Should I or Shouldn’t I?

There is great joy in my soul today since posting about our day of prayer and fasting on Tuesday and then the Wednesday time of blessing our bloggy family.

You guys are amazing and I am thrilled beyond words at your response!

So what are you all doing this week-end?  Anything super-duper fun?

Dw and I went out for a morning coffee date with Ruby {she doesn’t really like coffee – j/k}…anyway, we pulled out of our sub-division and found signs everywhere that our community is having a community wide yard sale.

Tomorrow.

Sure would have been nice to know ahead of time.

Guess we probably need to get on their email list or something.

Anyway, so my question is:

Do I stay up late tonight, throwing the stuff in the boxes in the garage on tables and have a yard sale with the rest of them?

Or do I just take it to the thrift store and donate it all?

What’s your thoughts?

Did I mention I’m really tired?

62 thoughts on “Should I or Shouldn’t I?

  1. if you're really tired and tomorrow is a Saturday, you can join YHWH's Sabbath and rest :)(that's what I'll do, sorry can't resist) 🙂

    p.s. the prayer/fasting day and special post on Wednesday sounds great!!! 🙂

  2. If you're considering just donating it all anyway, what about throwing everything out there and making one sign that they could pay one price for whatever they can fit in a bag? 😉

  3. I would enlist the kids, take out whatever is ready to go and let the customer name their price. In a community sale like that people are going to come and probably be willing to dig!

  4. Oh you have to participate!!!! Get the kids to help while you "supervise"!!! Think of it this way less stuff you have to unpack!! In fact call them mystery boxes and auction them off!!!

    1. A trip to Arizona would be WONDERFUL. My husband keeps telling me "we" need to have a garage sale, I keep saying yes "we" meaning "you" should!!!! They are a lot of work!!!! But your day sounded soooo much better! I wish I could post the picture of my son bobbing for apples in our bathroom sink one night! It was gross and hysterical all at the same time! Especially since he cut the apple up first!

    2. I've found that that "we" thing usually means "you" over here at our home too {not usually referring to yard sales, cause Dw has pitched in very sweetly, but you are so right, yard sales are a lot of work. I laughed when I read about your son bobbing in the sink, and then I saw the last line – that it was cut up. Okay, that's just gross. Such a boy thing to do. One time Abi and Tyler got a hold of some list of things people ought to try before they die or something. So they set out to do as many as they could. We were out and came home and they had accomplished several, including sticking their head in the toilet and flushing. We had just had a church function at our home and did they happen to pick one of the two upstairs bathrooms? Ummm no. That little powder room bathroom that had not been sanitized. I was so grossed out and they still think it was pretty fun. Kids are crazy. xo

  5. Oh you have to participate!!!! Get the kids to help while you "supervise"!!! Think of it this way less stuff you have to unpack!! In fact call them mystery boxes and auction them off!!!

  6. Donate! Save the hassle!! Or just pack it away and wait til next yr. also if you do donate you can itemize all you donated and use it towards a tax write off!

    1. After reading Sheri''s enthusiasm above yours, yours made me laugh. I was so tired. "Save the hassle"…it was like you were giving me permission. Thank you. I didn't do it because of the lack of people, but still…

  7. All of our yard sales have been complete flops…I mean, we made like $40 sitting there all day long and then loaded up what was left to take it to the thrift store. EXCEPT for the sale we had to benefit orphan babies by sending formula to Ethiopia…THAT one brought in about $400! The Lord blessed us big time when we had already decided to give it away. 🙂

  8. Have a sale. Just make it really cheap and easy and whatever doesn't sell…take to the thrift store tomorrow….that way you have it done. 🙂

  9. I just read a post on Love Without Boundaries about this very topic. The woman put her "junk" out on tables without pricing anything. Asked people to donate to the charity (LWB) had a flyer on hand to demonstrate just what wonderful things they do. She hoped for $100 and made over $600. Win Win.

    I say pull it out and help bring a precious one home. Cuz I bet you know someone who could use a little help.

  10. I take everything to the thrift store because I hate having it piled up until a garage sale, and then having to take half (or more!) of the stuff to the thrift store anyway. But I have friends who love the garage sale thing…whatever works for you. 🙂

  11. either way is a win/win situation. If you give it away, you have blessed someone else. If you do have a brief sale, you might could use the money to benefit a fundraising family. Or….as a last resort give the sale items to a family in need to sell. That would be a big blessing in this economy. God will lead you in the right direction. I know he will.

    1. I loved your comment. Win/Win. Did you see the movie Letters to Juliet? The guy keeps saying, "Win/Win"…andwe have kind of taken that on…Win/Win and we laugh. If you haven't – rent it. It's pretty cute.

  12. Well, I despise yard sales and would vote to take to the thrift store. However, if the community already has one going… then you could have one and use the money for one of the sweet families this week. Hmmmm, dilemma.
    amy in ga

    1. You have a dilemna? Imagine what I was thinking…every other comment {almost} was just as conflicted. It made me giggle. But I will post what I did. And I'm thankful. And by the way? Why do you despise yard sales? Having them? Going to them? Seeing them on the road? What girlfriend? Cause we LOVE yard sales…and have made it a weekly event at times…what do you despise? Do tell.

  13. Well… I really like the idea of donating since you were given no advance notice. I guess it depends on what you have going on, how quickly you could get it all together, how much help you'll have, etc. At least if you donate this time you can clean out what you don't need now. You can also (as you mentioned) get on the email list so next time you can get involved. You could also use this as a means of going around and meeting more of your neighbors if you haven't gotten to do that already.

