Tips for hosting a great yard sale

I am an avid yard sale girl and I have been to quite a few over my many years of treasure hunting.  Today was a great day, my dear husband found a dehydrator for $2, it was brand new in its box.  I call that a major score.  I even found a couple of pieces of curriculum for our home-school.  We do our best to not miss many weekends during yard-sale season and we try to get to as many homes as possible.  Since I am out so much I consider myself rather knowledgeable on this subject and would like to share some tips I have for you on how to have a very successful yard sale.

Yard sales are great to bring a bit of fun money back into your house, or maybe even raise enough to pay a bill or they can be great fundraisers.  The key to success though is to treat your yard-sale like a business, yes I know it is one day but just for one day pretend you have a business.

#1 - Prepare by boxing items as you clean out your home or while packing for a move, box and label yard sale items so they are easy to identify.

#2 - Make sure to have tables, beg and borrow to get them if you have to.  It is okay to have a blanket or two on the ground for clothing, boxes of books and larger items but do try to have a table for kitchen wares, glass ware, collectibles and such.  Honestly it is easier to browse without having to bend over or squat down.

#3 Try to sort your items, have a table for kitchenware, have your books boxed together maybe sorted by kids and grown ups, have clothing sorted by men's, women's and children, etc.  Basically have an organized sale it makes it easier for people to see if you have what they need.

#4 - This is a big one - PRICE EVERYTHING!!!! Nothing I dislike more than walking into a yard sale where nothing is priced, I do not want to ask you how much something is, it is awkward and I usually leave without buying a thing, so please if you are taking the time to have a yard sale take a moment to price it, even if you just signs to tell the price of your items, ie all items $1.00 or a chart that has a list of your items and the prices next to them, you could price just clothing one price, books another, shoes, etc and then just price your housewares and certain things like furniture individually.  I will upload pictures at a later date with examples.

#5 - Have great signs and by great I just mean legible, if you put the following:
DATE
TIME
STREET
ARROW (this is vital - a street address does me no good if I don't know which way to turn to get to that address, you can even just put YARD SALE, DATE, TIME and ARROW and we are good to go).

#6 - Pricing is very important!  Remember this is a yard sale not a department store and I promise you no one will pay $10.00 to $15.00 for a pair of designer pants, we don't care if they are designer all we know is that they are used and honestly we will never go over $5.00.   So here are some pricing suggestions.

Clothing - T-Shirts .50 to .75 (you can even do a quarter if you just want them gone)
                 Tops (men's or women's) $1.00 to $1.50 (these are your polo style and dress shirts)
                 Dress pants - $1.00 - $3.00 no more than $5
                 Jeans .50 to $2.00
                 Kids clothing will sell quick at .50 a piece (you can do $1.00 )
                 Shoes $1.00 a pair and up to $5.00
                 Purses .50 to $5.00 (if you have boutique brand purses and you want more than $10.00 save them and sell them online not at a yard sale)

Linens - .50 to $5.00 (this goes from single towels and sheets to newer sheet sets, bath rugs etc.

Books  - Paperbacks not more than .50 ($1.00 is absolute max, if you want more sell them to you local used bookshop)
              Hardcovers not more than $1.00 ($2.00 is the absolute max and people really think twice even at this price.

Even though I run a book shop online, I do sell books at our yard sales and I usually just charge .25 for all books and they usually go without a second thought.  Sometimes I do paperback .25 and hardcover .50 and they still move, that is my max though because I promise you, you will end up loading boxes full of books for Goodwill.

Housewares - Plates or Cups .25 - .50 or you can put them in a set, we paid $1.00 for 3 glasses the other day, my husband collects a certain style cup and we never pass up a deal like that.

If you are putting new items out price them at about 1/4 of the original price to start and then if you feel it is not moving you can reduce it.

As I think of more pricing examples I will add them.

