Any opinion on how the current economy will effect garage sales?

Even with the increased cost of gas, I think the diehards will continue to look for useful items and quality collectibles at bargain prices.

If I was starting over and needed to furnish a place I would go back to shopping the curb.

This morning on my walk I saw two antique rose carved side chairs, an antique twin bed, a modern maple students desk, several flower pots, a small wooden console table, and several other odds and ends.
 
There is a weekly/weekend sale in a nearby town, where people bring their extras for sale. It is usually quite busy, and the couple of times we've passed there in recent weeks, the activity seems to be up substantially. With this runaway inflation, I expect more people will be visiting this sale.

As for "collectibles" or "antiques", I suspect those are pretty low on the list of priorities for most people.
 
i think many people are unloading much stuff. not sure who is buying walm crap but i think many buy
food there thinking its cheaper.

thrift stores around me are STUFFED with stuff. people are getting RID of stuff. "stuff".
 
A comedian once said, ā€œFor free, take. For buy, waste time!ā€ Iā€™ve learned that I can get rid of almost any unwanted item by putting it out by the curb with a ā€œFreeā€ sign on it. In some cases, it goes within minutes, and I donā€™t have to deal with the general public haggling over a few dollars!
 
If people are looking for useful items, traffic will be up. For collectibles? I think traffic will be down. Way down. If it's offered for free, useful items will fly but collectibles will stay put.
 
I recycle old computers that I get for free from either the curb, or from people on my neighborhood face book page. A typical tower has about $25 worth of materials in that I sell to e waste buyers. I clip the gold edges and sell them to people who use chemicals to leach out the gold for resale. By the time I am finished with a tower I have spent an hour taking it apart down to the basic parts. Monitors are not worth the time to take them apart. A breaker panel from a house may have $ 40 worth of copper contacts in it. Small electric motors have copper windings in them, so any small electric appliances like microwaves , fans, humidifiers and window air conditioners are worth my time to take home and strip down. It keeps me busy, and at the end of the month I have an additional $300 to $500 that I can spend . JImB.
 
Fyrefox said:
A comedian once said, ā€œFor free, take. For buy, waste time!ā€ Iā€™ve learned that I can get rid of almost any unwanted item by putting it out by the curb with a ā€œFreeā€ sign on it. In some cases, it goes within minutes, and I donā€™t have to deal with the general public haggling over a few dollars!
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Same here. If I want to get rid of something that it still in good shape, I either donate it to a store like Goodwill, or put it out in my driveway with a Free sign, it goes quickly. If it's not in good shape, I put it in the trash. I haven't been to a garage sale in decades, no interest in buying other people's junk, most items are cheap enough to buy new in a store like Walmart if a couple of dollars is an issue. Also, less chance of bringing bed bugs or other people's/pet's DNA samples into your home. ;)
 
I had high hopes for decluttering via my neighbors' yard sale this coming Saturday, but they are now dashed by folks saying collectibles and antiques won't sell. /-; I wasn't getting rid of much in the way of antiques (just little pitchers, etc.) , but some vintage stuff that hasn't been touched for decades!
 
Em in Ohio said:
I had high hopes for decluttering via my neighbors' yard sale this coming Saturday, but they are now dashed by folks saying collectibles and antiques won't sell. /-; I wasn't getting rid of much in the way of antiques (just little pitchers, etc.) , but some vintage stuff that hasn't been touched for decades!
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Ask @debodun about trying to sell collectibles and antiques...
 
Georgiagranny said:
If people are looking for useful items, traffic will be up. For collectibles? I think traffic will be down. Way down. If it's offered for free, useful items will fly but collectibles will stay put.
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Collectibles are a con game. The producers hyped the idea that this colorful plate will be "valuable some day " and people bought them by the thousands all across the country. The elderly people today are stuck with them, and virtually no one wants them. The same goes for the fad items like Beany Babies, and Cabbage Patch dolls. The things that do sell today are things like Star Wars items , and action figures from the 80's and 90's. Nostalgia items that people in their 30's and 40's grew up loving. JimB.
 
@jimintoronto Exactly! The older folks who remember collectibles that we have, already have them or don't want them. The younger folks want collectibles that they can relate to.
 
Georgiagranny said:
@jimintoronto Exactly! The older folks who remember collectibles that we have, already have them or don't want them. The younger folks want collectibles that they can relate to.
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As I mentioned above, I recycle computers for the valuable parts inside them. I also keep my eyes open for old stuff that has a collector value for those who dig early computer equipment. A working and complete Commodore 64 can be worth money, to the right buyer. I have done a few conversions of old 19 inch TV's into aquariums for friends, and that created a small market for them here in Toronto amongst the artistic community. I still get occasional requests for the TV aquariums . Current collector items around here are the Hot Wheels cars, and anything to do with Star Wars, and to a slightly lessor extent WrestleMania items. JImB.
 
What impresses me as popular around here right now is vintage Pyrex cookware, military items, sports memorabilia, and costume jewelry.

And "costume" jewelry means something different to me than others. I usually have a go-around with at least one person at my sale about this. When they ask if I have costume jewelry and I show them what I have, they say my items aren't costume , they're junk jewelry. Than I ask them to define
"costume" and they say gold, silver and diamonds. I say to effect "You don't want costume, you want real jewelry." Then they blow air and roll their eyes.
 
Em in Ohio said:
I had high hopes for decluttering via my neighbors' yard sale this coming Saturday, but they are now dashed by folks saying collectibles and antiques won't sell. /-; I wasn't getting rid of much in the way of antiques (just little pitchers, etc.) , but some vintage stuff that hasn't been touched for decades!
Click to expand...
If itā€™s a lovely day, itā€™s worth a try. Set up a table and your lawn chair. Price reasonably. If someone insults you with an offer, just tell them no. I always remember that I donā€™t need the money so Iā€™d rather give it away than be annoyed at myself for being hassled
 
If I see a "sale " in my area, I stop and tell the people that , at the end of the day, I will take any items that " didn't sell " for free. It can sometimes provide something of value. One of my little home projects is using electricity to remove silver plate from old table ware, and gold from things like eye glass frames and dishes. Silver is a lot less valuable than gold is, but there is a lot more of it out there. Recovered silver once it has been refined and purified is worth about $20 an ounce at the pawn shop. The stuff that I don't want, goes to the thrift store. I some times see silver plated tea spoons for cheap. I make them into women's finger rings by cutting off the spoon and bending the handle to form a ring. I can usually get $15 or $20 for a nicely engraved one. The cut off spoon parts are put into my pile for electric de plating . JimB.
 
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