GARAGE SALE ARTICLES

This Way to the Garage Sale (part 1)

by Don Long

Introduction

One spring evening in 1990, my wife said the two words I had hoped never to hear. No, not those two words . . . we already had three children. The words I'm referring to are "garage" and "sale".

Now, said separately and in another context, these words aren't particularly threatening. However, when placed in the same sentence, followed by a date and time, they can be devastating. At least that's the way I used to feel.

I can remember all the stereotypes associated with a garage sale (a.k.a. yard sale, rummage sale), and most of them, quite honestly, were negative. But since that enlightening weekend in 1990, I have developed a fondness, an acquired taste if you will, for these events. That's why I decided to write this book. I wanted to share the information, stories, and questions my family and I experienced concerning the easiest money I have ever made in my life.

Why Have A Garage Sale?

Of course my first reaction to the announcement from my wife that we were about to embark on this new experience, was "Why?" We were doing OK financially and no big payments were due .. . so what was the point of going through "all that trouble"? My wife's response: "It'll be fun." "FUN?" Well, there were some other reasons:

1. Make Money (we made $700 that weekend).
2. Clean our home of unwanted "stuff" (clothes, books, etc.)
3. We met neighbors we had not known we had.
4. We provided goods to other at a highly reduced price.
5. It did prove to be a fun family experience.

Now before you question number 4, we had one family buy about $300 worth of baby clothes for about $100. (Some of the clothes had only been worn once or twice). And one man bought a lawn mower for $35 (it was about 5 years old and worked fine).

As for number 5, we had a great time. However, I did have to keep an eye on my four-year old. He kept trying to sell his older sister. I tried to sneak that tie my wife bought me for Christmas into the garage sale, but she caught me.

I remember that one gentleman came by just to talk. I was kind of hoping he would buy something. Later, I discovered he was a neighbor from down the street. He had used the garage sale as an opportunity to introduce himself and get to know his neighbors. Since then we have become good friends.

And, oh yes, our garage, attic, and closets had much more room available after our sale. But let's face it, the number one reason for a garage is to make money! And as I said before, we made $700 on our very first attempt. The garage sale is the single most-popular, home-based, money-making event in America today. I think that is why I became "fond" of garage sales; I enjoy making money. The comment I usually get from my skeptical friends is, "Yeah, but I don't really have anything I can sell." My response: "Everyone has something that someone else will buy." What's the old saying? "One man's junk is . . . " well, you know the rest.

«This Way To The Garage Sale» was written by Don Long and published by DK Publishing, Garland, Texas. Copyright 1995, DK Publishing, All Rights Reserved.