Yard Sale - Day 1 - Lessons Learned

I've just finished Day 1 of our two-day yard sale.  

What I've learned so far:

1. We have a lot of crap, very little of which has sold so far.  With that said, the cup about which Keith said: "Do you think we could even sell it, who would want this?" was the VERY FIRST item sold this morning.

2. It is really hard to do alone

3. It is nearly impossible to do with a cranky 10-month old to help you (even if her older brother is at Grandma's)

4. If you want to open at 9am, 6am is not too early to get up.  In fact, 5 might have been better.  If you open at 9, people will show up at 8:45

5. I did not need the $100 in fives & ones I got to make change, I could have gotten by with the couple quarters in my pocket.

6. Your 10-month old will not be willing to hang out in the pack & play like you'd hoped. (Okay, fine, nobody saw that happening, but it was worth a try.)

7. But, if you can finally, by some miracle, get said 10-month old to take her morning nap, you will have plenty of time to catch up on "Thank you" cards, e-mail, magazines, and pinterest.  It's not like I could spend the morning cleaning the bathroom while baby sitting my yard sale.

8. The Dollar Store on Aurora is open until 10 pm on weeknights. (I learned this one yesterday, but still an important part of the sale, since I needed signs & balloons)

9. Contrary to what everyone says, I'm not certain it's worth the extra effort to have the sale on Friday, business was pretty slow.  If you count all the time I spent preparing & holding the sale, I think I'm earning about $5/hour.  Hopefully my rate will go up tomorrow.

10. The very INSTANT you put the very last piece back in the garage for tomorrow, the sun will finally come out.