Garage Sales

Garage Sales

Never again!!! I told my husband, never again will we have a garage sale.  Holy Cow!!!
The work, the aggravation, the people, the mess...we did it right, kept it simple, everything was color- coded, clean, and marked, we had plenty of signage and it still wasn't worth it at the end of the day.

The sale was 3 days ago and I am still a little bitter about the lady that tried to talk me down on items that we already marked 1/2 off...tell me, where can you get a practically new ladies top for $1.50 or 2 brand new never used children's sippee cups for $1 or how about a brand name, never used clutch type purse for $3.  Puuuleeeese!!!!  Seriously, every time this lady wanted to add another item, she reduced her offer.

Some people have fabulous garage sales.  Some people, like my mom, make them fun!!  One time she had a garage sale and her gimmick was that everyone that bought something got a kiss.  Now, let me fill you in on this idea before you say to yourself  EEEEEEWWWW!!!! First off, it was in a retirement community, second, she's a hoot and hugging and kissing folks, just comes natural to her, third she didn't kiss on the lips - facial cheeks only.  Anyway, this one older gentlemen kept buying things, and of course, mom kept giving him kisses.  Finally his wife had enough and dragged him outta there. 

Another time mom and her friend had a 99 cent sale - everything was either 99 cents or 2 or three for 99 cents.  They did pretty well with that one.

Another time she put a clown costume on and held up a big sign inviting people in to the sale.  She got a lot of attention as Lulu the Clown.

At any rate, my garage sale was not nearly as fun as my mom's are and not half as profitable.  Maybe there is a lesson in that.  I figure with all the time we spent gathering, sorting, cleaning, marking, setting up, then the actual sale, followed by clean up and boxing up items we earned about $3.15 and hour each.  Not to sound proud or arrogant, but I think our time is worth more than $3.15 an hour.

So, we did get rid of a lot of stuff and we do have $126 to show for it so there is a little silver lining, but definitely not enough to make me want to ever do it again especially in light of the bargainer lady.  We did have a couple very nice people come visit our sale - one lady even gave me a tip - when I went to give her change from the dollar bill she gave me for her 40 cent purchase she told me to keep it that she got a really good deal.  I think she maybe was sent to make up for the bargainer lady.

So, live and learn, is what I always say.  The learning part is what is important.  I learned, I like to go to garage sales but I don't like having them.   So I won't.