The Garage Sale

A couple weeks ago I went out to the shed to grab/replace a tool for something I was fixing in the house, I ran into my neighbor who was tending her outdoor fish pond. She mentioned her intention to have a garage sale, and was busy recruiting other households in the community to participate. I looked back into the shed, at all the crap that I was dreading having to pack up and move, and said that I’d love to join in. Later that weekend I watched Fight Club (another great movie), and was moved by the whole “The things you own end up owning you…” theme. I don’t think I could bring myself to destroy everything and then move into a condemned house with just the clothes on my back. Maybe I could just try and lose the packrat mentality that’s plagued me for as long as I’ve had a place to put things.
Most anything that hadn’t been utilized in the last 6 months, (excluding items of sentimental value), went up on the block. Anything that was associated with my truck, or required my truck for transport, (spare parts, tires, the boat, etc.) Anything that could easily be replaced with newer, smaller, and more efficient versions by the time I wanted to use it again, (the stereo speakers). All the old computer hardware that was left over from the “buy old, rebuild, and re-sell” program I had going a couple years back went out on the road.
Compared to my two neighbors who lined the side of the road with me, I had by far the best stuff. They were unloading garbage, I was unloading volume.
I was actually surprised at how many customers we had, considering we’re out in the sticks. If I had known earlier that so many would come, I never would have let stuff go as cheaply as I did to the vultures that showed up almost 90 minutes before the advertised start time of 0900. I was still hauling most of it out of the house when a couple of gents came around with their little pickup. They browsed through the stuff up top, and then followed me down to the house. Picked through the computers, bought the stereo speakers and secondary VCR, and then started pointing out other stuff in the house. “How about the TV? How about that oil heater? How about the kitchen table?” Being hung over as I was, and concerned that these would be some of the only customers, I gave them good deals on what I was willing to part with (none of the other items they pawed at), then sent them on their way with a wave and a smile. Looking back, I’m confident that everything they bought is now sitting on a shelf in a local second-hand store, listed at 5 times the price that they paid for it. This was my first garage sale, so shit like that was bound to happen… next time it won’t.
I learned a few other things this weekend.
In the Okanagan, it’s just as easy to get sunburn in April as it is in July.
Telling someone the life story behind an item they’re holding does nothing to change the fact that they only wanna spend 4 dollars on it.
90% of garage sale surfers are seniors, 90% of seniors know nothing about computers, 90% of those looking for computers aren’t interested in buying two old pieces of shit, (despite the low cost), in order to have enough parts to reassemble one working computer. 90% of my computer hardware was still sitting in the sun on Sunday afternoon.
Now it’s in the trunk of the car, bound for the recycling depot.
It was all a worthwhile venture though; most of what didn’t sell is getting picked up by the local non-profit agency for their upcoming garage sale. I’ve got a couple truckloads-worth of crap off my hands.
I’m $225 richer.
Hopefully I won’t have to do that again for a long time.