The gist of this is that if I am not a barterer, if items are prices fairly I will pay your price, I won't haggle and I move along.  If however your items are overpriced I will quickly look, buy nothing and move along.

My husband and I can usually tell an overpriced yard sale as soon as we pull up to the curb especially if it is after 9am.  Want to know what the biggest clue to an over priced yard?  Here it is, if we pull up to the curb after a yard sale has been open for more than 2 hours and you can tell not much has been sold, we usually call it from the car and we have never been wrong.   If I can see lots of empty gaps on your driveway after 2 hours or if I see people coming down the driveway with armloads of stuff, I know the stuff is priced very well, when I see this I can hardly get out of the car fast enough.

So there are my tips for now, I am sure I will keep coming back as I think of more.

If you are having a yard sale soon post and let me know, I want to come =).

               

Pizza Dough Step by Step

Next to the amazing topping you can put on your pizza, the crust is extremely important, it should have a simple flavor so your toppings will stand out but not a boring tasteless flavor.  I find this hard to achieve.  I plan to add garlic infused olive oil to my next try just for fun.  So I want to highlight the crust recipe.  I would love to hear what other find that works.

So here is what I did for this weeks Friday Night Pizza dough.

These are the main ingredients:

2 Cups Warm Water
2 Packages Yeast or about 4 1/2 teaspoons
Pinch of Sugar
2 1/2 t Salt
2 1/2 T Olive Oil
5 - 6 Cups Flour (I add to the 5 cup point and then while mixing I add more until it pulls easily from the sides of the bowl and maybe more while kneading it). 

Garlic salt or garlic infused olive oil might be a nice addition.

Combine warm water, yeast and sugar, I let this sit for about 5 minutes until it gets a bit frothy.

Sometimes it even gets frothier than this but this will work.

Then I add the salt and the olive oil and if you want to try the garlic powder you can add it here too.

Than add some of the flour I add about 2 to 2 1/2 cups until combined

Add remaining flour to about 5 cups

My arms were tired today so I put to the mixer to finish adding the flour and to knead the dough, time to knead is about 7 minutes.

I move the dough to a glass bowl greased with olive oil and let rise until at least double in size, I have had this take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

Here is how it will look after it rises, now at times I have been busy and it rises even bigger.
From this I get about 4 pizza.

This whole process takes about 15 minutes to prepare and then the rest of the time it is sitting rising in the bowl.  So if you think you don't have time to make pizza from scratch you will be surprised at how little effort this takes for a truly wonderful taste.

Where to shop while we wait for our garden to grow

I am so beyond excited to have our garden well on its way and adding to it everyday.  While we wait I am lucky enough that our farmers market opens fairly early here and now one of our farmers is even there Monday through Saturday.  Today I went there and here is what I got for forty dollars and that was only because I bought a bunch more plants to add to the garden.  So skip the grocery store and go buy fresh and local.  Happy cooking.

I will post our our meals tomorrow.

3 packs strawberries, potatoes for .50 lb, 2 onions

1 large cucumber, 3 squash, 3 green peppers, bunch of carrots

2 large heads of lettuce and a very large cabbage

9 - 4 packs of veggies to plant

Are you green and you don't even know it?

I kind of find the term "being green" almost too trendy.  I grew up living mainly with my mother and she was definitely a "green" chick but she was not labeled that, maybe we looked at her as being cheap, frugal, a hippie, and oh my heavens she sent us to school with the most awful meals, not one single person ever wanted to trade lunch with me.  My lunch went something like this, first had the Tupperware lunch box - this one to be exact.  In it there was usually this thermos filled with a barley soup and in the sandwich compartment of our Tupperware lunch box there was squished in there a half of a pita bread filled with lettuce, sprouts and carrots with a homemade oil and vinegar dressing (now I know this sounds good but not to a 9 year old)  Oh and of course there was some type of fruit, apple, orange or grapes were the standard.  So we had what is a very healthy lunch which probably explains why I was a pretty fit kid.  See so we wasted no plastic bags or wrap everything was reusable.  Did my mom do this to be green, no not likely it was to save the expense of zip-lock baggies and plastic wrap or foil, it was to save the cost of paper bags too.  She was very frugal and in turn it was totally awesome for the earth, we did not use plastic water bottles EVER.  As a child I thought this was a punishment, I just wanted a Twinkies like all the other kids, but now to my mom I say thank you.  First I thank her for feeding good healthy food that did not rot my body (I did though go wild as I got older and ate like crap which explains why I have an extra 50-60 pounds I need to get rid of, but that is another story), and second for being kind to the earth.  Oh and when my mom did use plastic baggies we washed and reused them.

