So. We had another garage sale. This is the second big one we've had (another one in between was mostly other people's items), so you may be wondering where we get all this stuff to sell. Well, it isn't easy dragging it all in from clearance sales, garage sales, estate sales, and the occasional flea market. But I have managed--can I help it if I have an eye for "the diamond in the rough"? Add to that, twenty years in the same house and three kids. We had been collecting stuff from our house and attic for this garage sale for about a year, putting it all in unused rooms as we cleaned through other rooms. I'd say we had about two rooms full of stuff. I got rid of over half the clothes in my closet; some things I'd had since I was in college--no, wait--I kept that! ;) The closet is still full, but at least it is not stuffed. There are actually open spaces.
Anyway we made $450 off the garage sale itself. We sold a large armoire on Craigslist the week before for $125.00 (we had bought it several years ago on Craigslist for $200, and it was just too big for our space) and some antique chairs in poor condition from our earlier life for $25. We got about $60 cash from our hundreds of books sent to McKays Used Bookstore and another $50 or so in McKays cash. The books McKays doesn't buy get returned to you or dumped in the free bin outside the store. On my last trip to McKays I managed to bring back a partial box of books I decided I couldn't part with after all, along with another 6 or 7 from the free bin.
When our garage sale was all over and we were looking with dismay at the pretty much unadulterated junk still left, I remembered seeing offers on Craigslist to buy leftover garage sale stuff, so I posted what wasn't bought for $75.00. It sold immediately. I probably could have got twice that much. But we were thrilled we didn't have to load it all up in multiple trips and take it to Goodwill. The people who bought it seemed pretty thrilled as well. It took two full truck loads for them to cart it off to a town about an hour north of here. So that makes a total take of over $700.00.
The pictures you see are at the end of the garage sale, we were so busy hauling things out of the garage onto the driveway and dealing with a steady stream of customers, that I forgot to take a picture. But at the beginning there was so much stuff on the driveway, you could hardly maneuver. The tables in the garage were so loaded with boxes and things you couldn't even see it all until midway into the morning. I didn't expect to make much money because we didn't really have any big ticket items, just mostly junk: kitchen stuff, decorative items, rugs, pictures, games, puzzles, clothes, blankets, pillows, vases, Barbies (Barbies are not wanted much by the way, nor are Beanie Babies; we were lucky to sell a box of 10 Barbies and clothes for $8; our Beanie Babies are still in the attic ;)--the grandchildren will no doubt be thrilled with them?) etc, so I was thinking if we made $100 it would be worthwhile. We were so sick of seeing that junk in our house, we were considering just hauling it off to Goodwill without a sale.
What also helped is that we happened on a beautiful warm day in February, the 18th, and all the garage sale folks were pretty much in withdrawal and were needing a good West Knox garage sale fix. There are very few garage sales in winter. I only advertised ours on Craigslist the night before at 10 p.m. and put a sign on the main street outside our subdivision. We had a steady stream of people starting at 7:30 a.m. One guy upon seeing all our hoard said he was going to call his wife to come over. (Several people told me that I took first prize for helpful directing signs to the sale.)
Who comes to garage sales? Well I'd say the first 10 people were men looking for tools, electronics and sporting things, or they were picking up stuff for their own second-hand shops I suppose; one guy came in and swooped up the "paint ball gun stuff" we had mentioned on the Craigslist ad for $20--no doubt a steal. But like I said, I just wanted it all GONE. Then there were the older couples who garage sale for their Saturday entertainment; sometimes one or the other collects watches or vinyl records or dishes-- they don't buy much, just enjoy rummaging through junk and chatting. I can't take Russel with me to a garage sale because he always suggests that I get whatever I want (except please NOT large furniture items--which I am prone to want because they would fix up so cool!)--he doesn't understand that a mild hoarding tendency like mine can never be filled.
Jewelry is a big draw--people come looking for gold among the junk, and no doubt they find it from time to time. I'm pretty sure they found none at my sale, though I had several bags of jewelry. (Joyanna and Elizabeth had already gone through my jewelry and taken what interested them. They had a great time doing it, so I was happy. Joyanna loved some of the wild earrings I had bought for Mary; they were definitely not Mary's style, but very much Joyanna. Apparently I had been channeling Joyanna all those years I kept trying to convince Mary to wear the huge sparkly earrings I bought and loved.) Then there are the kids and their families that come to garage sales, a lot of Hispanic families. My neighbor with a hoarding problem came over and bought some clothes and dishes and wanted to buy the 30-year-old ratty rattan bookshelves, but her husband came over very kindly and told us that he was buying metal shelving for the new storage shed they just built; the rattan shelves just wouldn't hold up. A number of our friends in the neighborhood dropped by to say hi and buy an item or two. The last person to come was a slender blonde in 6 inch heels and a black dress. Russel and I were a bit dazed by her beauty as we stood there amidst our leftover junk looking like middle-aged homeless folk. She was a lawyer who lives in our neighborhood with her soon to be husband; she picked up a few wedding items.
So all and all we had a pretty good time. The truth is we could still probably have another small garage sale with more things from the attic and things hidden here and there. I read an article about hoarding that said it was hereditary and sometimes the tendencies don't show until middle or old age. I suppose there is some truth to that, but I'm not overly persuaded. On the other hand, sometimes I think everything about our personalities is inherited.
