It has been one year since we prepared and held Mom and Dad's estate sale. Even though they lived frugally, Mom had things hidden and stuffed away in drawers and cabinets. Most of you know me enough to know that I must have a price tag on every single item for my sales. I believe this is what makes a sale successful because customers don't have to ask you about prices, and you won't go crazy from people asking you about prices. You tend to sell more that way. too I always price items low to get rid of everything. Things you think are worth money, usually are not worth as much as you thought and if you price high, you end up donating with less money in your pocket. I love it when I find a bargain, and I love it when customers find bargains at our sales. One time I was helping a friend with an estate sale and there were so many tiny items that we told the customers if it didn't have a price tag, then it was 25 cents. I was at the checkout when an elderly man came up with a piece of metal without a price tag and asked how much. I knew it was worth more than a quarter so I told him $1. The look on his face was priceless as he handed me the one bill and ran out the door. The man next in line asked if I knew what that was. No. He then explained to me it was a jack for the model T car and could have gotten tons more money for it. I told him yes probably, but I just made that man very happy! I usually do research on items like that but my friend was doing this sale just to get rid of everything and the owner didn't care how much money she made. It turned out we made a lot of money. That is how it works. The 25 cent items add up to make up the difference of the larger items sold for less than what you may have wanted for it.
Back to Mom and Dad. At this point Mike and I had no idea we would be moving into this house. The plans were to put the house on the market after the sale. The Realtor told us to sell everything in the house including the fridge, stove, the antique shelving in the basement from an old grocery store....sell everything. So we did. But, it took us a week to price every single thing. Maggie and I came up a few days before the rest of the family arrived. We started out in the bedroom.
Once my sisters were here to help us, I would sit at the kitchen table while they would bring me piles of items and then once priced, would haul away to be displayed for the sale. My mother did not keep her closet like the above picture. We were throwing things in there because this was the room my niece Meredith was sleeping in.
Maggie had to sleep with all the other stuff. Notice in the below picture the cork board floor and how it had faded. You can see where the rug was. This was a concern of ours because how would this look to a potential buyer? Once we had the piano out, you could see the piano shadow as well. The skylights must have done this.
Sherry came up with the idea to paint the cork board floor which I think turned out pretty good. Nobody who looked at the house seemed to like it though.
I had a hard time letting anyone else price the items because I guess I am really particular about it. Sometimes my sisters would just be sitting there waiting for me to give them the okay to price things. We had one day left before the sale would start and I finally told Jo and Gary they could price the kitchen stuff. They were so excited!
We were finally ready for the sale and everything was priced. We each had an area to patrol and help customers with any questions they might have.
Jo and Gary were in charge of the basement.
Meredith, Sherry, and Maggie were at the checkout while Mary and I walked around and helped anyone that needed help.
We met a lot of people. I even met a classmate of mine I had never met before. My graduating class had over 900 students.There were two guys at the end of the sale that took just about everything left, although Gary and I had to take two car loads to the donation center. I can't remember how much we made but I remember everyone was pleased with the results. The last day of the sale happened to be Dad's birthday, July 16th, so we celebrated with ice cream cake. We all sang Happy Birthday to Dad, knowing he was right there with us somehow.
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