One Person’s Junk…

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. - unknown

I’ve never been a fan of garage sales. I’m not sure why, but I think it has something to do with my mom wanting to stop at every single garage sale she saw when I was a kid. That bored me to tears. She always wanted to stop to see if they had books for sale - my mom is an avid reader who refuses to pay $8 for a paperback book.

The summer after I had my daughter, my mom tried to convince me to go to garage sales to pick up toys for her. I’m ashamed to admit, I was a garage sale snob. No way was my little girl going to get someone else’s used toys. Regardless, my mom did pick up a few toys here and there from garage sales and being the germ-a-phobe that I was (past tense), I’d thoroughly clean them before handing them over to my precious baby.

Then my precious little baby turned into a crawling, and then walking toddler. Everything she could find went in her mouth, she got colds, she recovered, life went on. By the time I had my son in November 2006 I was, thankfully, over my hypersensitive fear of germs. After my daughter’s 2nd birthday, son’s birth, daughter’s 3rd Christmas and son’s first, I realized our family room rivaled a Toys R Us warehouse. Something had to be done.

A couple of months ago we received a flier in the mail from a local real estate agent. He was organizing a neighborhood garage sale. Around that time, the Constant Chatter Garage Sale Tips thread popped back up. I couldn’t deny the three signs that were blatantly in front of me - (1) a house overflowing with toys; (2) someone to organize a neighborhood garage sale; and (3) a CC thread chock full of helpful tips. So I bit the bullet and decided to have my first garage sale.

I contacted the real estate agent. He provided us with Garage Sale signs and advertised our house as one of the participants. I painstakingly went through the enromous amount of toys my children had acquired, and decided which ones wouldn’t be missed. I also gathered miscellaneous things from around our house. I read the CC Garage Sale Tips thread and set off to get ready for my garage sale. We had an extremely successful garage sale. I had no idea how much work was required to host a garage sale, but it was definitely worth it.

Here are some things that I learned from my garage sale experience:

• Thursdays are the best day for garage sales, followed by Fridays. Saturdays, not so much.
• Clothing sells very well - children’s clothing, followed by women’s and then men’s.
• Shoes & purses were also a big hit.
• Children’s “equipment” sells well - things like high chairs, Pack & Plays, outdoor toys, etc.
• I was surprised that smaller children’s toys weren’t big sellers.
• I was also very surprised that books didn’t sell. I thought those would be a big hit given my “saling” experiences with my mom.
• People want to negotiate prices.
• Everything should be marked with a price; if it’s not marked, most people won’t ask.

My experience was a positive one and has definitely changed my mind about garage sales. During our community sale, I visited a few houses and picked up some great deals. I bought my daughter a $50 Little Tikes Cozy Coupe for only $7, a $60 Little Tikes Sand and Water Table for only $8, and a step stool for her bed for only $4.

I’d highly recommend perusing garage sales to naysayers. You never know what hidden treasures you might find.

Toonces