able to visit one down Palmyra way. This guy had it all! In fact, Nath was quite right when he said this guy seemed to live perpetually in a garage sale. There was everything from kitchen sinks, to VHS players, to security screens to cable knit jumpers. It was awesome!
I came away with a short grey leather jacket circa 1980, which while needing a bit of TLC, is pretty fab I must say. I'm going to hit google up shortly to suss out the best way to clean up leather with some natural products. I'll let you know how it goes and hopefully next time you see me I'll be basking in all its second-hand glory!
Given the reason I started this blog to be able to impart a few words of wisdom here and there to you, I hereby present to you my (newly learned and super keen to put to use again) tips for hosting a garage sale of your own:
1. Don't leave it til the last minute
I have to admit we took our time the week before to plan, sign, promote, clean and lay out our stuff. Yeah, it was a pain to do during the week, but come Saturday morning, it was so awesome to just get out of bed and roll up the door.
2. Have plenty of loose change
I think this is a bit of a no-brainer, but as Paypal promoted themselves with this particular event, I thought perhaps people would take up the cashless option. Nope, garage sale go-ers like to work with stone cold cash. $1 and $2 coins work best. Wearing a bum bag to secure said change is optional (I optioned out).
3. Be prepared to be offended
I don't mean everyone who comes along is going to be awful, but as I mentioned above, you may have incidents where people just don't have their manners with them on that day. Or you may find people come and go without buying a thing. Don't take it personally, you won't remember them come the end of the day, you'll be too busy smarting at all the $$$ you've made.
4. Play some tunes
When our first few customers came, we didn't have the ipod going and, well, in the close confines of the garage, the silence got a little awkward. Blast some all-ages friendly tunes, at a morning appropriate level, and it'll make the difference (oh, we chose the Stones of course!).
5. Be prepared to make small talk
Following on from tip 4, there were moments when wives were off trying the clothes and the husbands were left out the front with us. Thank god it had rained the night before, it gave us something to chat about with them as they waited patiently for their ladies. But in general, you don't have to be everyone's best friend, a friendly "good morning... can you believe this weather?" goes a long way.
6. Have your prices already sorted
Nath and I had priced all of our stuff, and while we were prepared to negotiate on a lot of stuff, we were also prepared with what we wouldn't budge on. And believe me, people will barter (seriously lady in yellow, would it have killed ya to give us the extra $1 we wanted for that old retro whisk?).
7. The earlier the better
I'm truly not an early riser, and the 8am start was debatable to begin with, but given we had people pulling up at 7.35am and the last around 11.30am,I definitely think having an early morning sale is best. You'll get an influx of peeps first off, but when you can finish at 12 and then get on with the rest of your day, it's kind of cool.
8. Enlist some help
I had seriously thought it would be just me on the day, but Nath was able to step in at the last minute to help out, and it was fab. Just having someone else there to serve customers, keep watch during toilet breaks and, in my case, add up sums quickly in their head, was golden. Not to mention being able to "discuss" various customers... . (insert smirk here).
9. Pledge some proceeds
We pledged 10% to Beyond Blue. I just think it's a nice thing to do, given usually you would probably just chuck all of the stuff you're selling, into a Good Sammy's bin anways.
10. Have the champers chilled
We actually didn't follow this rule initially (I know, right??), but with our earnings we treated ourselves to a nice cold bottle o' bubbly. Thank you Grant Burge, your Pinot Noir Chardy was delightful!
And so to finish off, I've left you with a little image sampler of our day.
Kel :)
