Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

Garage sales can either be hugely successful or an abysmal failure.

I’ve had a fair few garage sales in my time and unsurprisingly have learned a few things along the way. As we look down the barrel of moving again I’m thinking now might be a good time to have another crack at it. Before I get stuck into it I thought I’d make a list of the things I’ve learned to make it a success.

1. Have prices for everything. People don’t like to guess how much you want for something. Put a price on it to give people an idea.
2. Be prepared to haggle. People like nothing more than thinking they’ve got a bargain. The main focus is to get rid of stuff, not make your first million. If people are going to take two boxes of linen if you drop $1 from the price, do it. They’ll be happy thinking they’ve got a bargain, and you’ll be happy with less stuff.
3. Welcome early visitors. Most people say the opposite, but the most successful garage sale I had made $280, and $200 of that came before the official opening time in the ad.
4. Group products together. A box of linen for $5 is more likely to sell than a box of linen with a 20c each label on it. People will spend the money and take what they want, discarding the rest or using it as rags. Rather than fussing over people trying to find sets and counting out their 20c pieces, you get rid of a whole box in one hit.
5. Band together with neighbours for a neighbourhood sale. This increases the number of visitors and decrease the amount of work. This is very effective if you’ve only got a few things to sell.
6. List your larger items in the newspaper ad. If you have furniture, list it. In my experience furniture is what will get people to your sale in the first place and where the majority of your money will come from. Bookshelves and desks are especially popular at the beginning of the school year as parents try and snare bargains for their kids. Also list if you have kids toys and clothes as a lot of people try and save money by buying those things at garage sales.
7. Have enough change. This is a common recommendation but an important one. Always have enough change. How much is enough? I would suggest $50 - $100 in notes and at least $30 in coins. Last time I started with $80 and it was only just enough.
8. Get help. Friends, family, older children. Anyone who can cover for you while you go to the toilet, stash the big notes or simply to keep the cups of tea coming is going to be welcome.
9. Make plans for the items you can’t sell. Are you going to try again next weekend? Or do you need to book the local charity in advance to collect it at finishing time? Around here someone will visit you during the sale and ask if they can pick up anything you haven’t sold at the end of it. This is a great option if your purpose is to get rid of stuff.
10. Get the kids involved. Help them clean out their toys, sort out the clothes or books and if they’re old enough they can have their own stand to run.
11. Have cold drinks on sale. This can be a simple and effective way of making a few extra $$, buying a couple of boxes of soft drink cans or bottles of water and keeping them in an esky for yourself or thirsty visitors. I’m not suggesting you turn it into a food stall though, but I know when I go garage sale to garage sale I’m always appreciative of a cold drink along the way.
12. Don’t plan anything else for the weekend. Believe it or not it’s exhausting work and the early starts and hard work aren’t conducive to turning around and running off to birthday parties or sporting events. Plan nothing for the rest of the weekend to allow everyone to recover.

And now it’s time to take my own advice and pick a weekend to have our own garage sale and start getting things together.

Well, this week might be a little quieter as far as running around goes, but I certainly have lots to keep me busy.

Monday

Monday the big girls are off to daycare, while I work furiously on my take home exams. I have two.

Tuesday

A repeat of Monday

Wednesday

The big girls at daycare again, my first take home exam is due, and a meeting at night.

Thursday

All the girls are home. Weather pending I’m planning a trip to the park to get me out of the house and away from the computer

Friday

Friday all the kids are off to visit the in-laws. I plan to use this time to sort out the guts of my second take home exam. All the research and outlining while I can’t be distracted.

Saturday and Sunday

I plan on these days being catch up day. Catch up with the family, the house, the washing, the internet.  And in that order.

What have you got on this week?