    1. I think the Lord spared me from knowing about it sooner, because if I had known, I would have done it and never even thought about the lack of traffic…and would have been majorly frustrated. Whew.

  14. Oh my goodness! This is my 3rd attempt to comment. In short – do what you're able to do. It depends on what time you have to devote to a yard sale and the plans you already had made. You may or may not have the help you need available to do this. However, you may really need to clean out. I personally would donate whatever you need to get rid of quickly and use the time to meet/reacquaint myself with the neighbors. This way you get on the list, enjoy the day and get to see people in the neighborhood. I wouldn't put myself or anyone else in a bind to get stuff out. To me it's not worth the stress. Be Blessed! Kristi

  15. So wish I had seen this last night. Go for it! Even now – if there is already garage sale traffic, they will stop by – even if you aren't organized or have everything priced. This is exactly what my husband and I did last week. We had nothing organized – just laid it all out on tarps and put signs out saying the prices. Some things we gave away. It was the coldest day do far this Fall but we had so much fun! We only made $100 but got rid of nearly everything. Good luck!

  16. We've always found garage sales to be a tremendous amount of work, and I don't put high prices on things so we never make a whole lot of money. We've chosen to have a "City Mission area" in the garage where we put bags of outgrown clothes, toys, household things we no longer use that are in good condition. We make regular runs to drop things off, can take deductions, and feel good that we're contributing to a great organization. And it's soooo much easier than garage sale prep and clean-up LOL. I say just go shopping and meet your neighbors!

    1. Yard sales are a HUGE amount of work. And sometimes they have paid off, but depending on where they have been. We had one before our fire at our little log house. SEriously, probably had about 4 people the entire day. It was so discouraging. Then moved it to town and had it there and made a boatload of money. Location, location, location. xo

  17. The advice I would give you and what I would actually do would probably be two different things. lol! You have a busy life/household and are tired. I'd say go to bed. However, I would probably stay up till all hours, cause I would see it as an opportunity to raise extra funds for our adoption…and then I'd be drinking loads of hot chocolate to stay awake! 🙂

  18. Linny, my thought is donate to thrift store. It will get into good hands of people who can use it and you will not have to go through the work. You can spend the time you will save on enjoying your children…or you could take a nap. Enjoy!

  19. What did you decide to do?

    We made about $450 with a garage sale this spring. Since we were just weeks away from unemployment, we thought of the sale as a "job". We worked hard at making everything orderly and easy to view, and we priced most things individually and even had a cooler full of sodas and water for sale.

    But just a week ago I attended a yard sale in which the guy literally just dumped stuff on the ground and told shoppers "make me an offer." I spent $10 because he had some of the exact items I'd been praying to find for our children (a sit n spin for one of our sensory kids, etc.). I bet the guy made at least $200 without doing any more work than dumping boxes of stuff on the ground.

    There are "smart tips" online for better sales, but the best one we found was: Decide up front whether your goal is making money or getting rid of stuff, then plan your sale accordingly. We wanted to make money, and this other guy just wanted to get rid of stuff, and I think both of us had good sales. 🙂

    I hope it was a great day, whatever you decided to do.

    1. My goal would be to make money. But you have to have people come to make money and they have to want what you have…{meaning more traffic more sales}…so glad I didn't. It would have been the flop of the century and the Lord reminded me where we are located. Whew.

  20. Hi, Linny! Yeah, it would have been nice if someone would have told you about the sale. Having a table would be a great way to make new friends but since you'r tired…you could ask your sweet children if there is anything they want to donate and let them keep the profit…just an idea. My siblings and I get excited at the thought of earning money. 🙂 A verse for you today: "He will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in HIM. For the LORD, the LORD, is the rock eternal." Isaiah 26:3. I love that you read and respond to the comments- it made me feel special. Really excited about next Tues and Wed. Love you! Annalisa

  21. I would have a sale, you would meet the others in your community and you can tell them about IVO, they can meet Ruby and your other amazing family.connections that may lead to ??? Who knows 🙂

    1. I guess we'll opt to take walks in the neighborhood…we've met a few…sadly, this neighborhood is not nearly as friendly as where we rented. There? They loved the kids. Here? Not so much.

  22. Haha, I would consider what we are doing for the rest of this weekend pretty fun!!! Haha, already missed the yard sale poll I guess so…. 🙂

  23. Hi Linny,

    I'm brand new here (been reading for a couple months, maybe?), and I've fallen in love with your family! I have a lot of questions, but I think I can ask a basic, practical one here (do you have an email address available?)…what do you do with all of your kids' clothes? We have two little ones and would love more children…I'm a bargain (garage sale) shopper and don't know what to do with the ever growing totes of outgrown clothing. We pass on a lot of extras, but even still… I feel it's a money saver to hold onto them for the future children we desire, but boy, storing them is a chore in an old farmhouse. What do you do with your clothes, hold onto them or pass them on and buy again when there is a bit of space between your children?

    Again, I have been chewing on so much here…more than just clothes and space issues, haha. I just need a bit to gather my thoughts!

    1. We save if we already have one right below that's the same. Otherwise it goes. I used to save, but it would be years and years and the elastic would be lousey and the clothes outdated and now a days with yard sales, things are cheap. I always pray, "Lord if I should this, please allow someone to share with me…." and then I get rid of it. We don't have enough space as it is. And you probably don't either.

  24. I like to sell things that are in great condition, but if I sense a need while someone is looking I will give it to them ; )
    You could always donate what is left over…

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