Saturday morning, hubby and I were up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to begin our garage sale. We had decluttered, dejunked and purged our house of 95% of all the things in our home (we lost energy doing my closet and figured that it was good enough to stop). And we figured that about three-fourths of our stuff was good enough to sell at a garage sale.
Friday night, we were moving stuff around and putting up signs. It was a late night and tempers were short. Saturday morning, we got up before 5:00 a.m. to put up the finishing touches. I posted a listing on Craigslist, Oodle and other places for the garage sale and with the signs, I figured I advertised enough.
The garage sale was supposed to start at 7:00 but we started early. We had people there by 6:15 a.m. Now, hubby and I have done garage sales before and knew the deal. Early birds are the "swoopers" - the folks that own thrift stores, etc. that buy up cheap at the garage sales and re-sell for a profit. We generally hate selling to the swoopers but we just wanted our stuff gone this time. We even had a couple of cars for sale.
Within 2 hours, we have sold enough to make $200. We could have made more, but I made the prices ridiculously low. DVDs went for $2 per DVD or $5 for 3. VHS tapes were 50 cents a tape. Clothing was 25 cents a piece. Shoes were fifty cents a pair. And since San Diego is so close to Tijuana, we had the folks from TJ buying up everything.
By the end of the day, we made $500. A charity came by right after the garage sale to pick up all the leftovers and take it down to an orphanage in TJ. We hired a guy to haul the trash to the dump. The only things that are left are some large pieces of furniture and our cars that I'll have to Craigslist. I'm hoping that by the time the furniture sells, we'll have made another $400 or so. A couple from TJ is coming by to buy one of the cars for $2,000.
The money is nice but it's so much nicer to see that the house is so organized, streamlined and clean. We have one last load of trash to be hauled to the dump after we break down the shed by our garage and we have a few boxes of old filing that need to be take to Goodwill to be shredded and a few old electronic things to be recycled at Goodwill. Otherwise, my life is no longer chaotic.
Now, DF, DSD and Pikko don't have to listen to me kvetch about how disorganized my house is.
- Forums
- Cross Site
- The Asylum
- Garage Sales
Garage SalesFollow
It is now your patriotic duty to reinvest in the stock market.
Constellation Energy stock maybe a good buy.
At least by selling to folks from across the border you have also helped rectify the international trade balance. Well done.
Constellation Energy stock maybe a good buy.
At least by selling to folks from across the border you have also helped rectify the international trade balance. Well done.
This is why I just don't buy alot of stuff. I'd rather go without the latest convenience item or toy than have to bother getting rid of it in a few years.
TurinAlexander the Vile wrote:
This is why I just don't buy alot of stuff. I'd rather go without the latest convenience item or toy than have to bother getting rid of it in a few years.
Sounds like a fun life you have there.
What's bred in the bone will not out of the flesh.
Quote:
DVDs went for $2 per DVD or $5 for 3.
What a waste.
"I have lost my way
But I hear a tale
About a heaven in Alberta
Where they've got all hell for a basement"
But I hear a tale
About a heaven in Alberta
Where they've got all hell for a basement"
When I move out of my house soon, I have a feeling I'll be just trashing 80% of my stuff. Its mostly junk or paperwork. All I really need is my furniture and my electrical gadgets.
I had a couple garage sales years ago. I'm not sure why, but they really stressed me out.
Now, I try not to let too much stuff pile up. My son works for the Goodwill Retail Store, so it's easy to ship stuff off with him whenever I shovel out a closet.
I'll use Ebay or Uncle Henry's for selling off bigger, or more valuable stuff.
Now, I try not to let too much stuff pile up. My son works for the Goodwill Retail Store, so it's easy to ship stuff off with him whenever I shovel out a closet.
I'll use Ebay or Uncle Henry's for selling off bigger, or more valuable stuff.
Alma wrote:
I lost my post
Iamadam the Shady wrote:
Quote:
DVDs went for $2 per DVD or $5 for 3.
What a waste.
Not when the DVDs were titles such as Cabin Fever and Vertical Limit. These were the movies that after watching, I was like "we wasted money buying this."
Thumbelyna wrote:
Not when the DVDs were titles such as Cabin Fever and Vertical Limit. These were the movies that after watching, I was like "we wasted money buying this."
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
Jophiel wrote:
Thumbelyna wrote:
Not when the DVDs were titles such as Cabin Fever and Vertical Limit. These were the movies that after watching, I was like "we wasted money buying this."
I've tried to talk Ray into that, but he just refuses to entertain the thought. It's grounds for divorce, I tell ya.
Oh, and can some of the fellas enlighten me as to why the hell does a guy have to have THAT MANY toolboxes???? We got rid of a garage-ful of stuff and now the garage is packed yet again with stuff Ray INSISTS that he needs. Really? We need the 6 cans of paint leftover from the previous owner's painting expedition? We need to keep my queen-size 4 poster bed from before we got married "just in case our daughter wants it when she moves out in 12 years?"