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m drowning. I have so many things going on I don’t think I’m keeping up with it all. Some things are getting ignored. I guess that’s the right thing to do. I think I’m prioritising correctly. There are 18 “projects” on my list. Some don’t require much, some are being ignored, and some are rapidly coming to a head whether I’m ready or not. So far my list looks like this (in no particular order):

• Christmas & holiday
• Uni
• Kids bedroom furniture and moving bedrooms
• Kin’s Home
• Kin’s Money 
• A novel I’m working on when inspiration strikes (thankfully rarely)
• Scanning and sorting 3 generations worth of photos
• Sorting and tossing 9 boxes of books
• Sorting out the garage to hopefully fit the boat in
• Organising M&M’s school stuff for next year
• Youth of the Year (Which is in February 2009 - preparations are just starting now)
• Lions - not a lot going on there at the moment
• VMR - Monthly BBQ’s, not a lot to organise
• Selling our old cars - have sold one, and have the second advertise
• Posting, moderating and admining over at Aussie Bloggers
• Getting my swimming qualifications
• Gardening (the major project I mentioned here)
• Keeping on top of the household usuals - cooking, washing, ironing, cleaning etc

No wonder I’m confused. My current plan is to look at this list each morning and do one thing I can towards each project - more if necessary. This week I’ve had an additional project being M&M’s 5th birthday tomorrow. I did cheat a little bit and throw her a party at daycare today. I provided cake, lolly bags and pass the parcel, and they do it after nap time at daycare. Certainly is the cheapest birthday party I’ve ever thrown.

But uni and the house are the biggest priorities at the moment. Getting it in shape for when we go away with all the bedrooms rearranged is high on the list, second only to uni work which is fast becoming my single thought. I have one more assignment due next Tuesday, then two take home exams before we head off. I don’t know how much of anything else I’ll get done in there, but I’m working on it.

Clearly I’ll be scarce around here and blogs in general for a bit. Uni is taking up so much time at the moment, and juggling kids swimming lessons and everything else is leaving me collapsed on the couch at 6pm most nights. But I’ll get there. Eventually.

With the weather warming up and the shops getting summer gear in, it’s around now I take stock of what’s needed for summer. I’ve pulled out all the clothes I bought for the kids at the end of summer sales last year, and looked at what they already have. I’ve done up a list of what they need, which fortunately isn’t much, and now I can keep an eye out for 20% off sales or other bargains to get what they need. With three girls I have started doing much of my shopping at Pumpkin Patch during sales. I find the value during sales comparable to Target or K-Mart, and the quality is such that with three girls I get much more wear out of the clothes. Miss Moo is now wearing some of M&M’s PP clothes that have done 3 girls and show no signs of wear.

But the one thing I often forget when sorting out who needs what for summer is ME! I spent an awful lot of money on clothes for myself earlier this year, and since then I’ve barely looked at clothes for me. I’m totally satisfied with what I have. But now the weather’s warming up I’ve discovered I am missing something. During summer I live in 3/4 denim pants. They’re comfortable, absorb sweat but I don’t get cold in them when I go places and the air conditioning is set at 18 degrees.

Last weekI tried on all my 3/4 denim pants and found only one pair that is comfortable enough to wear. Woops! And while I can wear this one pair 3 or 4 days a week, I’m probably going to need a second pair at least. So I’m on the hunt for a couple of comfortable pairs of 3/4 denim pants to buy. And since I’m off to Sydney in a couple of weeks that might be a good time to go shopping no? There is a much wider variety of shops there…. and maybe Gemisht can come with me again… She’s a pretty bad influence when it comes to spending money.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how I had been really slack and not been swimming for ages. I still haven’t done any training, but I have last week done a course that will definitely encourage me to be at the pool more.

I did the Austswim Teacher of Swimming and Water Safety course, as well as the Teaching Infant and Toddler Aquatics. Both pools in the area have offered me training time at their pools, and offers of work are there as well.

I really really enjoyed the course. I have a fair bit of work to do to get my qualification though. This is my long term project I mentioned yesterday. I have about 8 things to do for it.

1. Get a blue card. These are for working with children in Queensland. I have had one for 3 years, but it is due to expire soon so I need to reapply for that.
2. Find someone to supervise my exams. I have a couple of options here, I just need to sound them out and arrange the times, have the exams sent to them and sit them. Of course study will be required.
3. Sit the exams. There is a 2hr exam for each course
4. Do a first aid course. I only need my CPR to complete the course, but it’s been 10 years since I did a Senior First Aid course (not counting the basic first aid I did at a previous job, even that is 2 years ago now), and I firmly believe it’s something everyone should do. So I’m going to get that done and tick it off my long term list as well.
5. Organise 10 hours of training at one pool.
6. Organise 10 hours of training at another pool. It was suggested we get experience at different environments to experience different ways of doing things. I met people from the other pool at the course who are keen for me to do some work with them. This pool is at one of the schools I’m thinking of sending M&M to.
7. 3 Lesson plans. I need to do 3 lesson plans for each course. I have already done one as part of the training on Wednesday, but there are 6 more to do.
8. Get a photo and complete the application form. This is probably the easiest part, so I’ll probably leave it til last.

