Our Garage Sale

This isn't a "wedding" post, but it's kind of related... We're having a garage sale!

If you're worried about us having a lack of garage sale experience, you need not worry. I'm not sure about Patrick, but garage sale-ing is in my blood ;). I'm a proud bargain-hunter who grew up with a mom and a grandma who went to garage sales almost every Saturday. We would usually have our own garage sale every couple years, and I remember how much fun it was to work the garage sale - Grandma would usually come over (sometimes aunts/cousins would come, too), we'd get up early to hang the signs, someone would go get donuts and we'd help with making change, putting purchases into bags and just being there to "help." As kids, we probably got in the way more than anything, but having the garage sales as a family has always been a really fun memory.

Twice a year, Patrick's HOA sponsors a subdivision garage sale. I had been asking him to keep an eye out for notification of the next one, and he got an email today saying the next one is coming up the weekend of November 10th-12th! That leaves us just over 2 weeks to get ready for a Saturday sale. Yikes!

Patrick and I have contradicting opinions about the total amount of belongings I own ;)... He thinks that I have way too much "STUFF," and I think that I'm prepared for just about anything - haha. When I bought my townhouse (which has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a loft), I had a lot of fun filling the house. Each of the rooms is decorated and is completely furnished. The main negative about the idea of Patrick and I eventually moving in together is that his story is identical: when he bought his house, he completely furnished it. That totals 2 houses worth of furniture, clothes, decorations - and yes, Patrick: "stuff" - that will have to go into one house. Arizona doesn't give us the luxury of having a basement to hide stuff in, so the bottom line is that we need to get rid of a lot.

Now that we have the garage sale date, both of us got to work on our houses tonight. I had started by organizing my closet last week, and as of tonight, I have a pile of trash bags, a big Rubbermaid container and a big box filled with garage sale items (see picture for some of it).

We're probably going to have some big items for the sale. This could provide a nice addition to our honeymoon fund or $ to go towards the renovations in his house, and hey, even the little things add up! Anything that isn't sold at the garage sale could either be posted on Craigslist, donated to Goodwill or held onto for a future sale... although I don't necessarily see a May sale (a few weeks before our wedding) making a lot of sense.

I'm excited because just like the half marathon, this gives us a goal to work towards, & it gives a set timeline of when we need to have everything ready to go. In the next couple weeks, there's a lot of work to be done.

-Lisa