. There are very few times of the year when working in the attic is feasible. It's either blistering hot up there or freezing cold. Today, though, it was quite reasonable, so I wound up working all morning and then some up there scrounging for things I might like to get rid of in my garage sale and tidying up in the process.
I was VERY UPSET to discover something. About 5 years ago, I bought a beautiful new rug, about 8 x 10. Gorgeous. Shortly after that, I adopted Luther and Waldo, so rather than watch them slowly destroy the brand new rug, I decided to store it in the attic. It's not rolled up, but it is face down on the floor. The better to protect it, I thought. I discovered in cleaning that all around the edges it looks a little...not exactly frayed, but like something's been nibbling it! Has got to be a mouse/mice!!! I’m very upset. Don't know what the heck to do with it to protect it from further damage. I could bring it downstairs, but then the cats will be scratching at it. Gosh darn.
I do have a pile of stuff for the sale, but I have a feeling the bulk of it will go unsold, even if I price everything very reasonably. I will have to aggressively advertise it in at least 2 local papers, maybe a third as well to build traffic. Becus if I don't sell it all, much of it will be donated to Good Will, and all that prep work for nothing.
I brought most of my stash down from my upstairs spare bedroom, where I'd been accumulating stuff, downstairs by the front door. Up and down the stairs about 50 times. I figure, with still 2 weeks from planned date (unless we have another heat wave OR it rains), no use hauling it down to the garage becus things tend to get dirty in there just sitting around. So bulk of work still to mostly be done on the Thursday and Friday before the sale.
I was able to borrow a full-size folding table from friend R., and I remembered I do have 2 smallish (about 18" diameter) folding wood tables I can easily put out there. And I have one long counter in the garage, plus a makeshift job I made with bricks and wood.
It's so hard knowing how to price things. I have a friend who sells a lot of stuff on eBay who will be coming over to help me with that. There were a few things I thought might be worth more money that I researched online. An ironstone teapot made in England, 2 kewpie dolls I'm having a little trouble letting go since my grandmother gave them to me and she crocheted them both little gowns. But so much stuff just sitting around in storage. A rocker that is rather nice but needs new fabric seat, lots of kitchen stuff, just a lot of tsotchas, etc etc.
This weekend I also managed to do two loads of laundry, mow front and back and I got another estimate on rebuilding concrete sill on side garage door and taking down that tree of paradise ($1200). He wants too much. If I move, why spend all that $$ on having a tree taken down? For peace of mind. If we have another storm similar to Hurricane Sandy, this tree could drop more limbs, possibly on the house. They say we're going to have another "active" hurricane season.
The price of ripping out damaged sheetrock and putting in new sheetrock, and taping it, was $670, I think, from one company. A lot when you consider it's just sheet rock. It’s all about the labor. I have another guy coming sometime this coming week. He's supposed to be "reasonable" and was recommended by a friend.
After having finished up the antibiotics for the Lyme Disease I believe about 2 weeks ago, I had 2 days feeling very headachy all day. Pretty sure it's still the lyme. So doc gave me antibiotics for another 2 weeks, which she said sometimes helps. I don't like taking antibiotics all the time, but it's very troubling to be having these headaches, and there’s no other treatment available. So antibiotics it is.
I made a peach/wineberry crisp yesterday.
I like to count my produce (the stuff I grow), and so far I'm up to 457 cherry tomatoes and 59 beefsteak tomatoes, plus smaller quantities of other stuff. It's really hard to believe. I've given away a lot of tomatoes to my mother and frozen even more. Tomorrow I may try digging up some potatoes. Perhaps a bit early. If the voles got to them before me, it'll be a washout.
Prepping for garage sale
August 18th, 2013 at 12:13 am
August 18th, 2013 at 01:55 am 1376790958
August 18th, 2013 at 12:29 pm 1376828972
August 18th, 2013 at 01:17 pm 1376831837
Good luck! I will be interested to hear how your sale goes. I hope lots of stuff gone and a nice wad of cash in your pocket.
August 18th, 2013 at 04:13 pm 1376842436
August 18th, 2013 at 07:32 pm 1376854320
I would try to sell the smaller, more valuable items on ebay or c.l. if they don't sell - you can always donate them later.
August 18th, 2013 at 08:53 pm 1376859192
Garage Sale: I've found it helpful to post photos of some of the items on Craig'sList and also advertise our sale. I don't think I'd offer vintage dolls or quality antiques without having researched their true value.
Our rule of thumb has been to price items in excellent condition at 1/2 the new cost. Items that show wear are priced at what we would be willing to pay at someone's yard sale. We made a pack to never ever bring stuff back in. It's our sure-fire motivator to negotiate a sale. Whatever doesn't sell gets loaded in the car at the close of sale and driven to the nearest charity outlet at very next trip out.
August 19th, 2013 at 12:50 pm 1376916636