Yin and Yang...the Garage Sale

I'm a planner.  I prepare...and when I'm done, I plan and prepare some more.  Roger always says he doesn't know why I plan so much, because everything always works out for me anyway.  This is true, but that's because I prepare, and make back up plans, and back up those back up plans. 

Roger, on the other hand, is not so much of a planner.  He's more of a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of guy.  And somehow things always work out for him too.  This drives me crazy!  As I'm planning things out, he's usually relaxing or working on something else he waited until the last minute to do.  While I'm fretting about things I may have forgotten, he's betting on those things never happening to begin with.

A couple of weeks ago, Roger told me that he wanted to have a garage sale at our other house.  Since we're not going to rent it furnished starting October, we needed to get rid of things.  And if we sold it all, then we wouldn't have to move it.   I liked this idea.  I immediately told him that we should take an ad out in the Penny Saver, or the Sac Bee.  I would make signs that people could actually see.  (Who really thinks that people can see much less read the garage sale signs that are usually out?)  I looked on Google Maps to find all the entrences to the neighborhood from the main road and decided that 11 signs was the perfect number.  I made a list of things to go through in our current house that Roger could take over there.  This all within about one hour of being told we were having a garage sale.

Roger's response to all this?  "Relax Babe!  I got it...you don't have to do anything."  I wasn't sure.  We never had a garage sale together before.  But, it was a busy few weeks for me.  Between work and Kaelyn's birthday, I had my hands full with other projects.  It was nice to take this off my plate.

As the garage sale date got closer, I began to have doubts that we were actually having one.  Roger was working a lot too and the weekends leading up to it were filled with other activities.  He never once mentioned having to go over there and go through stuff.  Finally, Friday morning, just before I left for work, I asked him..."Are we having a garage sale tomorrow?"  Yes, we were!  But nothing had been done.  No ads, no signs made, no merchandise organized. Roger's plan was to go over there after work on Friday and sort through stuff and make a list of general prices for things. 

I helped him.  But not much.  I picked Kaelyn up and met him for dinner first.  Then we went to the house and as he saw things he called them out to me.  I wrote them down with a price on an old sheet of music he had lying around.  Ten minutes later, Kaelyn was screaming and her and I were on our way home.  Roger came home less than two hours later.  I couldn't possibly see how we was done already!  He said it was "good enough".  I asked about signs...he thought he would stop by Home Depot on the way there in the morning and buy a couple to put up.

Saturday morning was a wreck.  I managed to get Roger out the door just after 7, then showered, went through Kaelyn's clothes, and got her ready.  We were there just before 8.  I was happy to see signs up...they weren't the best, but at least they were there.  I followed them in only to discover they weren't ours at all!  There was another sale just a few houses down.  Their signs were leading people to ours.  Roger already had several customers when I got there, he never put up a single sign.  He was going through things during the sale.  We were there until 2pm and made $1500!!  That's right.  Roger was pretty proud that after all my doubts, we had such a successful day.

I normally don't love garage sales, but this one was fun.  Not only because we were making a ton of money, but because Vickie came over and kept me company.  Plus I met a lot of really great people.  I swear some of the nicest people in the world stopped by our place.  I lost my phone at some point...still don't have it...so, deduct another $100 off our profit for a new one, but other than that the day was perfect.  Kaelyn enjoyed all the people coming and going, and after it was over we went out to dinner with Vickie and her brother, Michael.  The best part, was that the garage sale served as a sort of open house.  Several people were interested in it and I'm pretty sure that one guy (came back twice to look at it), will be signing a lease with the property management company this week!

I have to give Roger credit. He has the magic touch.  I'll still plan and prepare, but I won't worry about him so much anymore.

Relaxed yesterday and getting ready to head back to work this morning.  It should be a mellow week...the only big thing we have going on is a wedding to attend on Friday.  Should be fun.  Roger and I will be going out together without Kaelyn.  We're both looking forward to some adult time...