Garage Sales

Here are pictures of all the stuff we had at our garage sale Saturday. Most of it belonged to my two nieces and ranged from items new to stuff that was 40 - 50 years old. We had some dishes and glasses that were collected from Winn Dixie. You would collect stamps and fill a "booklet". Once it was filled, you could purchase dishes, glasses, etc at a discounted price. The idea was to continue doing this until you had the whole set. There were also "green stamps" that were collected back then for cashing in for merchandise. I guess I'm showing my age here and the "young" readers won't have a clue what I'm talking about.

When we decided to do a garage sale, it seemed like such a great idea. I hadn't had one in so long, I'd forgotten that it is also involved much work. We purchased signs, tags and put an ad in the paper. We had to box everything and move it to the "garage" we agreed on. We had to arrange and price the merchandise. That meant borrowing tables and a truck to get them there. We decided to make it only Saturday from 8am to 3pm. Customers came by Friday night while we were pricing and Saturday morning as soon as we opened the garage doors (7AM). It seems to be a trend for seasoned garage salers to either ride by the night before and ask for a preview or show up very early on garage sale day to have first choice of the "best" stuff. Of course, no matter what price you put on the item, customers want to know what you will take for it or offer less, sometimes much less. When it was all said and done, we packed up what was left and dropped it off at a charity. After all that, we collected around $250 - $300. This doesn't include the cost of the ad, signs and tags. Also, we ordered pizza Friday night and picked up fried chicken Saturday. For this one, I'm not sure if it was a financial success for all the time involved but I think the best benefit was all of us spending time together. My two nieces, middle daughter, her friend, my mom and dad and myself spent Friday evening and Saturday together.

For those who either give garage sales or attend them, you could probably offer some advice and tips on being a success at it. I've been told about and have seen some great bargains found at garage sales. I keep saying I'm going to find someone who knows the "tricks" and follow along some weekend.