Title sanitized for your protection.

Saturday was my first rummage sale. I called it a Driveway Sale because I didn't feel like dragging tables out of the basement and I didn't want people in my garage. I placed all of our merchandise directly on the concrete.

The sale made me feel odd. I was inviting strangers into my home and more significantly, I was asking them for money. I sat on a lawn chair and lorded over my excess while I waited for the mini-vans to pull-up. Of the 20 (or so) people who stopped, I'd say 75% of them drove mini-vans. Here a few more statistics:

88% made a comment along the lines of, "Someone here certainly likes baskets."
75% brought children.
10% were unaccompanied minors.
60% were unaccompanied seniors.
10% spoke on their cell phones while they shopped.
20% looked as if they were in their bed clothes.
50% came because of the ad.
20% were on their way somewhere and didn't have any cash on them but would return to make a purchase.
5% lied about returning to make a purchase.
10% drove by really slowly as they checked out the driveway.

Allie sat on my lap and waited for people to come. She would offer them a history of an object they were looking at or say something like, "We've got so much stuff we didn't know what to do!" She even came up with a slogan:

"Five dollars or ten, the low prices are here again."

It makes as much sense as much of the other marketing we're constantly bombarded with and the "ten" and "again" thing was pretty catchy. I didn't use it. That didn't stop Allie from whispering it in my ear over-and-over again throughout the day and for the rest of the weekend.

We sold all the big stuff that I didn't want to haul to St. Vinnie's and made a little under $50. That paid for the $14.20 ad I put in the local paper and $8.95 for each hour I sat in the driveway.

Was it a success?

Probably not by most standards. However, I think we came out on top. After all, we did get rid of a lot of crap. We made a little (very little) money. We gave some nice things to a couple of charities. I met some of my neighbors.

I can't finish this because Deb is watching over my shoulder.