Gar(b)age Sale
We're having our neighborhood garage sale this Saturday. A few months ago, I mentioned I knew someone in the neighborhood who had one every year. I was elected the contact person on the spot. My mouth gets me in trouble once again. I tried to warn them, "I've had one garage sale in my whole life and I only made $20. Are you sure I'm the right person for this job?". They were not swayed. I went to a few garage sales around town for research. Man, has it been a long time since I've shopped at one of these things. I had to keep checking the ad to make sure it didn't say 'garbage sale'. I don't feel so bad for unloading my neon 80's jewelry now.
I loooove the garage sale. We use it as a reason to sit around and justly drink coffee all morning while gossiping about the neighborhood ballyhoo. Just remember it's not about the amount of money that you make, it's really about three words: transfer of ownership.
I subscribe to the notion that another person's junk is my junk, and so I always end up with something more that I end up putting in my sale next year. The exceptions though are kids clothes and anything that gets outgrown. Those are real finds, when your kids are about two years younger than the kids of the person having the sale. I also got myself a nice bike that way a couple of years ago. And one of these days, I'm gonna ride it.
I have never had a garage sale and never will . . . though I love shopping at them! And thrift stores! And ebay! And Craigslist! And Freecycle! But the actual work of setting up a garage sale in my yard is much too great a deterrent for me to go after the few cents we might make -- plus, the idea of not selling any of it, and having to haul it all off anyway. I just take it all to the Goodwill every couple of months.
That said, I have great admiration for those of you who DO go to the trouble to set up garage sales, because it's so much fun to poke through your stuff. My husband just brought home a steamer trunk with Cunard stickers on it -- $5 -- that makes an awesome coffee table in our garden house.
The post-sale junk hauling is problematic, but there are organizations that will send a truck to your house the next day. All you really have to do is throw it all in a few boxes and you get a nice tax write-off. I think ARC does it and maybe the Vietnam Vets association.
we're having Salvation Army or something coming Monday AM... so hopefully I'll be able to reclaim my garage stall soon. I was hoping I'd be making a bigger dent than I am. Especially since I'm being pretty ruthless, I'm going Amityville on my stuff.. "Get Out!"
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