I was going to have a garage sale. I've decided against it.

[bertha katzenengel]

Have you ever had a garage sale? Got any nightmarish tales?

I heard a few and it took me about 2 seconds to change my mind about it.

[DS1]

1. The last one I did was with two roommates

everyone who showed up tried to haggle us down to 50 cents no matter what it was. fully functioning 35mm camera with zoom? 50 cents. no sale

bed frame and bed, excellent condition - 50 cents was offered, and another guy offered to take it away for us as a service - we would pay him


basically it was an adventure in setting up an outdoor tent for rain cover, and bringing everything out the house. then putting it back in.

[some guy]

2. dang

I'm in the market for a garage. :(

They're kind of hard to find... :D

:hi: my friend

:hug:

[gizmonic]

6. Reminds me of something that happened to me...

...many moons ago. My English aunt came to visit one summer. She asked me why someone would want to sell a tree? I asked her what did she mean by that. She said she saw a sign that said "Yard Sale" nailed to a tree.

I laughed all day...

[some guy]

14. hee hee

Whoa-Nelly had a yard sale last week. :)

[TommyO]

8. That reminds me of a very funny Animaniacs episode

where the kids, Wacko, Yacko, and Dot (she's cute) took "Garage Sale" literally, the ensuing hijinks were wonderful!

[some guy]

15. I used to really like that show

cartoons for grown ups. :bounce: :bounce: All the best ones are for grown ups - or really smart kids...

Credulity as a response to hyperbole is my favorite brand of humor. :P

[TommyO]

21. DVDs are your friends - the first two sets are available

(unless more have been released)

Just checked, Vol 3 is coming out on June 19th, cool, just after payday!

[gizmonic]

22. "The Animanics" is the ring tone on my cell.

That *was* a great show, wasn't it?

My mum bought the dvd set and we watched it again w/my niece and nephew. It's still funny!

Wish I could remember the lyrics, tho'.

What I do remember is:
"...there's baloney in our slacks!"
and "...Clinton plays the sax!"

We're the Annnnniiiimmmmaniaaaaaacccccccs!!!" :bounce: :silly: :D

[bertha katzenengel]

26. Hi!

:hug:

[KitchenWitch]

3. Yes, I have held a couple of them.

I had ads taken out and everything stating that the sale started at 8:00 AM, and that I would not be allowing any "early birds".

In both cases, I had people knocking on my door at midnight, the night before and showing up at 6:30 AM the day of, wanting to peruse the merchandise. I told them all, "no early birds" and they all got pissed.

:wtf:

Jeebus, I am practically giving away the stuff during a specified time period and they can't even abide by the time period and the "no early birds" clause.

[PassingFair]

4. Mrs. Grumpy and I tried to have a joint garage sale 2 summers ago.

Some of the crap (we had identical crap, including BOOKS!)
is still in my mother's garage.

It was a disaster, as it rained all weekend, and we had to
keep covering and uncovering everything with makeshift tarps.

The books which had survived DECADES in my basement were, in
one weekend exposed and ruined, AND I, as
ASSISTANT GARAGE-SALE MANAGER had to FIRE both MRS. GRUMPY AND
MY HUSBAND for poor work attitudes and unwillingness to work
overtime (in the case of my husband, who walked off the job
early). I didn't enjoy firing them, but It HAD TO BE DONE.

There has been no talk of a repeat sale.

:)

[Left Is Write]

17. Weren't you afraid of getting arrested for selling the joints?

[PassingFair]

23. Assistant managers NEVER get caught...

THEY had the GOODS on THEM!

[billyskank]

32. I am so going to tease her about that.

:D

[dropkickpa]

5. Craigslist is your friend!

I've had miserable failures of garage sales. I have really good luck with craigslist, though! And the crap you just wanna get rid of can be freecycled if they're in your area.

[gizmonic]

7. I would recommend Freecycle...

I've had a lot of success getting rid of stuff thru Freecycle.

Never used Craigslist, tho'.

:hi:

[Maddy McCall]

9. No nightmares here. Always have fun having them.

I'm planning one for next weekend. My son cleaned out his room and he has a ton of toys to sell, so that he can save for a new bicycle.


I always enjoy it. Nice people stop by. Lots of small talk. And we make a little money (often over $500) in the meantime.

[bleedingheart]

10. Our community has a huge garage sale every year

only once or twice in the past 10 years or so have we participated in this disaster...

