Garage Sales!

(Just a quick little note: I started writing this blog over a month ago but was helped out by my youngest who came up to type with me and happened to click one button that deleted my entire article. IT has only taken me a month to catch back up and get it done. Enjoy!)

Well, a couple of months ago we decided to have a garage sale. We got all ready and we had it on June 3rd. It was great. The day was perfect. We had got our garage cleaned out and found some junk lying around the house that was just taking up space. Then we joined in with my mom and my brother and it was great. It was a ton of work but it was so well worth it for a couple of reasons. 1. We cleaned up around our house and got rid of stuff we weren't using. 2. We earned some extra cash which is always a bonus. 3. We got to interact with people and sell them something that they can use that we just don't need any more. What a great concept. It was so entertaining as we watched the people come up we would assume what items we thought they would be interested in and then they would come up and pick out something totally unexpected and then they would buy it. I started enjoying going up to each one and trying to get them excited about an item. I will most likely never see any of those people again so just go for it. Sale that junk to them!
Now on the flip side. June 10 Liberty Lake 13th Annual Garage Sale. There is a little community just east of Spokane called Liberty Lake. It is a community of mostly newer homes all in a little area. It reminds me of Utah. Every year they get together and those who want to in this community all join in for one humongous garage sale. They pick the day and then anyone can just join in. They advertise a little and make a map of the area with the address of each person participating in the garage sale and then three or four things they are selling. There are some people that don’t have a garage sale but have food stands or other items they have made and are selling. It is just a huge community event. Well, this year we had a few things on our list we wanted to possibly find for a good deal so we decided it might be easiest to just hit the Liberty Lake garage sale. With so many people we were bound to find the items we wanted.

It turned out that Sam had to work that day so I was going to brave it alone but decided to get my mom to come along to help with the kids. Well, I woke up early Saturday morning and it was raining and I was so tired I almost said forget it but I decided that since it was raining there might not be as many people at the garage sale. Boy was I wrong. I think the rain brought more people than I have ever seen. As soon as we got near any sale there were lines on both sides of the street of parked cars. There were people in rain gear, there were people without, there were people with just hats there were people with umbrellas. There were people with kids in strollers, there were some with kids in carriers and there were just tons and tons of people. There were people in their cars in their trucks and then there were some who had their truck with a huge trailer behind it. I couldn’t believe it. We drove around for a half hour just looking for a parking spot. Finally I just got out and started going and my mom drove around for a while. I guess everyone else decided it would be a great place to go to get what they wanted and needed too.

So there were three main things on my list: 1. Bikes for Sam and I and either two bike seats or a bike trailer. Only Ashtyn had a bike and we all wanted to be able to go. 2. A bigger TV. We only had a 13” that we have had since we were married and we decided it would be nice to have a bigger upgrade. 3. A couch. We currently have no couch. On my journey through the mass hoards of people I was actually able to find two bikes that would be perfect for Sam and me, along with two bike seats. I also found a 27” TV in great condition. I did see a lot of couches but none of them fit the bill. But it was amazing to find the other things on my list. I saved huge amounts of money and was able to find some new enjoyable things for our family. Now one of our favorite things to do is go on bike rides as a family. It is great!!!

I guess overall I just realized that garage sales can be a hard thing but they can also be great!!