Rummage Sale Blues

I survived the weekend rummage sale. I can't believe all the work it was and all the drama that ensued from it.


On Saturday when we set up, we had the old retired guys stroll in and ask for tools. No tools. What we did have is clothes. We had nice clothes, too, Anne Taylor Loft, Abercrombie and Fitch, Talbots, and assorted other mall store apparel. The trouble is, that they were all sizes 4-8 longs and small and extra small tops. That is my wife! (I feel so unman right now. At least I didn't say "cute tops." Guys should never use the term "top" to describe a shirt, nor should they use the term "cute" to describe anything but a girl, but I digress.) Anyway, the trouble with these sizes is that rummage share shoppers are generally NOT that size. They are breakfast biscuit totin', men's sweat pants wearin', full-figured gals. That is fine with me, except they don't buy my wife's clothes. As a matter of fact, they look at the size tags and scoff, as if we don't know how to market to the "pro's."


I know what you're thinking. No, they weren't scoffing at the price. I would say that $0.25 for an Aeropostale SHIRT isn't something to scoff at. So, if you are in the market for the aforementioned sized clothing for cheap, check out our local Goodwill Stores, because that is where they are now.


Around lunch time, my sister announces that she doesn't feel "right". This is the sister that is STILL waiting for disability because she has every malady in the book. A short time later, she goes into a seizure and we had to call for an ambulance. She is STILL in the hospital as I type. The odd thing about it is that, the shoppers didn't miss a beat. They continued shopping like they were glad that there was one less person to compete with for the curling irons and roller sets that were in limited supply. I assume that they were trying to be polite and not gawk at the spectacle, but maybe that is wishful thinking.

When the weekend was over, we didn't get rid of very many of the big items - the important ones that would free up space. I don't even know how much we made. I haven't felt like even counting it. My wife and I were exhausted, sunburned and after the clean-up, we were pretty much in bed by 8:30 Sunday night.

Monday morning, I get a call from my tenant complaining about some things about the sale. Little things like a couple of stones out of place and two balloons that somehow got loose and got caught up in a wire. He also complained that some stuff marked "free" was ransacked overnight and a mess was made. He lectured me how certain items were not going to be picked up by the garbage service.

I told him that I okay'd all that with him before we put it out there and HE told me that the garbage men would pick up all the stuff that was left. He replied that he shouldn't have told me that. "Oh, my fault," I thought. "I shouldn't have let YOU tell me that." However, I went and took care of all of it. However, we are going to butt heads on the extra building on the property I use for storage. He hinted that I am going to have to rent a storage space somewhere for anything that didn't sale. Not going to happen. I rent the house to him dirt cheap. I pay $250 every month for him to live there (my mortgage payment minus his rent). I am not going to pay more than that to store stuff when I OWN the extra building. When he buys the place, I will move it; I will be able to afford it then - but not until then. I have offered sharing some space in there for him to store some things, but we'll see what happens.

I guess I just don't have enough drama in my life. One day at a time . . .

10 comments:

Sayre said...

I hate rummage sales. I've only done one and that is the last one I will ever do. TO me, having the weekend free is much more important than making the measley amount of money I would make - better to donate it and take the write off (in my opinion).

Sorry your tenant is being a jerk. Like you need one more thing to stress out over...

Meg said...

I love rummage sales. I just like holding all that money - all $25 of it.

If you don't have enough drama in your life, I'd be more than happy to share some of mine. I'm just a caring, sharing kind of person.

Michelle said...

We were planning to have a rummage sale next month. mmm... the enthusiasm level just went from 60% to 1% here! :-\

BTW, I have a challenge for you.
Feel free to ignore it... or join in.

http://crows-feet.blogspot.com/2008/05/standing-women-website-pledge.html

PS... I'm non gender biased so I see no reason why there can't be Standing Men. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, talk about feeling entitled! Sheesh. That guy needs to reacquaint himself with the reality of his situation. Gratitude being the key word there.

Well, if it were three years ago - and any time up to that point in my life - I would have totally partook of the size 8 long clothes. Those are exactly the places I tend to shop, too. Now, well, nothing would have fit, but I will get back to that size again...eventually... *sigh*

I'm sorry it wasn't as successful a venture as you had hoped. And I'm SO sorry about your sister. Poor thing. Light and love coming her way from me for sure.

Chris said...

Whenever my wife threatens...errr...mentions a garage sale, I suddenly have to work at the office for the next 4 weeks. (just in case:) )

Jeff said...

Sayre: I agree. Weekends are priceless. However, the money IS needed and we needed to get rid of stuff. It just seemed too logical to pass up. We had a lot of help so I was blessed - despite my tenant and my sister's condition.

Meg: We DO share our dramas now, don't we? lol

Michelle: There may be standing men, but they must have more energy than I have. ;)

Jeff said...

Steph: Everyone sees things from their own perspective. I try to see it from his, but enough is enough, I think.

Thanks for your encouragement, too.

Chris: Smart man!

The Real Mother Hen said...

How's your sister doing now?
Will keep her in prayer.

Jodi said...

Hey, sorry I haven't been around. Of course you haven't been to MY blog either....so, I guess we're even.

Anyway, I hope all is going well. When are we going to arrange that cup of coffee?

J.

Charles said...

Man do you have a lot on your plate, and a annoying tenant to deal with as well.

Wonder what kind of big stuff you had(ve).

In our neck of the woods, if we sit something out, like a stove or a TV, it would be gone by the next day. LOL