On Saturday, we participated in the Standish-Ericsson neighborhood garage sale. Over 130 sales took place in our ‘hood and there were hundreds of people out and about, looking for deals. This was my first garage sale as an adult – my mom had a few when I was growing up, so I had some idea of what to do and how to organize things. I did have a distinct flashback Friday night to about 20 years ago and my mom proclaiming “I’m never doing this again!” And, now I know why. Garage sales are a TON OF WORK.
Rocking the Cash Box!
L tried to warn me last weekend when he suggested we start setting up and getting ready. He must have said 5 times “I think you underestimate how much work this will be”… of course, at the time I just got annoyed. Luckily, my mom came on Friday night and helped with organizing the “merchandise” and marking everything at appropriate prices.
The Set-up
L and I had different theories and strategies for determining how much to charge… he just wanted to get rid of things and while that was really the point, I also wanted to make some money doing it. I think we managed to do both.
Let's Make a Deal!
I’m pretty happy that someone bought L’s old Scarface, Braveheart and Taxi Driver posters and my old set of dishes, but I am genuinely surprised that no one bought our old TVs or foot spas (yes, we each had one). I mean, really, am I the last holdout to flat screen or digital TVs? And who doesn’t love a good foot soak?
No one wants a tube TV?
When all was said and done, we made about $150, minus about $2 for a “Fish of North America” poster than will soon grace L’s office at work and $20 for a lawn mower that claimed to be in working order, but doesn’t quite start… not as much as I was hoping for, but a worthy result nonetheless.
L's "new" lawnmower
Now to decide how to spend our earnings! Stay tuned… I predict some curb appeal updates to the front entrance, some landscape edgers and probably some new coffee mugs, since I sort of sold the ones we had… 
