Garage Sales ( #AtoZChallenge )

  I've been to yard sales that were in yards I guess you'd say, but I can't recall ever having gone to a sale inside a garage.  Does a carport count?...

       
Garage Sales

         There have been a few liquidation sales in my life.  Things piled up so much and due to circumstances I had to get them out of my possession somehow.   As a young man I left some stuff at my parents' house.  But at times things have gotten to the point where things had to go. 

        Rarely have I made much money with a sale at home.  Once I tried going to a flea market and didn't do much better there.  Maybe I should come to the conclusion that I've got a lot of stuff that people don't want or perhaps that I'm just not reaching the right market for what I have.

        The latter is probably true.  I haven't done too badly on Craigslist, but Craigslist is as far as I want to go for now.  There are still a number of things that probably could go on Craigslist.  I'll be working on that.

       In the meantime, there is a community yard sale coming up in a couple of months.  I might do that or maybe not.  But I better not keep avoiding getting rid of stuff.   The garage is poised like a sleeping beast to begin growing anew.  I can't let that happen.

        Sell, sell, sell!  That's my first focus.  But I think a lot of stuff will be given away or tossed.

         Except for the stuff that I will keep for the time being. 


What do you have that you can't bear to get rid of?    What is the dumbest thing that you hang onto?  Have you ever been successful with garage sales?

       
         

Columbus Day Sale!

If you think you've lived your life without offending anybody then apparently you haven't lived...

Christopher Columbus, was an explorer and one of the first European founders of the Americas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Happy Columbus Day!

        Yes I said it even though here in Los Angeles what used to be called "Columbus Day" is now "Indigenous Peoples" day.  Somehow the new day seems more impersonal with an overgeneralizing of all the many peoples who lived in the Americas before the "evil white men" came to destroy paradise. 

        Frankly I'm glad things turned out the way they did because I'm happy with my life and with my country.  Stuff happens and when it comes down to past history there ain't nothin' you can do about it when it's all behind you. 

         So I raise a glass to say, "Thank you Christopher Columbus!"  Without him then someone else would have come along and discovered America.  Mankind is restless and always in search of new ventures and adventures.  Enslaving the indigenous peoples the 15th century Spaniards encountered might not have been what you and I would have thought of doing with our 21st century outlook, but people back in those days thought differently than we today think.   The past is what it is and that's that.

         What Christopher Columbus achieved was by any account pretty amazing and something that few of us would dare try.  Personally I'm going to give acknowledgement to the driving curiosity that drove those men of the past to do what they did.  I'm not their judge and nobody--absolutely nobody--living today is worthy of casting judgement on Columbus or any other from the past.  Our judgement over past humans amounts to intellectual exercises that have no real consequence to the world other than bantering about in intellectual fantasies.  The more important thing is to learn from the past to become better ourselves.

         I will continue to think of October 12th as the actual Columbus Day.  And I will continue to think of him as a hero of his time, though a flawed hero as heroes often tend to be.  Please leave his statues be and please don't start changing names of all of the cities named in his honor.  That would really be a big mess.

Garage Sale Days Are Over

        Though I don't like to say I'll never do something, I'll say in this case that this past weekend was my last garage sale.  It was a lot of work for about 3 hours in the hot sun before I started packing it all in.   The $60 that I made from the sale seemed hardly worth it and I barely made a dent in all the stuff in my garage.  And now I have a huge mess to continue to organize and put back. 

           Hopefully, in putting everything away, I'll organize it all better so that it will be easier to find stuff for the next garage sale.  I mean, I don't plan to do another sale, but you know how that can go sometimes.   Never say never.   But I think I am going to say it and probably stick to it.  Standby Goodwill--I've got a load coming your way.

           Do you think Christopher Columbus is worth remembering and honoring?   Would the Americas be a better place if the Europeans had never come here?   What do you think a world without the influence of "white people" would be like?  

Garage Sale Time! (#BOTB results)

If you are looking for my #IWSG contribution for October then scroll down to my next post.  Otherwise, keep on reading for BOTB results after an opening word from our blogger...

Out of Control

       How can I rule the world if I can't keep my garage in order?   Forget about wanting to run the world.  I don't need that headache.  So next best thing is a garage sale, right?

       Our community has scheduled a neighborhood sale this coming Saturday.  Since this is a gated community we all have to do sales at the same time, which is good if a lot of home owners participate.  For the most recent sales it doesn't seem like there were many participants.  Consequently browsers and buyers have decreased over the past few years.  But no matter.  Being the community minded guy that I am I'll participate.

       Really it has nothing to do with my community spirit.  I just need to get rid of stuff in case I move in the coming years.  I sense that a move is imminent so I want to start getting ready. And if it's a matter of something else then I want to be ready for that as well.  Whatever the case, I've got a lot of stuff in my house that my wife and I don't need.

         I've also been running across some things that are making me think about my life and also my blog.  Maybe I'm going to take a detour with my blogging in the upcoming days or weeks.  I'll just have to mull this around a bit and see what I think next week.  After that stupid garage sale.

         At least I've been finally cleaning our garage.