Thumbelyna wrote:
Oh, and can some of the fellas enlighten me as to why the hell does a guy have to have THAT MANY toolboxes???? We got rid of a garage-ful of stuff and now the garage is packed yet again with stuff Ray INSISTS that he needs. Really? We need the 6 cans of paint leftover from the previous owner's painting expedition? We need to keep my queen-size 4 poster bed from before we got married "just in case our daughter wants it when she moves out in 12 years?"
I don't think that's a man thing, some people just tend to be hesitant (or adamantly resistant in some cases) to getting rid of stuff. For my folks, the old man is the culprit. With one of my buddies it's his wife that is guilty.
Myself, I have a tendancy to get rid of stuff almost too quickly. Though right now I have a garage half full of stuff I need to get to the Goodwill store, but I don't have a pickup to haul it as some of the items are rather large. I have one buddy who has a truck, but I've been hesitant to ask him about it as he gets hit up all the time.
Some people are like slinkies, they aren't really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
My father currently has the bald tires off a 1966 Chevy Big Block Half Ton that he got rid of in 1973, as well as jugs of used oil from cars 2 generations ago. His bandsaw is older than me(he got it in 1981), and he has almost all of the dull, used-up blades.
In addition to the woodstove and wood furnace we use in the house for comfort heating, he has 2 40+ year old woodstoves disassembled and stacked in the garage.
There is also an old dryer that has been gutted(we used the bin as a firepit for a brief period of time), that has been sitting in the garage since they moved from their old house 3 years ago.
My mother has a 20 year old baby grand piano that just sits there and is never used(my sister and I were forced to learn an instrument as children, much to her chagrin she took up violin, I took up Sax). It has never been tuned.
In total, my parents have saved up about 4000$ in store specific money dating from 1974 and belonging to various stores, only about 15% of whom are still in business to day.
My mother has an original saved-by-the-bell cell phone sitting in a kitchen drawer(unused of course).
And to cap it all off, my father has 4 burned-out TVs, 3 broken VCRs, 1 computer monitor, and one of those really old PCs that you hooked to your TV and ran with floppy B diskettes.
They have never, and will never, have a yard sale.
In addition to the woodstove and wood furnace we use in the house for comfort heating, he has 2 40+ year old woodstoves disassembled and stacked in the garage.
There is also an old dryer that has been gutted(we used the bin as a firepit for a brief period of time), that has been sitting in the garage since they moved from their old house 3 years ago.
My mother has a 20 year old baby grand piano that just sits there and is never used(my sister and I were forced to learn an instrument as children, much to her chagrin she took up violin, I took up Sax). It has never been tuned.
In total, my parents have saved up about 4000$ in store specific money dating from 1974 and belonging to various stores, only about 15% of whom are still in business to day.
My mother has an original saved-by-the-bell cell phone sitting in a kitchen drawer(unused of course).
And to cap it all off, my father has 4 burned-out TVs, 3 broken VCRs, 1 computer monitor, and one of those really old PCs that you hooked to your TV and ran with floppy B diskettes.
They have never, and will never, have a yard sale.
That isn't to say that I am not also a packrat.
I have every tower/case, every computer monitor, and every component from every computer I've ever owned.(Most of which still works).
I have an Atari that my father had before I was born and I played as a child until the Super Nintendo came out. I have a Super Nintendo, with a Power Glove. I also have a Game Gear, Game Boy, and Game Boy color, the Game Boy color was my last handheld.
Im my garage I have a 1969 Corvette Stingray sitting up on blocks. It was my father's before me and hasn't worked in years, it's a work in progress for me.
That's all for now, I'm not where my parents are but I'm getting there.
I have every tower/case, every computer monitor, and every component from every computer I've ever owned.(Most of which still works).
I have an Atari that my father had before I was born and I played as a child until the Super Nintendo came out. I have a Super Nintendo, with a Power Glove. I also have a Game Gear, Game Boy, and Game Boy color, the Game Boy color was my last handheld.
Im my garage I have a 1969 Corvette Stingray sitting up on blocks. It was my father's before me and hasn't worked in years, it's a work in progress for me.
That's all for now, I'm not where my parents are but I'm getting there.
reavenance wrote:
I cringed on that one.
Quote:
My mother has an original saved-by-the-bell cell phone sitting in a kitchen drawer(unused of course).
I cringed on that one.
Lady Tare wrote:
TurinAlexander the Vile wrote:
This is why I just don't buy alot of stuff. I'd rather go without the latest convenience item or toy than have to bother getting rid of it in a few years.
Sounds like a fun life you have there.
I admit I'm lazy. I never said anything about interesting.
Recent Visitors: 226
All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (226)
- Forums
- Cross Site
- The Asylum
- Garage Sales
© 2024 Fanbyte LLC