Not our sign. Didn’t have time to photograph sale.

Well, we couldn’t have asked for a better turnout for the estate sale! It was a huge success, especially as it was our first one. When we got there at 6:30am Saturday morning, one guy was waiting. About 15 minutes later, the place was swarming. So much for the “No early birds” note in the flyer.

By day two, most of the great stuff was gone, but people came back for the last minute bargains. We also found a bunch of hidden furniture in the garage attic, so we had more to sell.

I think a big reason there was such a large turnout was because this is off season for garage sales. One woman said she’s been waiting all winter for them to start up and she was just itching to get out and shop. But we also have to pat ourselves on the back for a marketing job well done. Every decent item was photographed and put on Flickr. I wrote about it here ad nauseum. Twittered. Facebooked. Craigslist every day 2 weeks prior in both NYC and Hudson Valley. Local newspaper. Various other garage sale sites. E-Mailings. Street signs. And finally, word of mouth.

What could we have done better? I’d have liked to hire someone to help. We earned good money from this, but it doesn’t justify the amount of work involved. I’d rather have had a couple of hundred less and not worked so hard. I mean, I had to get honest looking customers to keep an eye out while I ran to the friggin bathroom!

Then there were small things. We should’ve put up more directional signs and brought bags. We probably should’ve dug a little deeper in the house. People were coming to me with some really cool items I had never seen that I wouldn’t have let walk for so cheap if I wasn’t rushed to price. Like the street signs I let go for $5 when I easily get $35 for them at the flea. I know, I know….”It’s a tag sale.” “Don’t get attached.” Oh! The worst one was when Mario sold a bunch of vintage film equipment for $10 when I know one of those items was worth over $200. Let it go, Phyllis. Just let it go.

And to answer a few questions for people at this weekend’s sale or future ones:

No, Mario and I are NOT married. And when he says we are partners, he means “business partners”. I’ll have to fill him in on the 2009 meaning of the word “partner”. No, he’s not my Reclaimed Home partner. This business is my baby. He’s my estate sale partner. He’s got his own business going and I’ve got mine.

No, Reclaimed Home is not in the foreclosure business. I reclaim and salvage old homes and building materials. I don’t take homes away from desperate people. Bad judgment on my part to name my business “Reclaimed Home” when I knew there was a housing bubble. Oh well. You live. You learn.