MOM Resale extravaganza

I was up until about 2 AM tagging clothes and things to sell at mothers and more resale.  I volunteered for the first time last spring, but I've shopped for many seasons. (Each year, we hold a spring/summer sale in March and a fall/winter sale in September.)  My pack rat side was having panic attacks and convulsions at the idea of selling Shawn and Lilly's baby things, but once I got on the roll, it felt pretty good to let go of a *few* things. I did allow myself to keep a few things off to the side until I can let go of more. I have noticed during past sales that some members get very stressed out about tagging, getting everything done, using all of their tags, etc. in time for the sale. Instead, I shared a seller's spot with another member and only used a handful of her tags that she wasn't going to use. I was proud of (& nervous about) tagging anything, so I simply tagged until I ran out of time and then I was done. The fact that I was able to sell anything is an accomplishment, I think. I'm sure next season I'll be able to tag more items, and feel more comfortable with letting go.

One of the perks of the resale, besides getting rid of stuff and making a little cash, I also volunteered over 16 hours in the three days. This gave me special privileges to shop earlier than most people and much earlier than the general public.

I did some awesome shopping! Lilly has a few boxes of things from Freecycle and borrowed things from Abby, so I tried hard to stay away from the infant girls section of the clothes. Instead, I stocked up on a new winter wardrobe for Shawn.  He had asked me to keep an eye out for an Ironman costume for Halloween - score! I hope it's not too big for him and I need to find a mask or something to go with it, but he was thrilled when I told him I got it. I looked for a mini superhero costume for Lilly, but found an adorable sweet pea costume instead. I hope she doesn't grow too much before Halloween so she can still fit into it! Luckily, both costumes were so cheap that if there is a change in plans, it is no big deal. I can always resell them next fall.

Shawn had a lot of fun while I was volunteering. After school on Thursday, he had a play date at Abby's house until Daddy picked him up after work. On Friday, he went home from school with Xander and had an incredible playdate going to Kid Town play center and Portillo's for lunch. When they were done they delivered him to me at the resale building. There were not supposed to be any children in the building while we were setting everything up, but I found an out of the way place for Shawn to sit.  He waited very patiently for me to finish my shift. He was sitting at a table near our kitchen/break room and I gave him a few snacks and told him I would check on him every once in a while. While I was gone another member kindly refilled some snacks for him. When I came back to check on him, he excitedly reported that a "chef" came out to give him more food! (Certain volunteers wore aprons to designate that they held certain positions.) He felt very privileged to be the only kid in the building and soaked up the attention he was getting from the other volunteers. I had him help me check out the things that I was buying and then help me carry things to the car. He was thrilled by the glimpses of treasures he saw. (I just hope I can hide some things away for the holidays, rather than have him dive in to it all at once.) I brought him home to have another Boys' Night with Daddy while I volunteered a few more hours.

Saturday, we stayed home in the morning, but when Raj got home from work, he and Shawn had more boys' time while Lilly and I went back to volunteering for the last day of the resale. Lilly and I put in a lot of hours, but it was incredible to see each phase of the event unfold from an empty building to a fully functioning consignment shop to a distribution center (to return unsold items to sellers or to a donation collection) and then back to an empty building.

The totals still need to be figured, but at the end of the day, we estimated a gross income of $75,630.07, which is $3000 more than last fall! We had 859 shoppers who paid $1 admission in the morning, 1056 total shoppers in the morning (some had free entrance coupons), and 425 shoppers in the afternoon.
W. O. W!