Downsizing sale aftermath

First, I would like to apologize for being quiet here.  I do feel bad for not posting anything on here for the past few days, but the reason is that we have been undertaking our downsizing sale.  

One of many signs pointing the way to the goods.

First off I am glad to say that it was a HUGE success.  In just 14 hours of selling time, we were able to sell about 85% of the items that we put out.  So a big thank you to everyone who came by!  I know that most people that did come have no idea about who we are or why we were doing it, but we do appreciate their help.  

As a reminder, what the garage looked like prior to the sale...

...but what is not shown is how we filled the rest of the garage with larger and last minute items!

There are so many fun stories that came out of this weekend that I would love to share them all, but I can only highlight a few.  First, I will say that we were blessed with some of the best weather anyone could ask for to do a sale, as well as being this early in the season that there were not too many other sales happening, so more people were able to stop by.  

We advertised through the Indy Star and Craigslist, and through the latter we received some responses to our postings with specific questions, thus ensuring some guaranteed traffic.  One of the responses were two ladies that run a childcare business looking for more items as they begin to consider opening another location.  Obviously, because of the hours that they operate, they would be unable to attend during the sale, so they asked if they could come by Thursday night to do a 'pre-shop'.  Knowing the nature of their business and how well our toys and games had been taken care of, we whole heartedly obliged to their request.

Friday was a very busy day between setting up, tearing down, and selling things in between.  The day started with shoppers at 7:45, and between that time and 1:30 we only had 3 minutes total that no one was at the sale!  (and by we, I mean me.  Stephanie and the kids were at MOPS until 12:30).  

Saturday was not quite as intense, but we still had a steady stream of shoppers coming through.  One of our hooks was that we were not able to get everything out on Friday morning, so there would be new things on Saturday morning, so come back and shop some more.  We did have a few repeat shoppers, and appreciate every bit of their business.

Some of the highlights include: 

• Having 2 school bus drivers, 2 police officers (one in uniform), a FedEx driver, a Comcast technician, and 2 Clark appliance installers stop.  I guess that no one can resist a good sale.  Speaking of Clark, the neighbors across the street were getting new appliances installed, so I appreciate the patience of the 3 gentlemen with the crazy traffic pattern around our house.  
• I was able to make some new connections with some Heritage parents.  
• There was a woman who does a lot of volunteer work and was shopping around with a very specific list, and we were able to meet several of her needs with our items.  
• Stephanie was able to promote her MOPS group's upcoming Kid Stuff Sale to many shoppers with specific requests for items.  
• I was able to bless a police officer in our neighborhood that purchased a piece of furniture, but was unable to get it to his house, by driving it there and helping him carry it inside.    
• Our neighbors across the street moving in on Saturday.  I grabbed some cones and blocked off a portion of the street so that they could park close to the house for loading in their furniture.
• People ringing the doorbell in the evening wondering if we were still open (everything was packed back into the garage).
• All of the stuff we were able to sell!

Once all was said and done, we only took 3 large boxes of leftovers to Goodwill.  I must say, that we were truly blessed with such a great sale.

The garage after the sale and cleanup...

...with most of the items being empty boxes and tubs, the kids bikes, and a few things left to sell on Craigslist and at the Kid Stuff Sale.