The Big Sale

It's going to be a big day around our house tomorrow. We are having our first ever garage sale, which I like to refer to as The Big Sale. The idea started this summer when we spent a lot of time cleaning out various areas of our house, including the boxes in the garage that have been sitting there for an entire year. Will and I both have a slight tendency towards hoarding, and some of these items that we cleaned out included, but were certainly not limited to--every single invitation to every single event of my friend Sara's wedding weekend (she's been married 7 years), the directions that Will's dad wrote out for him when he was making his original pilgrimage to Mississippi College for orientation, and cards to commemorate every life event 2008-2011. 

Anyway, we are really making an effort to fight our hoarding instincts in this house, so when I saw how much stuff there was to give away I started wondering if we could sell it. Thus The Big Sale was born. My official partner in The Big Sale is my good bestie and college roommate Sara. I want to stress that we were potluck roommates who roomed together all four years of college. Clearly we work well together in all endeavors. Here we are our senior year. I want to publicly acknowledge that I know there is a way to crop this, but I'm tired and I don't feel I have the energy to figure it out at this time.

What? You mean you don't have a professional portrait of you and your college roommate? Here's another of the whole group.

Just think girls.  One day you could be frolicking together in coordinating black shirts taking friendship pictures and 8 years later you could be hosting your very own Big Sale together #fancylife 

I heard rumors that such a sale is a lot of work, so I started doing some research. And it turns out that there is a whole culture of people who love nothing more than to run about in the wee morning hours hosting/shopping at garage sales. These people had a lot of very specific tips to share via the internets, and I am greatly appreciative for these words of advice from the professionals.  

I am weirdly fascinated by the idea of a neighborhood garage sale. I grew up in the country, and though I'm sure people must have had them, I don't recall ever seeing a garage sale sign out by my house. So I'm fascinated with them in the same way that I'm still fascinated with trick or treating on foot in a neighborhood. I love the idea of being at a garage sale visiting with neighbors and people from around town. It all seems very quaint and early 90's to me.  I suspect these ideas are naivety on my part and that they will die a slow, sweaty death tomorrow morning at 8 when I've already been up for 4 hours.

If you live near me I do hope you will pay us a visit tomorrow.  We have lots of good stuff and I might even make some cookies. Sara and I had an official lunch meeting this week about The Big Sale (which her mom pointed out we should write off for tax purposes--I like the way she thinks) and we decided that our criteria for success would be making a profit--any profit, no specifics to bring us down--and having a general good time. Please come help us make all our dreams come true!

Whitney