If you just take a few steps to be frugal it will end up being kind to the earth and that is a great thing.  If you are being frugal already you are being green and don't even realize it.

Keep living green and healthy.
Peace and love.

What's for Dinner?

Last night I repeated our Bean Burrito recipe for an easy quick homemade meal.

Tonight after a long day of working in the garden I really wanted something quick so I made homemade Mac & Cheese and for a nice side a green salad would make a complete meal.

Dawn's Mac & Cheese

1 1/2 lbs Cooked Pasta (tonight I used Rotini but you would use your favorite)
1/4 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Celery - finely chopped
1/2 Cup Onion - finely chopped
3 Cloves Garlic - finely chopped
1 t Salt
1/4 t Fresh Ground Pepper
1/3 Cup Flour
2 Cups Milk
3 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I use the larger shredding tool)
1 Cup Pecorino Romano (I just use the fine hand shredder for this one)

Topping
1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese - Shredded
1/4 Cup Pecorino Romano Cheese - Shredded
1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs (I used the Italian Seasoned ones for this, it was what was in the cupboard but even when I have just plain I will spice them up with the Italian seasoning it adds a nice flavor.

Cook and drain pasta.  While the pasta is cooking in another pan melt butter, saute Celery, Onion, Garlic, Salt and Pepper until golden brown and soft.  Add Flour and stir then slowly stir in Milk, simmer and stir until thickened.  Stir in Cheeses until combined and then stir with pasta until well combined.  Put this evenly into a glass dish.  Stir together cheeses and bread crumbs and spread evenly on the pasta.

Cook on 350 for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Boil your pasta.

Chop celery

Chop onion

When I say 3 cloves it is your choice on the size and add more if you like.  I love garlic!

Finely chop your garlic

Here is what gets sauteed in the butter.

Saute this until a nice golden brown.

Add  your 1/3 cup flour to the golden brown mixture.

This is what the mixture will look like with the flour added.

Gradually add in milk and stir until thickened.

Add your cheddar cheese to the mixture.

Add your Pecorino Romano to the mixture.

Mix together the 1 cup cheddar, 1/4 Pecorino Romano and Bread Crumbs.

Pour pasta mixture in baking dish.

Top with the bread crumb mixture.

Hot out of the oven.

Beef or Chicken Pot Pie for dinner #9

I have a favorite meal, it is my favorite because my family absolutely loves it too, that always makes me happy.

My recipe for tonight (well actually last night) was inspired by one in a booklet that I got free, it was a great recipe except it used canned stuff and a pre-made pie crust, I have been trying to avoid the pre-made stuff and unless I was super crushed for time I did not use a pre-made pie crust I made one from scratch and it is easier than you think and you can so taste the difference.  You can use a food processor or a hand dough cutter I have found either to be fast and easy.  So use your favorite crust recipe or if are in a crunch for time you can find a pre-made one but try to find one with no gross ingredients.

