Penny for your....stuff?

About a month ago Madison held a yard sale out front. She is always wanting to buy things and forever being told, "well earn some money!" so she decided to do just that! She went through her own stuff and then asked Grandma (my mom) if she had anything she might want to contribute. Of course Grandma came through for her (she always does!) and Madison sorted and priced things in preparation of the big sale.

Pardon the graininess of these first two pics-I forgot to check my camera settings...again!

The poor girl had things all ready to go for about a month and a half before the actual sale. Matt and I just couldn't seem to find a weekend that was free of other events so that she could do it. Finally, the day before we actually held it, Matt said, "Let's just do it tomorrow. Just get it over and stop postponing it." So we did. Bless her little entrepreneurial heart! We found a few things in the basement to add to the stash and set it out on tables and told her that it was her idea and she would be in charge of taking money from people and negotiating with them.

She was awesome! She is so shy sometimes but she stepped up to the plate and did what she had to do! At the last minute Thomas decided that he wanted to join in and she was kind enough to let him. They were so cute out there waiting for customers. Every time someone would drive by Thomas would stand up, a bear in each hand, and start yelling, "Bears for sale! Come buy a bear!" and our little neighbor girls would start jumping up and down and waving their arms.

The kids' friends all had to come check out the loot and even Em decided to "shop", bringing her prized findings up to the porch for Matt and I to "ooh and ahh" over.

She spent most of the sale's business hours in the bike trailer and when that sold she moved onto the bench. She single handedly took on the official role of "greeter" by yelling and waving "Hello" and "Good-Bye" from her perch with a hearty "Thanks for comin'!" as people would drive away...so cute!

In the end the kids made a pretty good amount, T about $30 and M about $55 (Bonus! Matt and I made a little too!), and more than that the kids were so proud to have really earned that money on their own! I have to say Matt and I aren't usually ones to hold yard sales. Since we are blessed to be able to afford to shop at other places we usually we try to donate our really nice but unused items to the DI so that people who really have to shop there have nice things to choose from. But this once we decided to let a yard sale take place in our yard and I am so glad we did. It was a fun memory for us as parents and a great learning experience for our kids!