I set myself a deadline to get all this done by the 19th of October. The “season” officially starts here at the beginning of October, so that will give me a couple of weeks to get my training done, and by then I’ll know some kids, and the pools and hopefully some work will be there for me as well for the season.

I don’t want too much work out of this - more an excuse to get myself to the pool and maybe a few hours work on Saturdays, or during school when M&M starts next year. The great thing is it’s very flexible and I can take the kids with me when I need to.

I really enjoyed the course too. I could see myself maybe doing my coaching courses one day. It’s been great watching the swimming at the Olympics as well, just to see the effects of what we’re teaching, and the reasons behind it. I can’t believe how much I learnt about the mechanics of swimming.

So, would you trust me to teach your kids to swim?

Having been without internet has been great for my house, but not so great for the myriad of things I usually do on the internet each day. I’ve spent the better part of the time I’ve been online for the last 24 hours just catching up on the basics. Banking, forums, emails.

As a result of this unscheduled internet outage I have finally got around to setting up my banking to be almost fully automated. Way to look at the silver lining right?

So it’s time to drag out my soon to be trademarked* monster lists. Where I write down absolutely everything that I have to do between now and a certain date and then allocate a few things to each day so I’m not overwhelmed. Except this time most of the housework is done, so the list is noticeably less. In fact only one page of them (usually it’s around 4-6 pages). And most of them aren’t time sensitive. This is unchartered, and dangerous territory for me. A list without a deadline is a list that can be ignored as far as I’m concerned. I can start it when I get a deadline. Of course it will be bigger and almost impossible by then.

So I’ve decided on mini deadlines. My to do list can be categorised as falling under 4 main categories:

Blogs
Uni
Course (will post more later)
Miscellaneous

My personal favourite is the miscellaneous category, cause it only has 2 things in it, and should only take me about 2 hours all up. So, I’ll set those the following deadlines:

Blogs: Sunday 24 August to be caught up (approx  34 tasks)
Uni: Sunday 31 August to be caught up (approx 20 tasks)
Course: Sunday 19 October. This is a long term project with approx 8 things, so almost one a week
Miscellaneous:Sunday 24 August. Like I said, 2 things, so no great drama.

Actually looking at those deadlines it might be worth my while to do daily lists. They are certainly do-able, but I will need to push myself to achieve them, which is a good thing. If I’m motivated enough I might even post my progress.

As is my way when something finishes (that would be my exams - yay!) I have so many ideas swirling around in my head of things to do with my 6 weeks off!!

Of course some plans have been made for me. My friend is celebrating her 30th birthday in July (she comments here as “the Friend who visited”) so a trip to Brisbane is on the cards. This weekend we’re off camping with friends to a beautiful spot on the beach.

Other than that I’ve been thinking some knitting might be on the cards. Something I haven’t done for a while and it will keep me away from the computer. As is usual I have a list a mile long of things I want to do, but the first tasks have to be getting the house in order after 3 weeks of neglect. To that end tonight I swept the floor. Go Me! Oh did I mention I’m sick too? I really should go to bed, but between the house and camping this weekend, well, I can relax when we get there.

Anyway, ideally I’d love the house clean and tidy before we go, but in reality I’ll settle for the 20 loads of washing that need doing, a presentable kitchen/lounge/dining, and everything organised that we need for camping.

But before I attack all that, I do need some sleep

Last weekend while visiting a friend and her family for lunch Her grandfather is ill, and there was a phone call. One where you don’t think, just go. Fortunately her grandfather was not seriously injured and returned home later that afternoon. And as I watched my friend and her family organise themselves to follow him to the hospital, it occurred to me that I’m not nearly as organised as I’d like to be. 

I’m prepared for flood, cyclone and emergency evacuation. Living in the tropics it’s kind of a necessity. Insurance papers, spare cash/credit cards, birth and marriage certificates, passports, bank account details all in one handy, easy to carry waterproof container. But a trip to the hospital? Nope. I know the basics. Mobile phone, coins for the vending machines, phone book (thankfully these days the mobile phone doubles for that), Medicare card (already in my purse). But this is where I realised I’m missing something. Medical histories. Prescriptions. Dosages. Allergies. Hubby is asthmatic, so this kind of information could be life and death if it came to it. And what if it’s me that has to go? I know where everything is. The Hubby doesn’t.

