130. The Yard Sale

This Okay listener shares the story of a family yard sale that her niece made extra memorable by labeling the prices a little too honestly.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

INTRO MUSIC

I’m Nora McInerny, and this is It’s Going To Be Okay, a daily podcast slash group project slash experiment to help us all find a little bit of okay in our days. Now, we named it It’s Going To Be Okay, and not everything is going to be okay, because yeah, take a look around. You know, not everything’s okay right now, but it, whatever that it is, But something is, and that it, that it and it’s going to be okay, is why we’re here today, to find it together.

It’s different every day, and different for everyone, and today’s okay thing comes in the form of an email from a listener named Allison. 

So, this past May, my mother in law decided to have a yard sale. You know, the old fashioned advertise with stapled signs on the telephone poles and in the local newspaper kind of yard sale.

The fact that these sort of yard sales just don’t happen anymore did not deter her from making this the most elaborate and organized yard sale you’d ever walk through. Facebook Marketplace has nothing on Louise. Side note slash interjection from Nora, I love a yard sale. As far as I know, we are still having yard sales.

I break for yard sales. I detour for yard sales. The only thing keeping me from having a yard sale is that I don’t want to get rid of anything and I don’t have a yard or a garage. Otherwise… I’d be all over it. Anyway, back to the email. The driveway of the home my husband grew up in turned into a walk down memory lane.

Old collectibles and toys, furniture from the 70s, 80s, and 90s were lined up and all tagged with a price. Another side note from me. Why wasn’t I there? You’re naming all of my interests old things that I don’t need. From the 70s, 80s, and 90s and I didn’t even… I didn’t get a notification. I didn’t see a sign.

On the big day, the forecast was not good. Cool and rainy. Sure, there would be the early birds lined up waiting for their bargains of treasures. Oh. Surely there would be, surely there would still be the early birds lined up waiting for their bargains and treasures. We may have had about seven or eight people show up.

That was it. All the preparation, planning, and purging turned out to be in vain. My sister in law, husband, and I, along with our two kids, age 15 and 9, were there to assist with whatever activity the yard sale brought. Okay, another side note. I’m so sorry. Maybe the art of the yard sale has been lost because seven or eight people total I was in Minneapolis over the summer.

I went to several yard sales. They were bopping. They were bopping. I don’t know where this emailer is emailing in from. I live in Phoenix. I’ve been to quite a few yard sales. Bring back the yard sale. Bring back the yard sale. At one point, shortly after we arrived, my nine year old daughter discovered that a couple items were missing price tags.

Oh my gosh, Louise. She and her aunt stepped aside to find the price tags and stick one on. Can I do it? Asked Caroline. Sure thing. Go for it, kiddo. Sharon, her aunt, says, um, let’s say ten bucks, but we’ll take five. And she walks away, leaving Caroline with her task of tagging the item. Moments later, we walk by the table that held the item, and there, in what is unmistakably a chi In what is unmistakably a child’s writing, is the bright yellow price tag of ten dollars, but we’ll take five.

That is how she priced it. I literally don’t think I’ve belly laughed harder in years because why wouldn’t she price it that way? That’s what her aunt told her. And for God’s sake, we all just want to sell the stuff. So let’s drop the BS. Let the people know. We’ll take five. We’ll take five. Offer us five. We will take it. Offer us 10 actually, so we can just.

Say we’ll accept five and make you feel like you got a deal. This reminder of how kids can be so literal makes me think, why do we go around trying to ask for something that is more than we are willing to accept? Let’s just be real with one another. Just tell me, what do you want? This is brilliant. And on the days when I’m on the struggle bus feeling like I need a laugh, I will just out of the blue text Aunt Sharon with a single sentence.

10, but we’ll take 5, and ensue the laughing emojis. And what is better currency than laughter? Thank you, I love you all. We love this email. We love a yard sale. We love this email, Allison. We love Caroline, and we agree. Just ask for what you want. If all you want is five bucks, just ask for the five, okay?

Ten But We’ll Take Five is so classic, it’s so wonderful, and I’m so excited that you get to tell that story. at Caroline’s wedding someday, or her high school graduation. There’s just, that story is sticking around for the whole family. It’s brilliant and it’s wonderful. It is going to be okay. And we will take five.

We’ll take five.

OUTRO MUSIC

CREDITS