Garage Sale Time

Mom and I are preparing for our annual garage sale. We have been having garage sales together since our days in Waxahachie when I was in HS. Garage sales in Hachie were great because you sold absolutely everything - difference was you just didn't make much money because every thing went for ten cents or a quarter. There was a lady that cleaned the house across the street who would come over every year and tell us to save everything we didn't sell. She would show up the day of the sale as we were shutting down and she would give us $50 for everything remaining - site unseen! After Mom and Dad moved out of Hachie, I tried to have a GS by myself in Denton one year. What a joke. One of my friends brought up a load of stuff he wanted to sell but he couldn't stay to help with the sale. It was big pieces like a desk, dresser, etc. I sold the stuff to a neighbor across the street that I barely knew who promised her husband would come back to pick up the stuff later. Well, days went by and they never came over and were never home when we knocked. This stuff was big enough that we couldn't park our cars in the garage and in our town it was not a good idea to leave your cars out at night. We finally moved the large pieces to our front porch and covered them w/ plastic. They still didn't come get them. One night, hubby and a friend took them over to these folks driveway and left them there. They never said a thing to us about it?? Odd folks in Denton!!

I even tried a garage sale in TC one year but with my garage at the back of the house, folks were either afraid to come back there or too lazy? I didn't sell much of anything and made very little money.

Then Mom and I started having sales at her house in Southlake and realized this was the ticket!! People come and clean you out and will pay more than they would in Hachie for stuff. We usually each walk away with about $400 from our yearly sales. My dad makes fun of us that we put so much time and effort into such a silly thing but hey, $400 is $400 and no matter how you slice it - I can use that money!!!! He gets irritated that his car sits outside for 3-4 nights risking theft or damage so that we can make a little money. I think he just likes to irritate my mother which is why he complains so much.

The worst story from our many sales in SLake is the recliner story. A lady comes to the sale early one Saturday and gives us cash for a big leather recliner that Mom was getting rid of. She promises to come back later w/ a truck to pick up the chair. Well, she didn't come back that day. We waited and waited and finally pulled the chair (which weighed a ton) back into the garage and closed the sale. Two weeks went by and we didn't hear from the lady. Finally, my brother carried this monsterous chair back to the bedroom (which irritated my mother to no end to still have this thing). A few days later, a couple shows up at the door for the chair. The lady knew she bought it but couldn't remember which house she bought it from so she'd been spending the past few weeks driving around with her husband looking for the house. All's well that ends well.

Another year, a lady that cleaned houses in Mom's neighborhood stopped by the night before the garage sale because she knew folks were setting up and wanted to do a little 'pre-sale' shopping. She had family in Mexico and wanted to buy lots of stuff to send home to them. She practially cleaned us out before the sale. Problem was, the total of her stuff was over $400 and she only had $100 on her. She gave us the $100 and left all the stuff bagged up in the corner. The first day of the sale came and went and she didn't show up. Half way thru the 2nd day, we felt like a lot of good stuff was not being sold because we were holding it all for her so we started pulling stuff out of the bags and selling it. We didn't sell everything but did sell off some of the stuff. The day after the sale, she shows up for her stuff. She still didn't have all her money but that was okay because we no longer had all of her stuff. We felt bad for selling it but didn't want to be stuck w/ it all either. She bought what we had left and had enough to pay for it between her deposit and the rest of the money she'd brought.

Between these two stories and more , we learned some very valuable garage sale lessons: 1) Always take payment in full up front and in cash!! Period; 2) Never let them leave the item for later w/ a promise they will be back that day; 3) If they do leave to get a bigger vehicle to haul something in - give them your address so they can find you again; 4) Never take a check unless it is from someone you know and can hunt down later; 5) Do not let folks pressure you into coming down too much on the price of the bigger items because the next person that walks in the garage might have been willing to pay more!!; and, 6) Learn Spanish!!

I'm really hoping this sale goes well as I've already hired Dalworth to come clean our carpets next week and I'm counting on this money to pay for the cleaning. I also would love a little extra for some scrapbooking money!! I can never have too much scrapbook money!