So I’m on a mission. An emergency grab bag for “medical emergencies”. And really, with kids, isn’t it inevitable? We have already made a couple of dashes to hospital and doctors for M&M.

I’m thinking maybe a sandwich zip lock bag that can stored close to the evacuation container, and that can also be grabbed in the case of evacuation.

And here’s what’s going in:

$20 in gold coins for vending machines (our local hospital doesn’t have a café, but the nurses are lovely and will make you tea and coffee)
Private Health Cover details
Medical histories for everyone
Medication & prescription details for everyone (Hubby and Kiki are both on constant medication)
Allergies lists for everyone
Some long life/high energy snacks (kid friendly ones)

Have I missed anything?

Now I seem to have my weekly routines a bit more organised, it’s time to focus on the daily routines. I need to be out the door by 8:30am on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and so I’m going to work on getting out of the house by 8:30am every day.

So this is what needs to happen before I walk out the door in the morning:

1. Get dressed
2. Wash face/moisturise
3. Turn the coffee machine on and make a cup (and one for Hubby if I’m feeling nice)
4. Empty the dishwasher & put clean dishes away
5. Start the first load of washing
6. Breakfast
7. Get kids dressed
8. Pack everyone’s bags
9. Cleanup the kitchen from breakfast
10. Hang out one load of washing and start another.

The reason there’s no shower on that list, is that Monday, Wednesday and Friday I shower after swimming either at the pool or when I get home. Thursday is cleaning day, so I’ll sower after most of the work is done and while I clean the shower. Tuesday is the only odd day, and I can shower whenever I like.

The mornings between 8:30am and noon are variously taken with swimming, study and cleaning. From noon to about 4:30pm, I plan on working through this list:

1. Lunch
2. Read & reply to emails
3. Check Internet forums
4. Any extra daily jobs that are needed (tidy bedrooms, make beds for example)
5. Bring the washing in
6. Fold washing & put away
7. Uni work
8. Read blogs
9. Extra tasks - phonecalls etc
10. Reading (newspaper, magazines, books)

From 4:30pm to 7:30pm is major family time. Start & cook dinner, pick up kids, Hubby home, reading mail, eating dinner, showers, baths, bedtime stories, packing lunch boxes, running the dishwasher, cleaning up all sort of run into each other.

There are a few tv progams I like to watch. 4 in total, and only 3 are showing new episodes at the moment, so Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights I lose an hour of after-dinner time to Brothers & Sisters, Good News Week and NCIS. But from 7:30 til 10:30, and around those tv shows, I’d like to again, work through these things:

1. Blog
2. Blogging promotion
3. Read and reply to emails
4. Check Internet forums
5. Wash face
6. Reading
7. Bed

I’m hoping that’s enough time to get everything done. I’m trying this plan this week so I’ll give it a couple of weeks before tweaking things that don’t seem to work. What sort of daily routines do you have?

Since the non-existent Big Move routines have been, well, non-existent. Rearranging daycare days, swimming lessons, uni and a small child have all conspired to keep me unorganised. But no more! Here is my weekly plan:

Monday - My swimming training, baking day. Washing: swimming & nappies

Tuesday - Girls to daycare, study day. Washing: clothes (darks, colours & whites)

Wednesday - My swimming training, clean bedrooms. Washing: swimming & nappies

Thursday - Change sheets, clean bathrooms & floors. Washing: sheets & towels

Friday - Girls to daycare, my swimming training, paperwork, clean office. Washing: swimming & nappies

Saturday - Girls dancing lessons, clean lounge and dining room. Washing: handwashing & dog (THE dog, not the dog’s washing)

Sunday - Hubby to training, grocery shopping.

I’m hoping that will work. I’ve tried to take into accout our periodical commitments as well. Committee meetings, regular appointments etc and tried to keep fewer things on those days so I don’t wear myself out too much. 11 loads of washing isn’t much is it? If I got a couple more pairs of swimmers I could probably cut back on the swimming washing to just once a week. I might have to look at that, especially now it’ll just be my swimmers and a towel, as opposed to the last 5 months when there’s 3 towels and 3 pairs of swimmers.

What does your weekly routine look like?