Kindness Yard Sale 2020 - GRAND TOTAL!!

My body is bruised, exhausted, and sore.

But my HEART, my heart is happy.

The Kindness Yard Sale 2020 is in the books!  We started at 8:30 am Saturday and Sunday, and we didn’t have a slow time the entire weekend!  You know how with most yard sales you expect to be busy the first 3 or 4 hours, then have long lulls between customers?  That is what we EXPECTED, but oh that is not what we got!  People just kept coming and coming and coming!  We had a large supply of re-usable fabric bags that we planned to put purchases in for the whole sale.  Those puppies didn’t even make it through the first day before we had to switch to plastic and paper bags.  It was amazing!!

If you know me (and you probably do because you are reading this) you know that I often have my camera in hand and I take photos (literally) every day.  So, it might help you understand how BUSY the sale was when I tell you that I didn’t take a SINGLE PHOTO of it!!  It wasn’t until we were starting to pack up that I even thought of photos!!!  So here it is – the terrific signs David made.

Speaking of the signs, that and posting in 4 Facebook groups was the only advertising I did.  As much as I planned ahead on the sale aspect, I sorely lacked in the advertising.  I can only imagine how much busier it would have been if we had found time (and remembered…) to hang up the signs we printed!  😊

I have so many fun and poignant memories of the sale.  Let me tell you about a few of them.

-          A little boy (age 2 I think) was with his parents.  His dad came to the sale on Saturday and was interested in a small child sized table, but wanted to come back with his wife.  So Sunday the 3 of them came to look.  After checking out he table, the parents shopped while the little boy played with trucks (his dad told me he loved anything with wheels…).  I decided to see if he would join me for a TEA PARTY.  I brough the tea set of Disney princesses down to the kid table, took a seat, and set up the cups, saucers, plastic silverware, and tea pot.  Then I invited him over.  He sat opposite me and I showed him that I had made some (pretend) tea.  I poured us each a cup and pretended (through my mask) to drink mine.  He wasn’t sure at first, but soon enough realized that tea parties are marvelous fun.  We drank “tea”, he stirred “sugar”, and a good time was had.  When it was time to leave, his parents were leading him out with their purchase of the 2 small chairs and kid table.  But he was having NONE OF IT.  He cried and cried.  And he had been so cheerful and attentive the whole time, but now he was S A D.  Turns out, the mom had packed up the tea set in the baggie and BOUGHT IT.  But my little friend thought packing it up meant leaving it at the sale.  Poor fella.  I hope he had a good tea party when he got home.

-          A woman was shopping for clothing and asked me if there was a place to try it on.  There was not, so she asked if she could maybe take a few things to her house to try on.  I asked where she lived and she gestured 2 houses down.  As we talked I learned that she is an au pair for a neighbor.  She moved to America from Mexico the DAY BEFORE the quarantine started!  She brough very little with her, thinking she would buy used clothing when she got here.  But everything has been closed.  So I asked her sizes, needs, and preferences, then headed toward the basement to look through the stacks of clothing that I didn’t have space to hang outside.  I filled up a big plastic tub of clothes for her to take home and try on.  She took pictures of the ones she wanted to buy and brought the rest back.  She ended up with sweaters, a winter scarf, a winter headband, snow boots, a swimsuit, and some all season clothes!  It was so fun to be able to welcome her to the neighborhood and the country.

-          Many items found the RIGHT HOMES.  Lots of people were careful about their purchases, really looking things over, considering them.  It was obvious that they would value and care for them.  One of those was a little girl whose parents bought her the American Girl horse.  It was a beautiful horse and came with horse accessories, too!  The girl beamed when I showed it to her.  And about an hour after they left the sale they sent over a photo of her playing with her new toy.  Heaven.  These items also found perfect homes!

Who doesn't love a good Todd Parr book?? 

A Minnie Mouse fan and his new stuffie

-          A man who I never met volunteered to sew MASKS for the sale!  Someone had donated really pretty fabric, and this man said he would make masks with it.  We required all shoppers to wear masks (and were glad that people respected that rule).  So even though people already had masks ON, they still wanted to buy the pretty handmade new ones.  It was great.

Great handmade masks

-          A couple of nights before the sale a group rode by on bicycles.  They asked if we could use CDs for the sale, and bookends.  Ummm, sure!  Why not!  Off they rode, only to came back an hour or so later with almost every cd known to mankind!!  They had spied a dumpster full of TREASURES and rescued some for the sale!  Isn’t that fantastic??  And you know what?  So many people wanted those CDs!  There was music of every genre!  And lots of the book ends sold, too.  Thus proving, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

-          Many people involved their CHILDREN in the sale this year.  Some kids came with their own money (little kids!) and the assignment of choosing something to buy.  One brother and sister duo had the sale concept explained to them before arriving, then the mom asked me to explain it, too, so that they clearly understood what the money was for, how prices were decided, etc.  Then they set about perusing games, toys, jewelry, and clothes.  When they came up to pay the mom asked them how much THEY thought the price should be.  Each child carefully considered the items.  One said, “Umm, I think $21.”  The other said $24.  So the mom and I decided to split the difference - $22.  But as the mom was pulling the money from her wallet, the little girl said seriously, “Mom, wait.  I think it should be $25”.  So that is exactly what they paid.  I loved that those children learned about so many things – kindness, generosity, value… 

-          Sooo many families donated this year.  It was INCREDIBLE.  And trust me, this yard sale had the widest variety of items of any sale ever!  There were cat beds, bundt pans, sleeping bags, a Scarlett O’Hara doll, a grown your own avocado set, books on a very wide variety of topics, Easter decorations, a food truck for kids to play with, furniture, a huge selection of jewelry, even a SQUATTY POTTY!!  But here are a couple of MY favorite donations (and yes, of course I bought them!)

Hey look - a wrestling singlet!  Can't pass that up!

Wait a gosh darn minute...  Did whoever donated this know that I am a MERMAID??

-         And so many people helped.  The general consensus is that next year, we need to schedule people to work in shifts.  But even without that, I had TONS of help this year.  Neighbors who came with their kids to help put merchandise out.  A neighbor who bought us dinner after the first day of the sale (and stayed super late the night before the sale to help finishing putting things out).  Neighbors who loaned tables.  A neighbor who stopped by almost DAILY for 10 or so days before the sale delivering finds – tables, clothes racks, etc.  Neighbors who delivered bottles of wine!  Neighbors who did not complain when I repeatedly begged for more hangers.  Seriously too many people to thank.

We still have a LOT of items left.  We miiiight open up again this weekend.  You will for sure see me auctioning off more items during the year on my Facebook page.  I might sell a few items online and put the money in the Kindness fund.  And I will for sure pack some things away for sale at the Kindness Yard Sale 2021.

Here is what you likely have been waiting for – THE GRAND TOTAL….  This will go up after we close out 3 auctions tonight, but for now, the grand total of the Kindness Yard Sale 2020 is….

(DRUM ROLL….)

$5,543.69!!!!

Can you believe it????  We almost TRIPLED the amount that we raised last year!

That money has been safely deposited in the bank.  And pretty soon, after we are no longer stiff and sore and the house has been tidied up, I can start to mull over ideas for KIND WAYS TO SHARE it.  I can’t imagine how much kindness that amount of money will spread!  It makes me giddy to think about it.

THANK YOU.  Thank you shoppers, online auction bidders, people who donated, people who helped, people who shouted out encouragement as they drove by.  THANK YOU.

Be on the look-out for KINDNESS coming your way.