Battle of the Bands

 

         Speaking of ruling the world, my October 1st Battle was two artists with their versions of the Tears for Fears hit "Everybody Wants to Rule the World".   First up was the version by Lorde which a good many concurred as being dark.   Since this version came from the Hunger Games soundtrack I figured some fans would lean toward Lorde.  But it was the perky version from Christian group Relient K that won most voters over including me.  I also think that version stepped things up from the original version.  Relient K does some excellent music.  And we needed some perky music this past week.

Final Vote Tally

Lorde                 6   votes

Relient K          15 votes 

Next Battle on Sunday October 15th                                           

        I'll probably have more posts before then.  Most likely I'll post again this coming Monday the 8th.   Let's see how this garage sale turns out.  It's supposed to be hot on Saturday so I'll likely only stay out until ten AM--or at the most eleven.  No point in wearing myself out selling stuff.  It's going to take a week to get that darn garage back in order. 

         How often do you have garage/yard sales?   Do you ever shop at such sales?   Do you think you are capable of ruling the world?

As In Moving It Out

        Halloween is sometimes inspired by yard sales--especially this time of year as some of us start trying to decide how we or our kids are going to dress up for the festive occasion.  Just a stop at one of our local halloween retailers is sometimes enough to scare us more than any witch or monster when we see some of the costs involved with putting together a decent costume. The fact that most of the costume buying crowd is usually making a purchase for one time use means that there are a slew of people out there who have still reasonbly like new costume that they probably won't wear again. For those who don't just throw them away, pack them away, or donate them to some charity this often means Yard Sale merchandise. Thus today's topic is tossing it out as in moving it out the door so it doesn't have to take up space that can be used for other valuable junk.
       Today I had a Yard Sale.  Rather I should say I participated in a Giant Community Multi-Family Yard Sale.  Par for the course, we probably had 10 or so households participating out of a potential 113 households. This was less than we have usually have  had, but even at that participation in our accumulated junk liquidation ventures is usually less than exciting.  Nevertheless, partly in the spirit of community involvement, but mostly for the purpose of getting rid of crap (or "another man's treasure" as it is sometimes known), I try to be a part of the fun. So today I was up before dawn setting out tables and merchandise and then waited for the crush of bargain-hunters that were to come.  Except they didn't--not many at least.  By 11 AM I was packing everything after having sold about $25 worth of stuff -- worked out to less than minumum wage when I factor the time I put into it all.  At least I filled my trashcan and recycle bin with trash that I decided I could part with-- finally tossing it out.  And I did reorganize my garage so that now we can again fit one of our cars in it.  What a concept!  A car in the garage.  The morning was not in vain.
         So to what do I attribute the less than stellar outcome of our sale?  Signage was adequate.  The folks that scavenge the housecleaning of others by trolling the neighborhoods looking for yard sales found us easily by the signs.  What we lacked was effective outside advertising.  We had decided to save advertising expense and forego The PennySaver, where we had found a modicum of success in the past, and of course, at least in L.A., advertising in the classifieds of the newspaper is about as effective as attaching a message to a helium balloon and hoping that someone finds it and tells everybody they know.  To save money we posted an announcement on Craigslist.
        In the past few weeks preceding my yard sale I have been posting items to sell on Craigslists with a fairly good level of success.  Craigslist is kind of like the world's biggest yard sale except that you don't have to stand outside with your stuff.  You just put it on the site and if someone's interested you make arrangements to get together with them.  Sure there is the creepy factor, but if you're careful I think you're okay.  I have people come to my house to pick things up; I insist on cash payment; I don't let anybody come inside my house, but transact everything in my driveway out in the open; and I don't allow anyone to come after dark.  I was a bit uneasy about dealing with strangers in this manner, but actually the people who have bought stuff from me have been pretty nice and just hand me what I've asked for something with no haggling.
Very much like a yard sale by appointment only.  So advertising a Yard Sale on Craigslist is kind of like advertising a yard sale at someone else's yard sale.  Maybe some readers have had some experience with posting your yard sales on Craigslist and found it to be effective.  I'd love to hear your experiences with this and what you did that made it effective.
       As I have been dealing with Craigslist, I have been looking at some of the postings and noticing that a lot of people are selling those old Halloween costumes that they have in their closets.  And cheap when you compare them to store pricing.  For example, there seem to be a lot of the sexy Leg Avenue costumes that you find in stores for $50 to $100 or more selling used for $5 to $50.  I'm pretty sure that they are usually almost like new and if you go to buy you can check them out and you're not obgligated to take it if it's not to your liking.  Likewise, I have noticed in many of the yard sale postings at this time of year people are advertising Halloween costumes.  I know I've sold them in the past very cheaply and somebody got a heck of a deal.  And didn't sell trash either.  Those of you who are already committed thriftshoppers, Craigslist junkies, or yard sale buyers know the advantages of this kind of buying, especially for something as ephemeral as Halloween.  And it's not just limited to traditional costumes either.  Make your own costumes with some of the retro fashions, hats, cheap baubles, or other accessories that you can often find for virtually pennies.  Don't throw away a fortune on a costume for one time use.  These are tough times for many and this calls for drastic measures.  And  even if times aren't tough for you, I'm sure you can find some better ways to spend your hard earned dollars.
      As always, if any of you have any experiences to relate, or suggestions, or debate to the contrary please toss it back.  We'd love to hear from you.