TAG SALE TIPS

Hi Peeps!

I only have one pair of pants left to wear to my tag sale tomorrow!  Why?  Because it takes a lot of work getting ready for one of these things and I'm too tired to get my clothes washed!  I'm worn out and sore from all the walking back and forth tagging the items I want to sell!  I think I've also worn out the Peptalk app trying to get into the right frame of mind to keep me going!  

Today, I'm taking it easy though, so maybe I'll wash those clothes tonight.  It's Tag Sale Eve!  I thought it would help to rest before the big day! In today's post, I want to share with you what I do to get ready for a tag sale.  There are many things to think about, because it's basically like setting up a one-day store!   Hope you consider these tips for your next sale.

1. Start Early: Get a running start by stock piling the things you don't need in your life any more!  Designate a corner in one of your rooms and pile it up.  Work often interrupts this process and many people are stressed the day before because they didn't have time to pull things earlier.  If you're working, start even earlier! I think a month prior gives you a great head start.
2. Tag Items:  I know this is tedious....I know.  But I would rather think about the price I want before I'm rushed by the mob!  Tagging items prior to the sale reduces the questions on the day of the sale allowing you to serve more people.  I start tagging a week prior to the sale and price to sell!
3. Use Preprinted Tags:  To save time, companies have started producing preprinted tags.  The little stickers are easy to pull off and just place it on the item.  I remember the good old days when I have to stop and write on my masking tape before I tore it off the roll.  In fact, I think I had a masking-tape bracelet and an ink-pen hair piece for days!  Anyway, preprinted tags will save lots of time.
4. Make a Great Sign: It's hard to sell anything when they can't find you!  If you are not on a main road, make a sign to post on the main road.  Be sure to put your address so they can google the location and an arrow can point them in the right direction.
5. Advertise:  Facebook is a wonderful way to announce to your community that you're having a sale.  In the olden days, we advertised in the newspaper at a cost.  The power of the Internet is certainly at play here!  Be sure to add a cute clip-art for eye appeal, the time, date and location.
   
6. Prepare Food the Day Before:  Since I have everything marked, I'll be making some snacks today to have available for tomorrow.  I think I'll fix some finger foods like pinwheels, sandwiches, cut veggies and cookies.  I'll also have my ice chest ready with water.  I have three reasons why I do this:  1)  I dislike spending my hard earned money on food for the day - it's so expensive to eat out!  2) I might not get a chance to go get something.  You never know how busy it'll be.  and 3)  It's a great time to have a picnic with the friends and family you're having a sale with.
7. Think About Displaying Your Items:  Make sure you have plenty of surfaces to place your items on so your customers don't have to bend over to look at things.  If you don't have tables, think of ways you can make the surfaces.  We're bringing the saw horses and wood to make a table and also using a feed trough that we'll put a board on top of for another surface.  We also have a rack made out of metal pipe to hang our clothing.  Think outside the box when it comes to your display!
8. Bring Supplies: I like to have everything I need readily accessible.  Here's some things I have handy:  Newspaper or tissue to wrap breakables, plastic sacks (recycled from previous store purchases), boxes, extra tags, pens, pencils, markers, calculator, tape measure, hammer, screwdriver, tape, notebook, a chair to sit in, your premade food, water, and lots of change.  You also may need a canopy, tarp or umbrella to shield you from the sun.
9. Write Sales Down:  I like to write everything down because my memory is gone!  But, seriously, writing things down helps you separate the money later, if you're selling with others. Sometime, I just pull the sticker off and stick it to my notebook to add them up.   Don't worry about separating the list until after the sale.  Your customer is the most important at the time of the sale, so add their items up on the notebook.  Put an initial of the person the item belonged to and later separate the items out to get a total for each seller.
10. Be Early On the Day of the Sale:  Have you ever had a sale that starts at 8am and people show up at 7am?  I have.  It's so frustrating for people to be looking through your stuff as you pull it out. I even changed my time to 10am and they still showed up at 7 am!!!   Not only are they looking at things as you pull them out, they try to talk you down from the price you posted or ask a ton of questions, interrupting your work.  It would be so nice to just open the doors, but all my sales have been in the yard.  So, if you can't open the doors, show up early.  If I have a sale that is supposed to start at 8am, I show up at 5am and pull things out until 7am, thus being ready for the early birds!  I also sit down and cool off before a crowd gathers!
11. Be Prepared to Negotiate:  It's a sale, so be prepared for people trying to get a good deal!  You're not selling things new, so be flexible.  You're clearing things out of your house to make room for newer items!  
12. Add Variety:  Invite friends and family to sell with you!  Their stuff will make the sale look huge and people love that!  Give your customers plenty to look at.  Variety is always an attraction to get people to stop.  You'll see them driving by slowly and only stopping if there's something interesting to them!
    
