Monday, August 23, 2010

Another Garage Sale Experience

I got this email from a friend about her garage sale experience.  She had prepared for the sale for weeks.  I got such a kick out of it I asked if I could share it with In The Trenches readers.  Here you go:

Ugh, I'm so exhausted. The sale was a raging success. My profit was zero dollars. Yup, zero. I'll explain.




You are going to think I am an idiot. I spent all this time getting things cleaned up and marked, got my change ready, etc. Was up and busy at 6:30 am, was open for business at 8:00 am. No one was biting.


So I thought, 'what am I doing? I just want this stuff gone and for someone to get some good use out of it'. So I threw a sign up that said "FREE".


The next couple of hours, it was like a swarm of locust hit me. People were loading their cars. I mean, they were absolutely tickled, asking me "are you sure?". I said yes, take anything you want and enjoy it. Some people even still tried to pay me but I said no.


Yeah, I know that it did not make economic sense, and the money is always good---but you know, I've had so much of that stuff given to me anyway and I have more than I need. I really prefer to give things away anyway, if it is possible. I've had yard sales in the past and I have done really well, but I guess I just wasn't feeling it today, ya know?


You know, I kind of have a weakness for handbags (seems odd, since I haven't carried one in so long, huh?). But I decided I had to thin out the herd, so I put a number of them out there (I could still thin it out more if I knew someone that really needed a bag).


Anyway, this one gal told me that she used to be really into bags, but got away from it and even stopped carrying one altogether 'cause she couldn't afford a new one (she looked like she was telling the truth, too). She took most of the bags and was just thrilled that she had handbags again. She just couldn't get over it.


For me, that was payment enough.


But my garage is mostly cleaned out now, people left here happy, and today---that's all I needed. I've got a few boxes of things left that I am going to try to get down to the thrift store this week.


Going back to lay on the couch now . . . .

Did you have a garage sale this summer?  How did it go?  If you feel you missed your opportunity Labor Day weekend is just around the corner.  There is still time for your sale before the summer ends.

4 comments:

Olivia said...

I was talking to a neighbor earlier in the summer about cleaning out a bit. DH and I planned to paint our youngest's room and took everything out while he was away. When he came back we told him take anything he wanted, as long as he had a place for it. Only his favorite stuff made the grade.

Well my neighbor felt she had been wanting to thin out for some time. She mentioned the yard sale idea to another neighbor, and it sort of snowballed from there.

Anyhow at least six of us plan to be part of our "neighborhood" yard sale this Saturday. We'll see how it goes. As long as we don't buy each other's stuff we should be fine.....

Carol said...

Olivia, lol. Yes, buying each others stuff is the most fun. Hope you all do well and let us know how it went!

Anonymous said...

This is fabulous. I get so caught up in wanting to make some extra cash from my sales I forget the real intent is to get it out the door and gone!
I have a few friends and we've been doing swaps with our kids clothes. One person holds the swap in their home and you invite a bunch of other people to bring their stuff. Anything that's left over is taken to Goodwill.

Carol said...

Molly, That sounds really fun. Sounds like a party.