Chicken / Turkey / or Beef Pot Pie
(Last  night I used beef but I much prefer the chicken or turkey).
2lbs Beef / Chicken / Turkey (I go for organic here)
2 Cups Water
1 t Salt
1/4 t Pepper
2 Cups Corn (I used frozen this time, as it was what I had on hand but you can use fresh and cook it in with the beef/meat)
1 Cup Carrots - Chopped
1 1/4 Cup Celery - Chopped
3/4 Cup Onion - Chopped
3 Garlic Cloves finely chopped
3 T Olive Oil
1 3/4 Cup Beef / Chicken Broth - See instructions below
1/2 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Butter
1/3 Cup Flour
1/2 t Salt
1/4t Pepper

Warm 3 tablespoons Olive Oil in frying pan, add meat and saute until browned on most sides.  To make the broth I add the 2 cups Water, 1t Salt and 1/4t Pepper cook over med/hi heat for about 5-8 minutes.  Drain off the liquid into measuring cup, I got about 1 3/4 cups and left a bit in the pan, set aside the broth.  Add to the meat the Carrots and Celery, cook about 8-10 minutes, turn off the heat and add corn.

Note: for the Chicken or Turkey I usually take my chicken or turkey after a meal and boil with some water, you can add salt and pepper but usually said chicken or turkey was seasoned and now I am just adding water to cover bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for about 20 minutes, I strain the liquid and once cooled I freeze it so not only do you have a broth without an overload of sodium but it is

In a separate pan melt the butter and add onions and garlic cook 2-3 minutes, gradually whisk in the flour, salt and pepper until blended.  Slowly stir in the broth and milk and cook until thickened. Turn off heat. Mix together with meat and veggies. Roll crust to fit pie plate pour mixture in, top with second crust . This cooks for about 40 minutes on 425.

Some of the chopped vegetables.

Sauteed Beef with Celery and Carrots added - Cook about 5-8  minutes

Pan I use to saute the onions with butter

Here is your beef broth

Beef with all the veggies

What your onions will look like sauteed with the butter and then flour added.

Adding the broth and then milk to the onion, butter, flour mixture.  Stir until thickened.

My pie dough.

Pyrex is my favorite.  I will post more about buying older Pyrex.

Poke bottom of crust with fork.

Pour mixture into the bottom pie crust.

Top and crimp.

Pie just out of the oven after 40 minutes.

We get 6 large slices out of this pie.  Since the crust I use is a little flakier due to the whole wheat pastry flour next time I want to try individual mini pies.

Enjoy!

Dinner #8

So I was in the mood for something quick but yummy.  Thankfully I am getting better about taking meat from the freezer instead of having to soak in hot water to get it to thaw last minute.  I have used the microwave but I just am not a fan of the microwave so I avoid it at all costs.

Anyway I don't really have a recipe, I simply took boneless/skinless chicken breast and put them in about 1/3 cup Teriyaki Sauce mixed with about 1 1/2 cups water poured that over the chicken and then I decided to add the leftover dressing from the Asian Wraps on top and just flipped them in the sauce popped in the oven for about 40 minutes, the flavor was amazing.  Now mind you I just used leftover sauces I had, next time I really want to make my own sauces, but I used good sauces free of nasty ingredients and used it on good clean free-range chicken.  For a side dish we added corn.  Nice easy meal made from scratch.  Not everything you eat every day of the week has to be loads of ingredients it should just be fresh, clean and made with no yucky ingredients.

Happy Cooking. =)

See how our garden grows

I debated giving up this blog and just keeping my other two but I have missed sharing about our garden and neat finds for living a more organic life in a more direct format, so after a little break I am back to writing here too.

I liken this lifestyle to a more "old fashion" life and I mean old fashion in a good way.  I think we are trying so hard to be so "fashion forward" that we are filling our bodies and our homes with crap.  I have been posting on my family life blog about cooking better and by writing about what I am cooking it is helping me to watch what goes in our food.  Plus the most amazing thing is that I am finding my love of cooking again.  I always loved to cook and bake but put that on top of loving to craft, run our book business, go on field-trips with friends and especially home-educating our children and something has to give and for so many years that was the cooking and baking.  Baking has made its way back into my life because my daughter loves to bake and so I am motivated to teach her and show her family recipes.  Cooking has taken a bit more time.  I found it easier to order pizza on Friday nights than to make it from scratch and sometimes it was so much easier to throw noodles in a pot and a jarred spaghetti sauce in the pan and go.  I was even too lazy to make a salad.