The ones who are the biggest pains in the dupa are the folks who are "career garage sale hunters"...you can have an item for sale that is worth $1 and if you are selling it for $.50 to get rid of it faster...they will haggle with you and bitch that something must be wrong with it... those folks drive me to distraction..and make the whole process not worth it...so I just gather up all the stuff worth selling and donate it to Goodwill or the Vets.

The funniest story was when I was sitting on my patio...having a lemonade and reading on my patio...(while this sale was going on)...and this woman and her mother showed up on my patio...asking me..."how much for the umbrella and table.."...I looked up and said..."I am not selling anything but if you want a glass of lemonade it will be a dollar"....

they were pretty embarrassed.

[Maddy McCall]

11. So true about the professional garage-salers.

They buy stuff to resale.

They show up at 5AM when the ad says 8AM

They are rude not only to the seller, but to other shoppers.

I loathe the professionals...most of them own resale shops, so they try to get everything for nothing.

[bleedingheart]

13. oh and the really astute professionals will come back in the evening

after the garage sale and ...they will come back on trash day...directly after the garage sale because they are hoping you will throw the items out and then they take all the stuff for free...

[Maddy McCall]

12. So true about the professional garage-salers.

They buy stuff to resale.

They show up at 5AM when the ad says 8AM

They are rude not only to the seller, but to other shoppers.

I loathe the professionals...most of them own resale shops, so they try to get everything for nothing.

[Left Is Write]

16. Wise move.

I do not consider garage sales to be worth the time, effort, and trouble to hold.

[NC_Nurse]

18. If you have anything that's actually worth something

put it on Craigslist. The rest I would donate to charity. Much less trouble.

[RetroLounge]

19. I love having my annual garage sale

I get to meet lots of people, schmooze a bit, enjoy nice weather outdoors, and sell a bunch of my crap.

I made about $1500 2 years ago, about $2000 last year. This year only about $600 but we didn't advertise until the last minute and we normally piggy back onto a neighborhood sale but didn't this year. We will have another one next month too...

The good stuff goes on Craigslist...

RL

[oregonjen]

20. I donate to a women's shelter

Knowing that these women and their children are trying to get on their feet, I find it to be a much more meaningful thing to do. The place I donate to sets each family up in an apartment as furnished as they can achieve. So, everything is needed. The last time I donated toys that the children had outgrown, there were children in the shelter playing with them within minutes of the boxes entering the place. That was all worth it.

[bertha katzenengel]

27. Mrs. V. reminded me that our humane society has a bi-annual yard sale --

we will give everything to them.

:hi:

[Nikia]

24. We decided against it after we were told this is a cheap area

People except to get items of clothing for a dollar or less, for example. If that is all I am going to get, I might as well donate it.

[Eagle_Eye]

25. Yard Sales are good for the environment. Recycling is a good thing

Taking the time to put your old or unwanted stuff out for someone else to use saves on wasting energy and materials to make new things.
The bad side is it takes a lot of work. Compare your time to money brought in, and you are making less than minimum wage.
It is good for the environment, and the money you make is not taxable!
I love yard sales

[Radio_Lady]

34. Yes, I agree. I donate to a larger rummage sale held by our church.

... and also to a shelter in the next town. I get a receipt for the goods and use it for taxes.

I won't do a yard sale again. It's too much work and trouble, and heavy lifting.

My last one netted me $93.00 and I worked on it for almost three days.

[zanne]

28. I lost $4 when I had a garage sale...

Five dollars for the permit and I only sold $1 worth of stuff.
On edit: I got rid of an old exercise bike yesterday and an old air conditioner when I put them on the corner with a "FREE" sign.

[seaglass]

29. Yes and never again. I sold something that wasn't for sale

and as soon as the guy drove away I regretted it. For that brief 5 minutes before it had seemed like a good idea.

[PassingFair]

30. Did you ever see your child again?

:evilgrin:

[NashVegas]

31. Yes, Once

Worst trouble: "Early birds." PAIN IN THE ASS! You advertise your sale to start at 8 and they show up at 7:30 when you're still putting stuff out.

Also, a friend of my roommate decided to be helpful by labeling a bunch of classic pop music posters. She used a thick-ass permanent Magic Marker and wrote *right on* the posters, ruining whatever value they may have had :(

[Radio_Lady]

33. We held one sale while living in this house. It was in June and about 95 degrees F.

I tried to do it alone. There was a crush of people at one point, and afterwards, I went in the house to get some ice water.

During that time, someone snuck in and stole a beautiful little music box which may well have been worth some real money. (I had it priced at $10.00.)

That did it for me! Never again.