Coffee is something I drink regularly (right or wrong) and I find that is probably my beverage of choice. I drink it hot, cold and yes, even lukewarm. I drink it dark roasted, vanilla flavored and holiday inspired as well. I am probably what one would call a coffee addict but I have limited my intact over the past 20 years to no more then three cups per day.
Pre ra I could be found with a cup in hand first thing in the morning, second thing in the morning, driving to work, arriving at work, working at work, and leaving work. I was even known to have it as my last beverage of the evening. No, it didn't keep me awake into the wee hours of the morning. Maybe I was caffeine desensitized but post ra diagnoses I believed that caffeine would give me that boost to overcome the fatigue that goes hand in hand with ra. Of course I was so wrong but you couldn't convince me of this no matter what. Caffeine had gotten me through for so many years and I believed it would continue to give me that boost I so desperately needed to continue working, mothering, and just being.
Thirteen years into ra, I now enjoy coffee for what it is...a sumptuous hot or cold beverage that I now respect and enjoy for what it is and for what it isn't.
I will admit that yesterday during our yard sale (I am happy to report that we now have one foot on the plane) I drank it continually. I was up at about 3:30am, took all my meds and patiently waited for them to do their job. We are fortunate in that our home has a two car garage, so setup pretty much was hitting the garage door button and unveiling the yard sale. Maybe we should have called it a garage sale. The beauty of this is that with ra, one can take as long as it takes to setup. Did I mention that I love having a two car garage? And no, we never park either of our cars in this garage. Please, don't ask me why because I haven't a clue. Well maybe I do...it takes me 6 months to setup for a yard sale and we have two per year.
As you know, I have this bucket list item I am working on and that I am a very determined person? I mean, what is a person with severe ra suppose to do to make extra money (that will be a future post). And in the case of a yard sale, I am not really making money but rather trying to recoup already spent money. My accounting major daughter and I had many conversations over this issue about our yard sale. I felt we were recouping money, she emphatically felt we were making money. She based this on some accounting business principle on good already purchased and used...I just didn't get it but we both agreed that we were working on a shared goal. And isn't that what really matters? That we all can find agreement and respect for each other.
So in keeping with my abc's of ra blog principles, I am going to give you my ra garage sale tactics:
1...Do plan your yard sale way in advance. We all know that chronic illness does not lend itself well to rushing around last minute and yard sales are ALOT of work if one tries to do it last minute. Like I said, this yard sale took six months to prep.
2...Put a few boxes here and there in your home so that as you find something that you no longer want (I say six months is a perfect prep time frame), you can just drop it in the box. I have a box in my closet, a box in my sunroom, and a box in the garage near the laundry area. I also have price tags and pen in these boxes so that when I put the item in the box, I also price it immediately. I do not price clothing individually.
3...Be flexible on your garage sale dates as the time approaches as our yard sales are dependant on the weather and our ra condition. I usually mark off a three week period whereby I am committed to having the yard sale.
4...Rally the forces for your yard sale. Gather as many hands as you can for the day of the sale and do plan on starting your setup hours before the advertised start time. You WILL have early birds even if your advertise otherwise. Typically your early birds will be dealers looking for that find. I often hear people complain profusely about early birds but for me....I realize they are also trying to make a buck and to me, a sale is a sale is a sale.
6...Ambiance is everything and yes, even in a yard sale. Try to organize your sale items to make them look appealing. Be sure they are clean and neat. I also like to have music playing but for this yard sale, I got voted down on that little mood setting tactic. Music usually encourages people to stay longer and hopefully buy more. I also had put nice sheets over our tables before setting up the clothing etc. I personally like things to look clean neat and attractive. Kinda like I am opening up a store front but in this case a garage front. I also organize stuff according to categories: clothes in one area, children's items grouped together, household, antiques, paintings, books, etc.
7...Be sure to have seating for yourself and others helping with your sale. It does get exhausting and you will be using your seat alot. We used a tag team approach. Only one of us was out collecting money at a time while the other one stayed inside. We took one hour shifts and for me, it worked perfect.
8...Get plenty of change. My favorite strategy is to get $150 worth of change. I ask for $1, $5, $10 and no $20. I also get $10 worth of quarters and so far this strategy has worked for me.
Pricing Strategies:
1...Price it to sell. I know, I know you are thinking. I spent $50 on that pair of jeans and I want to sell them for $30. Well, let me nicely say...that ain't gonna happen. If you have items that you originally paid alot of money for then you might want to think consignment first or you may wind up just like my fellow yard sale participants this past weekend. They were not selling much at all. Why you ask? Well, in my humble opinion, they were way overpriced. Of course I fully realize that in the real world of retail shopping that things cost a small fortune but in the yard sale world, you want to price it to sell it. In my world that means below Ebay prices. To find a reasonable yard sale price, I check on ebay to see what has sold in that same category and this gives me a good idea of what is reasonable and what isn't. We are fortunate in my area in that we have a website called www.wilmingtonyardsales.com. This nifty little website allows one to list yard sale items for free (if one chooses) and then meet up with the prospective buyer at a designated time and place. I have not tried to use this service yet but I have used this website to research what would be a reasonable price on one of my items for sale and to advertise my yard sales.
2...Be willing to negotiate. You can be 100% sure that you will get buyers that will negotiate with you over the asking price. I tend to not discount early in the yard sale but I will negotiate more as the hours go by. And did I mention, a smile will get you a discount alot quicker then a glare.
3...I fix price almost all my clothing. In this particular sale we priced shirts $1, jeans $2, suit jackets $2, sweaters $2, shorts $1 and so on. My purpose is to get rid of the stuff and recoup what money I can. Otherwise, what am I going to do with this stuff? Do I really want to repack it all to have to donate it to Goodwill or The Salvation Army or a local charity? Please, don't get me wrong, I support these organization as much as possible but I am razor focused (type A personality that I tend to still be) and I want to sell this stuff to get my bucketlist item accomplished. Laser focused!
I preprinted two price lists for clothing and put one up for buyers to see and one inside our money box for us. On larger ticket items, I also put these items on our price list inside our money box. Sometimes prices come off (intentional or not) and this way I am not having to make up a price in a hurry. I can just check my price list and there it is! And I have a pricing code on big ticket items that allows negotiating. For example, the price ticket will say: $25 on top. Below that is the following code: SP5. What this tell the sellers is that this item is my husband's and we can go down $5 dollars below the $25 dollar ticketed price should someone want to negotiate the price. So far this strategy has worked wonders. In the past I would have to yell for to the seller and have them tell me how much they were willing to go down on an item. Did I mention that yard sale fanatics love to negotiate. It is a right of passage in fact!
Other helpful tips for having a successful ra yard sale...
- plan to rest up a few days before the sale so you have enough energy for the day of the sale
- have pain medications ready and available.
- be sure to rest often during the yard sale if at all possible.
- eat healthy the morning of the yard sale and have healthy snacks on hand for during the sale.
- try to recruit helpers if at all possible or think about offering others to join in your yard sale with the understanding that they will help run it.
- plan on having several days after the sale to rest up (you will need it).
- precook your dinner or have something delivered.
- don't be afraid to cancel the event if you are too sick or try to have backup helpers that will be willing to run it if you can't participate.
- and, if yard sales are too much for you...stay tuned for a future post about other ways to raise cash.
Some of my favorite yard sale tip websites:
Yard Sale Queen
Garage Sale Source
IFG-How To Have A Successful Garage Sale
