Friday night, Jay looked over the stuff we had for the yard sale. "You'll be lucky to make $50." Shocked that he thought I would make so little, I rolled my eyes and chalked it up to him not knowing how yard sales work.
Only it turns out that he was right - I made $39.50. I paid $5 for the signs and newspaper add, so I netted $34.50. My father sold two pair of shorts for $6 and he has requested the money (the rest of my family just gave me stuff to get rid of for them) but when he found out how little I made, he felt bad and told me to keep the money.
Of course that didn't make any sense to me, since he was the one that didn't break even. After spending $20 on lunch for himself, my mom, Jay and I, he actually lost money on the deal.
Truth be told, I was hoping to make around $100 or so. I had already planned on what I wanted to buy. I never just buy a pair of pants without checking the price. That results often in a pair of pants that don't fit me properly.
I thought it would be nice to go into one of my favorite stores (The Limited, Express, Banana Republic) and not concern myself with the price, just buy a pair pants that fit me well and look good. With less than $35 profit, that's not going to happen.
My mom tried to make me feel better by reasoning that it was $40 that I hadn't started with. I had gotten junk out of my house, gotten a little money for it, and she and I had gotten to hang out. Using her logic it the sale was a success.
It also made me think of my weight loss goals. I felt skinny this weekend, even though I seemed to be eating anything and everything in site. Do I choose to measure success by the number on the scale, the size of the pants, or the way I feel?
Depending on how you look at it, I'm either a wonderful success or a huge failure. For today, I choose to be a success.
bummer but WAY TO TURN IT AROUND!! :)
ReplyDeleteMan, I'd count it a success just to get rid of some clutter. And to spend time with mom :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry the sale wasn't what you hoped for but your mom's right - you got rid of some stuff and it was money you didn't have before. Next time, just donate and get the tax write off.
ReplyDeleteIt could have been better, but you have more money and less stuff now, so that's a success!
ReplyDeletebeing a cup-half-full typea girl myself, i'd call it a success! you could have donated it or curbed it, but instead you got some money back and really, money is money! what i wouldn't give to just get rid of the overwhelming mounds of stuff we don't need and get some money for it! ya did good!
ReplyDeletei also call feeling great about yourself a pretty big success too! good for you!
What a great attitude! =) I've gone garage sales twice in my life. The first time was to benefit the American Cancer Society (funny story on that -- need to blog about it, actually...), and the other was at my house, when I got to sale my refrigerator (I had two at the time -- my MIL moved and gave me hers), so I think that put my sales around $70 with the fridge (which I sold for $30...probably could have gotten more. It was a good fridge.).
ReplyDeleteI hate yard sales - too much time and energy to get everything together and sit outside all day. And then you don't make any money. Yuck, yuck!
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