"Easy, Successful Garage Sale"

How do you feel when you think about having a garage sale?

Personally, I don't jump up and down with excitement, but sometimes I just have to have one to get rid of the stuff we don't use anymore.

Last week I set up and had a garage sale all on my own. Yes, I am 32 and had never had a garage sale, without the entire town having one the same day, on my own. So I set out last week to accomplish this task. It ween pretty well, but I made it very easy on myself.

How to make a garage sale easy . . .

1. Don't price every item you have, especially the clothes.
     a. Put up signs that say make an offer.
     b. For the clothes put up signs selling selling them all for one low price.
         aa. I sold mine for fifty cents each piece.
     c. Don't price anything less that .25 cents so you don't have to deal with
         dimes and nickels.

2. Don't stress too much on having enough tables for all your stuff.
      a. Put anything that could be damaged on the ground on a table.
      b. Make a table out of some totes or plywood.

3. Advertise where it's cheap!
     a. Social media has made it very easy to advertise just about anything and
         it is FREE!
     b. Put up signs to direct people to your sale.
         bb. Walmart and Menards carry the signs for about .98 cents per sign
                and stake. I was lucky and got a "Garage Sale Kit" on sale at Menards
                for $1.99.

4. Change
     a. Go to your local bank and get at least $50.00 in change.
     b. There's no need to use a money box, just use a Tupperware container or apron

5. Placement of Items
     a. Put the big items out on the driveway
     b. Put any items men might be interested in out on the drive (men are
         becoming big garage salers)
     c. Breakable and small items should be kept in the garage

6. Open and Close at your advertised times

7. Accept Offers
     a. Some people will offer you less money or ask what your bottom dollar
         is for an item don't take offense. Work with them. Do you really want
         to take the item back into your house when you don't even use it? I sure
         don't. Plus, it is better to get some $$ for the item, rather than having to
         haul it to the Goodwill after the sale and get nothing.

8. If you have little kids let them run a lemonade stand.
    a. Only charge twenty five to fifty cents for the items at the stand
    b. Let the kids keep the money

9. Items that don't sell
    a. Bag up things to donate
    b. Bag up things to take to a resale shop
    c. Throw away anything else. You don't need it, so don't keep it.

10. Collect your signs

11. Count your earnings!

Wooliteer Review

As a member of Crowdtap (a collaborative marketing platform) I recently tried Woolite Extra Dark. When the product arrive, I was skeptical about how it would help my dark clothes stay looking new longer. Plus, I wasn't aware that Woolite could be used in a washing machine. Surprise, it sure can! I'll be honest with you I don't have time to go down to the nearest stream and beat clothes on a rock.

But since I was trying it with no cost to myself, I figure I might as well give it a shot. So I piled all our dark clothing aside from the rest till I had a full load to wash. This didn't take too long since I have several dark shirts and my husbands work shirts a dark as well. Not to mention all the denim shorts we have been wearing lately due to this crazy heatwave.

I have to say, I do like this product. The clothes came clean and the color stayed intact. The detergent has a nice smell too. It works in both top and front loading machines including the high efficiency models. Plus, Woolite Extra Dark works well in cold water as well as hot. So if you are like me, and do not want to spend the extra money on washing your laundry in hot water this stuff works in cold just as well. So save yourself some pennies and use the cold water!

In the future, I will use Woolite Extra Dark on my jeans and other dark clothes. I like that it keeps them looking new longer without causing stretching or shrinking, so when I put my jeans on after a wash I won't get a complex. Not to mention, I wear the same jeans until they literally fall apart, so if I can extend the life of them, I am all for that especially for the price I pay for a good pair of jeans.

Cool 4th of July Fun

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!

Since we have moved 2 hours away from anybody we know, holidays have become a strictly family affair. Yesterday, I was hit by the realization that there wasn't a cookout to attend, so I loaded the kids up and ran to the store. I needed to find a few things to do, so we could celebrate this great day in style and on a budget.

I decided that we would paint t-shirts since Grandma Debby had given Misses a tub full of fabric paint. I bought them each a cheap white shirt. Then I noticed that strawberries were on sale for $1.78! So we picked them up and some Wilton Chocolate Disks and blue sprinkles. There I had some things to do inside, since it has been terribly HOT!

Today we got to work on our projects . . .

The Shirts! . . . I just let them go to town and they loved it. Bubba may have tasted it . . . oops.

The Strawberries were fun and yummy too!

Then of course some firecrackers that can only be done Illinois style (meaning the boring ones only little kids enjoy).



All in all it was a nice relaxing 4th of July. The kids had fun and mom and dad got to relax some too.