Decluttering For a Garage Sale

When we decided to move, we had a realtor come over The first thing she said we needed to do was declutter our house. With 5 small kids and two adults we had accumulated a lot in 7 years at the same house. It was a bit overwhelming, especially knowing we had only 4 weeks before AJ started his new job and needed to be in Texas.

I would look around and start to cry not knowing where to start. I would finish one area and the next would seem to have so much more. I thought of taking pictures but was to embarrassed. One day, a good friend, Starr, came over to help. She spent the whole day helping and giving me tips. Thanks Starr! You are a blessing!


In God's Word, it says, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6)


So I began thinking of a price I wanted to ask God for, if it be HIS will.....

$600.00.

Two weeks later, Starr and I began setting up. She had been working hard at her house to get rid of things also. We started early Thursday morning ( I actually did some on Wed.). It took us all day.

This is our garage with a lot of the stuff in it. In my house was more! We could carry, drag, and push things trying to get them to the carport.






When My Man, AJ, arrived home from work he quickly got to work helping us unload the garage. He would take our van, stuff it with junk and kids, drive it around to the carport and unload.


We had 13 tables, used the ground, fence, poles to hang clothes, and still needed more room. After much hard work, aching backs, and tired feet, we called it quits late in the evening.



The next morning, I arose at 6 am to prepare for customers whom I expected to start arriving around 6:30.
6:30...no one.
7:00...no customers yet.
7:30...not a one.
This was unusual because usually I start having them around 6 something. So thus started my doubt. This is not going to be a good garage sale. Maybe I picked a bad weekend to do this. I should have advertised in the newspaper......

Then at 7:40 came my first customer. She bought one small thing for 10 cents. Ten minutes later, the people slowly began to came. It was wasn't overly busy with people on Friday. It was steady though. Enough to keep us and the children busy doing things.

Here we are taking a break eating lunch...

It was a beautiful day until about 1:00pm. The dark, stormy clouds started to roll in. Then they rolled out. Two hours later, here they come again. But this time they did not leave as quickly. We had a huge downpour!

Here is Starr and I covering up our things as quickly as possible:

Elijah playing in the rain.....

The first day ended and Starr was tired. Me, I was ready to do it all over again! I love garage sales! I love going to them and I love having them.

As I sat there that evening, I did a rough count of the money I had made so far. A little over $200.00. Which means I needed $400.00 more to go to meet my goal. All of my "big" things sold already and I only had clothes and little "what nots" to sell. Knowing this, I realized my goal of $600.00 was not going to be possible.

Well after a long Saturday, many new customers, a few from the day before, the long process of cleaning everything up, I sat down and totaled all of our money.

I did not make my $600.00 as I had prayed for. Nope, sure didn't.......I made Six hundred and ONE dollars and 32 cents!

I did not think it was possible to make $400.00 with the items I had left...BUT GOD!

In His word it says, "All things are possible through Him."

Why do I doubt Him? Doesn't He prove Himself over and over in the Bible AND in my life!?! He promised to never send a flood all over this earth again, God promised to send His Son to this earth to die on the cross for our sins,He promised to forgive us of our sins if we repent with a sincere heart...... "Oh God, what small faith I have, increase it for YOUR glory!!!"......

I had a great time with Starr having this garage sale. We have done the past 2 together. She is quite a character and makes me laugh with her stories! Thank you Starr for all of your hard work! You are a trooper! Want to join me in my next one? Yes, I am already collecting for my next annual garage sale!

One last picture for you guys...

During the garage sale, I would sit Cracker Zech, Zechoroni, Zackie, next to me at our money table. People would see him and say, "What a cute doll!" And come to see how much he was, only to find out he was real! So on Saturday I sat him down with this little sign above him...




To God be the Glory once again, in my lack of Faith, proving Himself ever so faithful!