Our community-wide garage sale this year

The first year I was in my new house, almost everyone on the street had a sale. Last year only me and my next door neighbor did it and even he said, "Never again!" He's a big, strong man and he had help and didn't have near the quantity of items I had and it tuckered him out. He said he had leg cramps all night long.

In my old house, I could leave a lot of the sale set up indoors and on the large front porch. I don't have the room like that now. I's have 3 or 4 sales a year. With all the work involved now, I just have one on the village sale day.
 
I saw on FB that old friends of mine are having a garage sale this coming week end. Haven't seen them in over 10 years, and it's only about 10 miles away, so maybe it's time for a short visit. Just a social call - I won't be buying anything.
 
debodun said:
I see my garage sales as a kind of challenge game. See what sells and for how much, and did I make more or less than last year. The only downsides are having to lug everything up from the basement, set up tables and put thing out, then pack up the leftovers and put them back in the basement, Also dealing with jerks and shoplifters. This year, for some reason, I seem to have very much less enthusiasm doing it.

If anyone suggests getting a friend or family member to help - forget it. Tried that before and they usually make more work for me. I know how I want to set up - nobody can guess without asking a lot of questions. ;)
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Why don't you just get rid of everything (like the dump or in re-cycling bins) if it doesn't sell. I could not imagine having old stuff around to try and sell every year, like you say lugging it up and down, etc.
 
I’ve had a fair number of garage or moving sales throughout my life. I’ve also helped friends do them. They can be fun if you’re doing it with someone that you get along with. However, now at 71 I have back and neck problems and just decided that I’m not going to do any type of physical work like that anymore.

The last one I had was when I sold my house and moved to my condo. Since I don’t like to throw perfectly good items away, I put everything that didn’t sell with a free sign in my front yard, and just kept replenishing the yard until everything was gone.

That worked because I lived on a fairly busy street and it saved me from having to make a bunch of trips to the thrift store. We did have two trailer loads to take to the dump because my ex saved a lot of stuff that was truly junk.

A year ago, a friend of mine that lives in an apartment and has mobility issues wanted to get rid of about half her stuff. I worked at it two days a week by using a cart and loading up my car and taking it to the thrift store. It took months to do it and I decided that’s the last time that I’m working that hard as I’m too old to do that.

Now I live in a condo so if I want to get rid of items that will fit in my car, I drive them to the thrift store. I have sold some of my furniture that I got tired of on Facebook marketplace or given away things on there. I’m usually able to get rid of something quickly on there. Living in a small space if I can’t sell an item within two weeks, I just give it away.
 
I just received an email from the mayor. The village-wide garage sale will be in May 1 to 3 this year. The village board is including Friday, but is staying with their original planned weekend. Win one, lose one.
 
No worries, buyers are gonna buy and lookers are gonna look.

The antique show that weekend might bring some more serious buyers and collectors to the area. 🤔

“Pile it high, sell it cheap?”
- Tesco founder Jack Cohen
 
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