Do you want to get rid of some old junk, but you don’t want the hassle of putting together a garage sale? Do you want to teach your adopted children entrepreneurship, have fun in the process, do some bonding, and make money? Some of the older adopted children arrive at your home with a fatalistic attitude about life. One of our daughters frequently admitted that if she tried something, it would turn out bad, so why try. Therefore, you need to do something easy to try to change that attitude and create some enthusiasm through success.

It started this summer when for the first time in 10 years we decided to have a garage sale. That in itself was quite a bonding experience between the siblings and me. Each sibling contributed articles to the sale in hopes of earning some extra cash. That plan worked out and the siblings even staffed the garage most of the weekend because Super Dad and I had to work. They learned to count money, make change, and negotiate prices with dedicated garage sale purchasers.

Then we had to figure out what to do with all of the left over items. Buck had the original idea of listing his leftover video games and systems on EBay. I’m afraid I was a little hesitant because I had only purchased items and didn’t really know how to sell them. After a few months, he finally convinced me to list his items.

It was incredibly easy; we even printed our shipping labels on line and had our mail carrier pick up the boxes from our mailbox. We didn’t have to figure out postage because we used flat rate boxes and flat rate envelopes that the post office gives away free. That is how we began our new internet entrepreneur adventures out here on the farm among the adopted siblings.

Because of Buck’s success, as well as his cash in hand, his siblings began searching for items to sell. One of the best things is there isn’t any organizing, setting up, or taking down. We don’t need a person to staff the garage; in fact, we don’t even have to stay home, just check our email, which we do anyway.


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