Back last month, I wrote an entry about how excited I was that garage sale season was starting - but that was the other side of the story. Yesterday, I was part of one.
My mom and dad in-law host a sale every two years or so, mainly because Rose (my mom in-law) just wants stuff OUT of her house. I can relate. Even though I really like "stuff" (for proof of this, you can check out my other blog, Ephemeraology), I get a little crazy when I have too much of it. And because collections evolve and change, I want the old stuff gone. Example: about 12 years ago or so, I had a teapot collection (WHY?). Now, with the exception of a scant few, I don't know what I was thinking. Out they go.
Around here, you can't really have a successful g-sale if you don't have kids' clothes. Thank god for my sister and bro in-law - Brian's niece Sydney and nephew Josh are 7 and 8, and there were TONS of their clothes there yesterday. That really drew people in! Kristin, my sis in-law, had them so reasonably priced that people were buying them in PILES. My dad in-law Dave also had a lot of "man" items - fishing poles, an ice auger, a table saw, etc. and a lot of men stopped by.
Brian and I combed our house for items that we could sell. Besides the trinkets I no longer wanted, I found old diswashing detergent and a huge refill of liquid soap, priced them at a buck apiece, and they sold. I had old magazines, priced them at 10 cents each, and sold about 40 of them yesterday (but that was only half of the pile - yes, it's an "issue" I have). Old Mah Johnng tiles, framed pictures, my 25 year-old vacuum (that still runs like a champ), hotel samples that I had bagged up - all of these things of ours sold yesterday.
This just goes to show you - you can never rule anything out! There was a small can of deck stain that sold yesterday, which no one thought would. Who knew?
"Stuff" has been talked about for the last 50 years, ever since we've had the disposable income to have it (if you're like me, you're thinking of the timeless George Carlin bit right now). I mean really - why do we have so much stuff? What purpose does it serve? But we love our stuff, don't we?
God help me if we ever have to start storing our stuff in a rented garage - I won't admit to having a problem until that happens. :D
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"stuff" sometimes seems to accumulate without any work at all on my part! well, not really... but like you, I go thru collecting phases- or we buy a new piece of furniture (liquor cabinet) and no longer need the wine rack on the kitchen counter. Or, it just seems to come to use- like the rice steamer that was a secret Santa gift from my BF's work a couple years ago. I stuck it in the pantry and never even took it out of the box. I think that means we don't really need it! Garage sales are a lot of work to organize, but it's a satisfying feeling... and you really never know what people will buy- I had one last fall, and decided to sell a half-empty container of cat litter (my cats are very brand loyal, it seems). I didn't really think it would sell, but it went early! Talking about having too much stuff, though, here's as an example: lots of people out here can't even park their cars in their garage, because that's where they put all their stuff!! I'm really proud of the fact that we can park BOTH cars in the garage, and we could do that from the day we moved in.
ReplyDeleteof course, at the same time, I'm reading your post and thinking "why would she sell old mah johng tiles? they could be used for something, sometime..." It's a hard balance to keep for us "stuff" collecting artists!
ReplyDeleteHa ha Jennifer - I knew someone would ask that about the Mah Johnng tiles! :D Truth is, I got them about 10 years ago with every intention of doing something with them, but then I just got tired of looking at them and when my first husby and I moved, they got stored away, never to be looked at again until about a week ago. :D When I saw them I got that panicky, "what am I going to do with THESE?" feeling, so that was my cue to put them in the sale.
ReplyDeleteI love your kitty litter story! I guess that means that ANYTHING might be sold at the g-sale! :D