Yard Sale FAIL!

Yesterday was yard sale day...but of course, I was fooled by weather.com into thinking that it was going to rain all day, so I ended up sleeping in until 11, then realized it was actually not rainy, so as I started to set up, of course it WOULD start raining! Gahh, so Nate and I went to lunch at Bagel Mainea (delish) and decided to just not have the yard sale due to rainy weather. We then stopped by our home away from home, otherwise known as Lowes Hardware to pick up some painter's tape and decided to paint the upstairs hallway instead. I was happy with that decision, until the sun came out mid-afternoon and stayed out the rest of the day! Man, lesson learned: do not fully rely on weather.com! The hallway looks nice except it still needs a second coat in some places, but we ran out of Sandy Star paint, so it will have to wait to be finished for another day! I was originally going to go to Portland with Nate and his dad to help out with them live-stream-videoing a sports award event, but instead, since it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day out, I stayed behind to run the yard sale on my own. Since we made $300 last weekend, I was pumped to go out there and roll in some more dough to put towards our future couch! But lo and behold, it turns out that a sunny Sunday that also happens to be father's day is a TERRIBLE day to have a yard sale! There were maybe 10 people who stopped by and I made a whopping $12...crazy!! I couldn't believe the difference! Luckily, my 16 (turning 17 tomorrow!) year old brother Zac, came by and kept me company for a few hours and my mom came by around lunch time (and brought us Subway--yummy!) to join in the fun as well, the only problem being that since my mom called to ask what we wanted for lunch, not a single person had shown up! So after a couple more hours of sitting out in the sun with my mom and bro, my brother got bored and peaced out while my mom helped me pack everything up and bring it back inside. As she was leaving I asked if she would take the yard sale signs down for me, but surprisingly, when we went to get them, they weren't there! Who steals yard sale signs? I mean SERIOUSLY! No wonder no one showed up! Gosh, some people are so rude! I honestly don't know who would have done that...but I don't think they are very nice.

Yard Sale!

My yard sale experience this weekend started out interesting, but ended up being a big success. Let's just say I was ill prepared for what was to come. I thought people were joking when they said "expect early yard salers to show up before it starts and while you are setting up early!" But no, as Nate set up the signs at the end of the road at 7:30am, while I was setting everything up, thinking that was enough time, people were showing up, asking if we were "open"! Crazy, I had to awkwardly entertain those people with the few items that I had out so far, which were of course unpriced, and when they asked me how much they were, I stumbled over prices, struggling to put them too low, knowing how much I actually spent on the item, so they would leave without purchasing anything. Once Nate got back and I had some help setting everything up and having time to figure out pricing though, it flowed pretty well and was actually pretty fun! I had to reluctantly price my clothes at $2 each, as well as my shoes, and my designer purses at $5!! Ahh I thought I was going to cry at first, but then I remembered that I was having a yard sale to get rid of everything that I don't need anymore, and getting any money at all (even just $1) for things was better than getting nothing and I felt a lot better. We technically started at 9am, and had to close up shop early at around 1pm due to rain, so all in all we did great, getting rid of lots of stuff and rolling in $300, which will go toward purchasing a new couch! I can't wait to be able to curl up on a new couch and watch a movie on our new flat screen TV over the mantle :) We will hopefully have another successful yard sale day this Saturday and earn some more money, while getting rid of lots more stuff!

"Living the Dream"

It's tough to have such an amazing, eye-opening, learning experience like I did during my AmeriCorps term down south, and come back home to being unemployed and feeling somewhat useless. So to avoid those "debbie downer" feelings, I immediately gave myself a big project to work on upon arriving home...cleaning and renovating my house. That's right, using what little money I got from AmeriCorps has gone to buying paint, food, and a stylish new pair of heels (the last item doesn't really fit, but I had to do it! New heels make a girl feel so good--even when she doesn't really need the height!) But I am thankful every morning for something to wake up to and keep me busy. And "lucky" for me, my boyfriend is also currently unemployed (yay??) so he has been a huge help with this renovating project. For those of you who have not been to my house recently (or ever), you'll have to take my word for it that my house was quite a disaster! And if that doesn't convince you, here is some proof: we already sent three truck loads of trash to the dump! And there is more to go...we cleaned most of the actual house so far, but still have to get to the attic, basement, and garage. Which also reminds me that we are hoping to have a yard sale soon! Woo! Whoever came up with the concept of a yard sale is my current hero, because nothing beats the combination of getting rid of junk while making a little money!
What we have done in the house so far, is sell the furniture (so yes, we are now sitting in a purple bean-bag chair, computer chair, and wooden chair in front of the TV). Speaking of TV,  we got hooked up with a sweet flat screen HD TV that we mounted above the mantle/fake fire place at the house, after painting the walls! I'll post some pictures soon!