Rummage Sale (It's Not Really a Yard Sale Since It's Inside) 2014

Well.  The great yard/rummage sale is over for another year.  Two years, really, since next year we'll be taking our youth group to Detroit for the National Youth Gathering for which this sale raises travel funds.  We did well this year, but it was not our best year.  I started wondering if a new, shiny thrift store in town might be hampering the yard sale crowd's enthusiasm.  I browsed in there recently and saw a number of items I know we had at our own sale.

Well, anyway, here are some pictures with commentary. 

 Here is a view from one end of our gym to the other.  I'm not actually standing all the way at the other end, maybe 1/4 of the way down.  The long tables in the middle are for housewares and glass, cooking items, etc.  In the far corner is electronics, by the green on the wall is kids and baby stuff.

 Here's our holiday table this year with a view to the sports/garden section and on to the books.  We had GOBS of books this year and sold a lot of them.  The school had a used book sale and what they didn't sell they gave to us. 

 Here's a view from one end of the housewares table looking down towards the other end.  This year we had two stand mixers, neither one of them Kitchenaid, but still.  It was so tempting, but the only thing I use my mixer for is to make cake, maybe once or twice a year.  So I refrained. 

 Here's just another view from behind the checkout area looking across holiday.

 Another view of most of the gym.

Our baby items.

 We had a bunch of Beanie Babies this year and a lot of them sold!  I won't tell you how many came home with my own girls....

 Two Disney brand porcelain or ceramic or nice plastic (not sure) Cinderella dolls.  They did not sell.

 Very nice playset with animals and dolls included.

 Lots of other dolls, including some old Barbie dolls.

 Gobs of old Littlest Pet Shop stuff. I think it all sold.

 Disney toddler Snow White, she sold.

 Toy section.  See that old white and brown doll house there under the table?  The people who donated it had stored it in a box labeled "Crusty Doll House".  Ha!

 Toy section

Here is the housewares table.  We had so much glass and china this year it was literally overflowing.  We didn't have enough tables and had to add two more!  We also had our first break this year.  The poor lady felt so bad, and I was just afraid she'd sue us!

 A lady had collected cut glass and when she passed away, her husband donated boxes of it to us to sell.  She had already priced and labeled a lot of it for a yard sale that she never got around to doing.

 Obviously this is not frames or baskets.  I took this while we were still reorganizing.  We ran out of room on these middle tables, as I said, and ended up taking all the frames, vases, and baskets to other locations.

 Linens area, and very diligent helpers.  One is in red, the other is waaaay back in the back by the books.

 Pyrex.  We had so much of it this year!  And check out the cool stacking canister set.  That sold.  I was surprised how much of the Pyrex did not sell.  The prettiest stuff did though.  We had three measuring cups, though, and I ended up buying those when they didn't sell.  Actually only two of them; I didn't need a four cup measure.

 We always have a lot of silver plate.  Some of it was sterling though. 

 

This is a Miche Prima bag with two covers.  We had to reduce it to sell it.  The other lady running the sale with me and I both wanted it, but we have Demi bags and of course these don't fit the Demi bags.  Oh well!

 Folks, that is a MINK coat.  Another lady working the sale called the store (local) where it had been purchased originally, and they no longer sell fur, and were apparently quite perturbed at being asked about the price for it.  We sold it at discount. 

 This is just a pretty teapot marked Japan.

 Interesting candlesticks.  These sold easily.

 Pretty dishes

 Loved the pink teacup set.

 This is an old quilt frame.  I saw similar ones selling for around $50 on ebay, but this one did not have all the parts. 

 Some rain sticks.  You hold them up and the rice or whatever is inside falls down and it sounds like rain.  They were really cool.

 We dubbed this the "Scales of Justice".  This sold.

 

Here is a Dickens Village (brand) Shakespeare's Globe Theater.  I actually know the person who donated it, and it was hard to part with.  We didn't sell it and saved it for next year's sale (2016).

 An almost brand new George Foreman indoor/outdoor grill, which retails for prices all over the place, from $90 to $130.  This sold.

 This was an unusual item.  It did not sell, but it was definitely interesting.

 Part of the jewelry table.  When we open up first thing on Friday, we always have dealers flocking to our jewelry area.  Fortunately, we have a couple who are very good at this and they always help us price and sell the jewelry.  We have never had anything worth a whole lot, but we did have some gold filled teeth this year (which our helper took to a jeweler and for which he gave her $75!) and a gold necklace that we also sold to a jeweler for $85.

 More old jewelry.  It came to us on this green felt just like this.  I think the old stuff is so neat.  There is a pin on here, and I don't know if you can see it or not, but it's a small, black circle and it says, "Mickael Jackson".  Odd.

 This painting/sculpture of a King playing card was handmade by an 8th grader at the school.  The teacher stored it and kept it for many years, but when she retired she had nowhere to keep it.  We had hoped someone would buy it, but unfortunately no one was interested.

I love seeing the old sewing machines and I only wish I had room for them.  This one had a whole accessories box with it. 

 This is an antique sled that is somewhat valuable, to a collector.  We didn't have any collectors this year.

 A Hershey's fondue and s'mores maker kit, and another Hershey's fondue set.  It's always interesting to see what items we get duplicates of.  We also had two tabletop George Foreman grills, in addition to the tall one, and two weird juicer things (I guess it was some kind of juicer) made of a material similar to Pyrex.  They sold.  The Hershey's did not. But the Foreman grills all did.

 Finally here are just a few unusual items.  This pot was HEAVY.  Behind it was some kind of golf shadowbox.  The elephant might have been handmade, I'm not sure.  It was very primitive looking and not at all heavy.  The porcelain lady was marked occupied Japan and that sold.  Below the black pot you can just see the top of an old iron insert--the old kind where you heated it up on the fire or the stove or whatever you did.  In big old letters across the top of this thing it says, "Asbestos".  We have no clue if that means it contains it, was made from it, or it was the company name.  We just kind of stayed away from it!

 

Well as I said, this was not our best year, but hopefully since we won't do a sale next summer, the following year will be better.  We had TONS of stuff, that was no problem.  Friday we made over $2000, but Saturday was just kind of slow.  It was a lot of fun though!  I had the girls with me most of the week, and my friend had her boys.  When we made our work schedule, somehow we shorted ourselves at least a day, so we prepped this entire sale in 4 days.  No really.  We were lucky to have some great helpers who worked hard.  The couple who helps us stayed late several nights when my friend and I could not (we have kids, theirs are grown).  And she and I stayed until about 8pm one night as well.  My mom was a huge help, taking the girls for me over and over again during the day and then taking them home with her after lunch almost every day.  My mom works at the church, so she was just down the hall.  She also kept my friend's younger son on the Friday of the sale when we had our kids there.  She took the kids down to her office and just played with them.  She said she had a great time!  She was a lifesaver, that's for sure!  

I hope you had fun checking out the yard sale!  Here's one last picture for you to enjoy.  There was one day we were working (prepping) and my friend and I had all our kids there.  They play together very well in spite of their age range.  Her oldest is 9 and of course Elena is 2.  Karina and my friend's youngest are the same age.  

 

Now how adorable is that?  I joked that if they got married to each other, this is how they'd end up.  That's Karina in green with my friend's son who is her age, and my friend's oldest is sitting with Elena.  It was just the cutest thing.  Love those girls AND those boys!!