13. Have Fun:  I hope you're not too tired to have some fun!  Laughter is the best medicine for just about anything!  Bring music, decorate and enjoy the food you made the day before!  If your friends and family are there, enjoy the day with them!
14. Tally Sales:  If you are working together with others, tally the sales at the end of the sale.  It gets confusing if you try to separate the sales during the sale; too many interruptions!  Designate one person to tally while the others are packing up the remaining items.  Sit down together and separate the money.  Yeah!  You have cash!
15. Remove Tags:  I remove tags after the sale because I dislike the little sticky mark it leaves if it's been on there for a long time. 
16. Donate:  I like to donate the remaining items to a non-profit like Goodwill or Salvation Army.  Donations are a great tax write off and now you have that space you used for stockpiling freed up!  Win, Win!

I hope these tips help you out for your next sale!  Have fun and sell, sell, sell!  I hope you make lots of money to go out to eat when you feel fabulous and look great!

  

The Bunkhouse

I want to give a shout out to my favorite upcycle/refurbish shop in Coalgate, The Bunkhouse!  

Elaine Lewis has started some new endeavors this year and, therefore, is not open every day to meet my every need!  But you can visit this lovely store on the first weekend of the month.  She works on new pieces all month and showcases them all at once.  Beyond that, she is working on commissioned house projects and staging houses on the real estate market, so Elaine keeps very, very busy!  

Here's a look at the shop from this month.

The quality of her work is outstanding and she has a keen eye on great upcycles.  Here's a few closer views.

So, next time you're in town at the first of the month, try out The Bunkhouse!  You'll love the store and the owner!  If you can't make it during the new store hours, take a look at her Facebook page here!

Little Ugly Table

Took a minute to paint this little gem.  It's a handmade table that a friend of mine gave me years ago.  I let it sit on my porch for a few years, mainly because I couldn't find the time or energy to do anything with it, so I decided to fix it up this week.

Look at the age on this thing!  It's a really solid piece with aging wood.

I cleaned it up with a rag and sanded a few rough edges before painting it with the remnants of my Duck Egg chalk paint.

I'm so surprised I got so many things painted with this paint.  Surprisingly, I think I have a few more projects I can get out of that pint of paint!

After it dried, I pulled some of the color off with a wet rag and a little sandpaper.  I waxed the entire piece with a black wax to deepen the color and give it that silky sheen.

What a perfect little accent for any room! 

It sold within the week, so on to the next little project!!

Weightloss - Upcycling Me!

Happy to report I'm losing again!  Weight that is!  

I'm in another short challenge on HealthyWage.com, ending in the middle of June.  I'm pretty close to finishing up another 10 lbs.! I decided during the last small challenge that I would continue the small challenges, win or lose, to try to keep me on track for the big challenge.  My big challenge is to lose 55 lbs. in 9 months with a reward of about $2,700!

The sad thing is, although I've lost 30 lbs., I'm still fat!  haha  

But, ohhhh, I feel so much better!  ….and that's what I'm working for, right?  I don't want to die of obesity!  I want to lose this weight so I can see all my grandchildren and run around with my sisters on cruises and snoozes! 

With water in hand and Peptalk in ear, I can do this!  

Out of Town Fun!

I’m in Dallas this week celebrating with my sisters. My middle sister got a recent promotion at work, so we’re celebrating her success! She’s always been driven and even drove me (crazy) when we were kids! A lot of the things she said to motivate me to get moving can be found on the easy-to-use app Peptalk.  She’s implemented so many positive strategies in her life and they’re really paying off!

In years past, we’ve gone on trips with the Sister’s cruise being a highlight! At our age, it’s jokingly called the sister’s snooze! We did, however, spend the day on a shopping spree where we found some really neat things!

Here’s to my sister’s! My oldest sister retires in November! Sounds like another celebration weekend is right around the corner! 

On Climate Change

I’ve been watching a lot of climate change videos on YouTube lately and have a couple of opinions.

First, I agree with people that say climate change is a natural occurrence and comes in cycles; a natural phenomenon.  It’s historical and it’s also our future, leaving us with the expectation that it’s going to change soon.  Some say that we’ve made this topic into a political one in their attempt to discredit scientific evidence.  That point can be argued both ways because of the corporate interests on both sides.   But, I don’t place “being political” with this subject as an important reason to dismiss anything.  If it’s changing, we need to get prepared!  We need to know what to expect and how to accommodate our lives accordingly.  I hope we hear more from our leaders about the subject.  Benjamin Disraeli said, “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”

Second, I agree with the majority of scientists that say we are helping to perpetuate this natural occurrence of climate change by using fossil fuels, trashing our land, and using certain agricultural methods.  Even if all the scientists are incorrect in their findings, it’s a safe bet to be kind to our land, air and water.  It might be my Native American heart that feels that the earth dies a little every time we do something bad to it.  I know my life has been built around using the products the corporate world places in front of me, but I want to change.  I wonder when government and corporations will start placing this precious gift called Earth at the top of their priority list?  Gretta Thunburg and the students who follow her are an inspiration in their determined efforts to call attention to the subject.