As we began growing our own food I found I was more excited to cook it, even shopping at the Farmers Market gave me that excitement to cook fresh foods.  I can cook when I want to put the effort in and really it has just taken me time to get to the effort part.

You can see what I have done the last week here.  I am so enjoying the flavors of the food and the smell that permeates through the house.  I have had mostly positive feedback from the family.  I know you think because they are my family that they will be easy on me, ha! Fat chance.  They see no reason to hold back on the criticism because if it is something they don't like and they don't tell me I will make it again thinking they liked it, so they know better.

In addition to all this I am making time to exercise and be very conscious of what goes into my body and on my body.  I have tried to get my family to change along with me but am now working on baby steps and things that they can't complain about (ie they like certain shampoos, deodorants, etc).  So I started with making all my own cleaning products since I am the main cleaner and whether they work or not only effects me.  So far I love what I have made, especially the laundry detergent.  My next move it to begin working on body care recipes with my friend who has breast cancer and wants to rid herself of all chemical products.  I do purchase the chemical free facial care, shampoo, etc but making my own would hopefully save me money.

As I make my next round of cleaning solutions I will write down what I put in and I will share my recipes with you and any recipes I find elsewhere.

Okay now to share a few pictures of our garden in progress.  My dh expanded this year and I am so excited to have more room.

Our three original boxes we built 2 years ago.  Right now we have tomatoes and asparagus (won't get any asparagus until next year) in one, potatoes and onion are in another and one is waiting to be filled.

Here is our new addition.  Love this set, dh did a fantastic job.  We have onions  at the top, broccoli in another row, carrots and lettuce in another, not sure what is in the bottom row but something new was seeded yesterday.  The other set of boxes is waiting.

This area was here last year but dh expanded out and also added  that larger bottom row.  In here so far we have peas.

Plus we have a mound that has strawberries and I just got two blackberry bushes.

Happy, healthy living to you.

Fun craft idea

Here is a fun little craft, that is quick and easy.  I have been used a Tupperware container for my compost bucket and I really need to have something more fun and with a handle so here is what I came up with.

Compost Bucket

You will need:
One large can - I used the clean and label removed 102oz can from my tomatoes I used in my tomato sauce the other day.
Paints
Sealer
Pipe Cleaners

This was just nice sit on my front porch with some paints and newspaper and paint project, no big set up unless you don't have paints in your house which could have been me except I bought some in December and never did the project (that is so typical me, grand ideas and no time to complete them).

I used the hammer and a nail to punch holes on either side of the can,  I simply hammered the nail from the inside out into the wood, then put the wood inside the can and hammered outside in to flatten the metal from the hole.  Sanded the can a bit not much just basically rubbed it around the can a few times.

I used the rounded edge of this landscape timber to hammer the hole flat.  There was a bit of metal sticking out once I punched the whole with the nail so that is what I was hammering back in, basically a quick tap pretty much does it.

Here is the paint I used and the sealer above.

Painted 2 base coats.

I added a double coat of the blue and then  added the strips of pink, wrote the name in blue with  pink accents.  Let is dry and then coated with the polyurethane and let it dry overnight.

This morning I took the pipe cleaners and put one end in with about a 2 inch tail, wrapped the tail up and then took another pipe cleaner and began wrapping from the bottom, added an extended piece by wrapping together, put the end outside in through the hole and twisted up again, I again wrapped another cleaner around this to reinforce and then one for a bit of padding, not much but I just liked it.  You can really just use thick wire and then cover it with duct-tape or get creative with your handle, I just used what I had so as not to spend any money.

Happy Crafting =)