Okay, so our first garage sale was less than fabulous...
After posting the larger items on craigslist and taking the baby stuff to a resale shop, we made a good chunk of change. Unless, of course, you factor in the cost for ads in the local papers, signage, and all of the time and effort it took to price and organize everything only to sit around all day...
The whole thing was a huge waste of time. I have no idea why garage sales are supposedly such a great idea... Or is that just a suburban myth?
As in you're lead to believe that "oh so many" folks will be knocking on your door an hour early because there are people that are just that hard-core about garage sales, when in reality.... everyone secretly loathes them. I mean, I do not personally know one person who enjoys spending their weekends pawing through other people's junk. Not one.
In other news, the house went on the market on Tuesday and we've been shooed out of our home several times already for showings that may or may not have been happening. I guess that's a good sign, except I wish we could caveat that with "No looky-loos. Serious buys ONLY"...
I am already so fed up with vacating my home every time the phone rings that yesterday, I just flat out refused to leave. We stood out in the yard while a real estate agent, a father, and his 2- or 3-year old son looked through the house.
The boy immediately ran to one of my son's toys and started playing with it while his dad and the agent toured, commenting on the slate floors and crown molding. The entire visit took all of 5 minutes, while we were asked to reserve 2 hours for it. That's 115 minutes I could have spent...
A) packing
B) packing
...or,
C) PACKING....
When it was time to leave, the boy had to be forcibly extracted kicking and screaming, "I want to stay! I want to stay! I want to STAY!" I slyly commented to his dad, "You know, that can be arranged... "
However, there is ONE bright side to all this. Hubby's been so super on the ball about keeping the house pristine and beautiful (in spite of the toddler that lives here too...) It's nice to see him be the one so tense and stressed out about the house for a change. I am also loving the clean and efficient household. Laundry gets folded and put away promptly, dishes are done on the spot, and the trash and recycling is removed three or four times daily... at least. No more dirty socks on the bedroom floor or random little piles of papers and wadded up tissues that he'll "get to... later"...
I should have put my house on the market ages ago. (HA!)
After posting the larger items on craigslist and taking the baby stuff to a resale shop, we made a good chunk of change. Unless, of course, you factor in the cost for ads in the local papers, signage, and all of the time and effort it took to price and organize everything only to sit around all day...
The whole thing was a huge waste of time. I have no idea why garage sales are supposedly such a great idea... Or is that just a suburban myth?
As in you're lead to believe that "oh so many" folks will be knocking on your door an hour early because there are people that are just that hard-core about garage sales, when in reality.... everyone secretly loathes them. I mean, I do not personally know one person who enjoys spending their weekends pawing through other people's junk. Not one.
In other news, the house went on the market on Tuesday and we've been shooed out of our home several times already for showings that may or may not have been happening. I guess that's a good sign, except I wish we could caveat that with "No looky-loos. Serious buys ONLY"...
I am already so fed up with vacating my home every time the phone rings that yesterday, I just flat out refused to leave. We stood out in the yard while a real estate agent, a father, and his 2- or 3-year old son looked through the house.
The boy immediately ran to one of my son's toys and started playing with it while his dad and the agent toured, commenting on the slate floors and crown molding. The entire visit took all of 5 minutes, while we were asked to reserve 2 hours for it. That's 115 minutes I could have spent...
A) packing
B) packing
...or,
C) PACKING....
When it was time to leave, the boy had to be forcibly extracted kicking and screaming, "I want to stay! I want to stay! I want to STAY!" I slyly commented to his dad, "You know, that can be arranged... "
However, there is ONE bright side to all this. Hubby's been so super on the ball about keeping the house pristine and beautiful (in spite of the toddler that lives here too...) It's nice to see him be the one so tense and stressed out about the house for a change. I am also loving the clean and efficient household. Laundry gets folded and put away promptly, dishes are done on the spot, and the trash and recycling is removed three or four times daily... at least. No more dirty socks on the bedroom floor or random little piles of papers and wadded up tissues that he'll "get to... later"...
I should have put my house on the market ages ago. (HA!)
8 comments:
It's too bad you don't live in our suburban area...garage sales are a big deal here. We've never hosted one, but our sub-division has a yearly one (as do all the other surrounding suburbs). In addition to "The Big Day," nearly every weekend in the summer you can find a huge garage sale or two.
People come from all over the area to dig through other people's junk. I'm usually annoyed with garage sales, but my hubby loves them. I will admit that when we went last year, it was fun to go look at everything.
We found some really good deals, and we had a blast. (The best deals are the people giving away barely used toys or children's clothes for CHEAP. They're not out to make a buck; they just want the crap out of their house...which I totally understand at times.) :)
I know this doesn't help you or your situation, though...so I'm sorry you had to deal with that!
I'm so sorry the GS went so badly. I hope the selling of all the other stuff sorta makes up for it.
I totally understand that crazy 2 hour window thing. I gave birth while ours was up..and lemme tell you, we literally drove down the street and parked. 9 out of 10 times no one ever showed up at all. And, for a mom of a 1 week old with major PPD? That was enough to go postal. Good luck.
Oh is that what it takes to get a husband to clean?
I do not have luck having garage sales or going to garage sales. I hear people find great things on the cheap but I just find junk.
Man I feel for you...We went through this whole thing...twice. Not fun:( It is tons of work to keep a house with toddlers clean. I hated having to leave at a moments notice. Good luck, it will all work out in the end:)
oh my yes I've so been here and done this. I had to get rid of virtually everything when I moved to the US from Australia 4 years ago. Of course electrical outlets are different so I couldn't bring anything that needed to be plugged into a wall. It was a nightmare and so sad selling all of my possessions, some of which had sentimental value. I hate garage sales. I've done a few over the years but only if there are a few neighbours getting together to do it but I don't frequent them, I can think of so many things I'd rather do with my weekends.
Hope the house sells soon, there's nothing worse than being in the middle of dinner or bathing kids and the phone rings and you have to get out, ugh.
I believe it is the same delusion that keeps people procreating (MY children will never act like THAT) that makes us believe garage sales are a good idea. (Our stuff is FANTASTIC! Why is everyone else's such CRAP!)
I did one a few years ago, it was awful and I wound up donating everything to charity. Frankly it was more about getting rid of my stuff than the money, but we did make a couple hundred and I was happy.
Oh, and I agree with Cassey, I'm telling my husband our house is on the market immediately.
Yeah I think garage sales are such a waste of time too. People want to give you 50 cents regardless of what it is.
That's awesome that so many people are interested in your house already. Hope it sells quick.
I loathe garage sales too but my sister, on the other hand, lives for them. I like the idea of reusing things and not throwing everything into the trash but sometimes I just think you'd buy something you don't need. Freecycle is a great way to go!
And as for the hubs cleaning, that is too awesome. Take it for all you can!
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