The Good- Time spent with people you love. And never knowing what you are going to find. It is always rewarding to find a bargain on stuff you never knew you needed while in the presence of those closest to you. Audrey has become my best garage sale buddy the past few years. She is always raring to go, doesn't mind getting up early, knows a deal when she sees one, and wants to keep shopping til the signs fall off the telephone poles. She is a garage sale princess. Today we got to go with Grandma Sally, Aunt Lisa and cousins Carla and Rachel. The Featherstone crew may just be even bigger garage sale fanatics than we are. Grandma gave all the girls a few dollars to spend, and boy do those kids know how to stretch a dollar. Getting up early on a Saturday, driving all over tarnation in a car with three kids and paying people to haul off their junk for them may not sound like a good time, but it works for us. We also hit an awesome jewelry sale, which didn't hurt either.
Best moments of the morning: Rachel gasping in horror at the old doll with the cracked skull. Carla digging through the "free box" looking for gifts for us all. Audrey being disgusted at the nerve of somebody asking $8 for a beanie baby. The crazy man/lady who "preferred not to" come down a whole dollar on the price of the odd yet weirdly cool wolf picture we bought for Will. I bought it anyway, even though s/he made me mad and I feel like I got ripped off. Now everytime I look at it, I will think of her/him and say grrr.
The Bad- An old bookcase, a bent up mini blind, and a pile of clothes laid out on a blanket on your front lawn does not constitute a "GIANT YARD SALE". You must have spent 3 hours plastering the city with your pink neon signs advertising "GIANT YARD SALE". When people drive all over the place looking for your unpredictable hit-or-miss signage, and trying to follow your lousy directions, and they finally find your place, they expect to see a little more. A good rule of thumb is probably that it should not take you longer to hang up your signs than it does to move your wares out onto your lawn.
The Ugly- Oh my. There are some scary people out and about. People who have obviously not cleaned out their closets in a very long time. People who actually feel okay having a 10 cent table. Ten cents? Is it really worth your time to sell that stupid flower fairy knick knack for ten lousy cents? Why not go big and ask a dollar for it? Then on the other side of the coin are the people who want to spend 10 minutes deciding if they should accept your offer of 50 cents on the stuffed ferret they were asking $1.00 for. Excuse me, but do you see a line of people waiting to make offers on your stuffed ferret, because I don't. It's 50 cents! It's a yard sale! Let it go!
Oh, there is so much more. I should write a guide.
1 comment:
It must be in the genes. I love garage sales and Olivia does too! We came across the mother-load a few weeks ago where the woman had really reasonable prices on amazing stuff (I didn't hurt that she had three little girls, either). We were in heaven. Something about a deal...
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