My life is geared toward improvement.  I try to improve my surroundings, myself and my future.  I never claim to be perfect, but I do claim to try harder.  In trying harder, I work at keeping my mind straight by talking with people with positive attitudes, reading uplifting books and articles and listening to things like Peptalk.   I exercise and try to eat right, even though it’s an ongoing challenge!  I believe in recycling and love to upcycle even the smallest of things.  And then, there’s all the planning for the future!  I learned to plan when I turned 20 and haven’t quit yet!  I like to research, budget and estimate for my long list of goals.  Do I always reach those goals?  No!  But I sure love trying.

I hope more and more people will consider climate change and the devastating affects it could have on us.  I hope we all take steps to do better, to take care of the land that supports us.  I hope we can see the corporate greed associated with the burning of fossil fuels and we start using alternative means to live. 

I resigned from my teaching job years ago to be present in my children’s lives.  You know… they only grow up once.  Now is the time to take care of the earth… because ….well, it’s the only one we have.  What do you think?

Table Transformation

Brooke purchased a table at a local auction for a whopping $7 last year!  She's really got a good eye!  We didn't get a before picture, but I found this one online that looks very similar so you can see what we started with. Maybe the legs on our table are a touch bigger.

The table was in great condition and we used it all year long at my house since Brooke had a different table given to her.  Our plan from the beginning, though, was to paint it.

I had some gray and white paint I purchased for a different project.  It's not chalk paint, but a semi-gloss laytex. It came straight from the shelf without mixing in any colors.  I was in a hurry!  Brooke also had some leftover paint from recently painting her walls in her house.  To begin, she painted the legs gray.

Then she sanded the top of the table to rough up the surface for a better grip on the paint.  As you can see, we didn't even move the table out of the dining room!  

So, here's the beautiful part!!!  We drizzled the white, gray and blue paints on top of the table and Brooke swiped it back and forth across the length of the table!  We fell in love with it instantly!

Of course, everyone in the room stood around and tried to give Brooke advice on which way to swipe and blend, but she did her own thing giving it her unique touch!

It works very nicely with my new rug and newly painted china hutch!

She was going to give this table to her sister-in-law.....but now I guess she's just gonna be an "Indian Giver"!  I can say that since we're Native American, right?  

The new plan is for her to bring her table to my house and take this one for her dining room.  The color will match the walls perfectly!  

It was an experiment that worked out really well and was so much fun!  The legs took about an hour to paint and the top (sanding and painting) took another hour …probably because we talk too much!  haha

Happiness is a Choice

It took me years to figure out that happiness is a choice.  When I was a teenager, for some reason, everything was dramatic and anything bad that happened was devastating.  I carried that through most of my twenties.  Eventually, I learned to laugh at myself, something I can easily identify in people I meet.  At 50, I can truly say I've been through a lot!  … and now it's the happiest time of my life!

Being happy doesn't mean we won't have sad moments.  Sad things happen every day.  Happiness means that a brighter time is coming after the sadness subsides.  But, as the quote above indicates, happiness is not a result of what happens to us: It's the choice we make in everyday life and in every moment we live.

I think when I finally realized that happiness comes from within, people thought I was crazy to be happy at defining times in my life.  For instance, during my breast cancer recovery, we chose to make jokes about my flat chest to lighten our spirits.  I chose to appreciate the little things, like going to my children's school programs, flowers in the flower bed and a cool breeze.  I was happy to just be there experiencing all the things I would have taken for granted at an earlier time in my life.  

So why was everything so dramatic when I was young?  Perhaps I had a different idea about what life should be.  It wasn't perfect and I kept trying to make it perfect.  I was disappointed in people for letting me down, especially myself.  It wasn't until I just let things "be" that I realized that I needed to chose to be happy because it would never be delivered to me through any circumstances.

My husband has taught me the most about happiness, so that could explain the transformation happening around the time we started dating.  I'll never forget going to California with my children, visiting family, seeing all kinds of cool things, eating the best foods and experiencing some awesome events.  When I talked to him on the phone about his time with his kids at home, he explained it with such excitement I was actually jealous of his wonderful time even though it was just at home.  He made the local swimming pool sound like an oasis...and we went to the ocean!  He reveled his happiness in the simplest of moments and I could actually feel the happiness in his heart through the phone.

Now, when I sit atop our little mountain in the country, that same happiness fills me up.  He's dozing a pad for our house and I've planted some tomato and pepper plants.  Every time I'm out there, I'm in awe of every little thing!  The color of the dirt is amazing, the panoramic view is sensational, the plants are gorgeous and every rock is unique.  We could dwell on the amount of work it will take to build our life out there, but we chose to see all the wonder around us in the moment we are in.  We chose to be happy with and appreciate each other during this wonderful journey.

For more inspiration about choosing to be happy, you should try out the Peptalk App online.  There are some great ideas on how to get started in your very own happiness journey.  Listening to it everyday helps to keep my happiness perspective in place!  In my upcycled life, this was a wonderful place to start!