Garage Sales

The season of garage and yard sales is upon us! Let us rejoice in the bounty of unwanted crap we are about to receive.

There is a saying that goes one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but sometimes trash is just trash and should be disposed of as such, not try to make a buck off of it. I couldn’t tell you how many garage and yard sales we’ve been to where they were literally selling garbage. And for the love of everything holy refuse the urge to purchase a “Surprise Bag” if they are selling those too for fear of getting used tampons and poop-stained underwear! Okay, so maybe that would never happen, but it does in my brain, and my brain is a very scary place indeed.

When you are on the hunt for something specific, try to keep to those specifications as much as possible while shopping. Impulse buys are nearly impossible to resist, especially if it is a perfect condition vinyl of The Mamas and The Papas album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, but that is part of the fun. Almost like a treasure hunt (trash and treasure connection made here for those who are dense.) However, it is best for your wallet and future stuff you’ll end up having to garage sale out yourself if you keep those impulses to Must Haves and not Want Nows. If your criteria is like-new used books of a certain genre or author, stick to it, but if you are looking for a bookcase and find one that will work but isn’t what you had in mind, get it. It seems simple, but you’d be surprised how many people would pass on something that would work but isn’t the color a coat of paint couldn’t cure and continue looking at other sales and not find anything else and go back to the place they saw the bookcase and it was sold. Remember to expect some wear, after all it is used stuff you are looking at. However, if they have new items and the price tags are still on them you should be weary, they may have stolen it and were unable to return the item without a receipt and if you buy it you are probably feeding a drug habit! Again, overactive brain disorder… sorry.

If you are setting up a garage or yard sale yourself, the key to a successful sale is organization. Keep like items together. This not only will help you keep better track of items, but also help potential buyers who are probably on a mission themselves for something specific. That and it just plain looks better. If you are getting rid of a bunch of toys but have them scattered throughout it’s going to look like you simply opened your garage and invited people into your space and quite frankly makes you look like a slob. By gathering the toys into one location, a buyer can see what you have all at once and find what they are looking for much easier. And another bonus of putting like items together is if you are a serial garage saler (like those people up the street from us who seem to have one every weekend during the summer) it’ll be easier to box everything up and put it back out again on another date, as well as add to the boxes new items you want to get rid of.