Well, that is a good question. It was not anything my husband, Tony and I planned. We lost his grandmother in June 2020. We knew she saved everything but we were not prepared for what we found. In the weeks following her passing, our small family of four started to go through the house. We quickly realized that every nook and cranny were crammed with everything from old report cards and toys to bar and glassware to vintage holiday decorations. Since she took great care of what she had, most things were in great condition. Starting out we knew we would need to have at least one yard sale but once we really saw what we had to deal with, we knew cleaning the house would be the summer project.
After a couple of weekends of cleaning out the house, we had our first of three estate sales. Keep in mind this was a few months into Covid which put quite the spin on the sale. We had to understand the rules in our area and make sure everyone abided by them. Tables lined the front walkway, furniture on table clothes on the yard, and first floor rooms (Living room, 2 small bedrooms, and kitchen) lined with tables to display as much as possible. We also had tables in the basement covered with even more items and even with all this the attic was still half full! We had people stopping to look through everything we had out as well as the house itself. Yes- people wanted to know about our plans for the house while we were trying to clean out the contents. We did well that weekend. We were able to rearrange the items on the first floor and basement to make room for more from the attic.
A couple more weeks go buy and we had our second sale. We sold more and put more out. A couple more weeks and we had our final sale. At this point, we had the attic mostly emptied. We still had a lot of Christmas items left but Gram loved Christmas, so we had an overabundance of Christmas stuff. We did all right for our last sale but as we looked around, we saw a lot of items still left including a bunch of collectible things. We are talking about milk glass, vintage glass sets, Lenox, and other types of collectibles. We couldn’t imagine throwing them away or even putting them up in our own attic for yet another yard sale. So, what to do…sell online? Why not? We started doing some research and found some items were worth more than yard sale prices. So here we go. We take the collectibles home with us and deposit all the boxes in our basement.
Over the next few weeks, we started to go through the boxes. We checked each item to be sure it was in excellent condition- no chips, cracks or knicks. Next, the item gets washed or wiped down. Then it is time for pictures and packing. Once that is completed, a writeup is written and a listing created. Our first few items are up and now we wait. We only listed a couple of items to see how this new online thing would work. I know Amazon works so why wouldn’t this endeavor? We only had to wait about 2 weeks, and we had our first sale! It is something I will not forget. I was so excited to tell my husband that this crazy idea might actually work! It was also comforting to know that the things she cherished were being shared with others around the country (and later the world!) that were as excited to find them as she had been.
That was almost 2 years ago which is hard to believe. Over these past 2 years, we have learned so much. We have not only been listing what was left from Gram’s house, but we have been going to Estate Sales and yard sales. We have learned there are so many beautiful, cool, vintage items out there. We have enjoyed finding these treasures and bringing them to share with you and your family. Won’t you come along on our journey?