You Can’t Put A Price Tag On A Garage Sale

Photo by michaelmjc on iStock

Black assets.rebelmouse.io	Thanks for the accounting of your garage sale. But, given how many hours you spent preparing for it, and then the actual sale itself, did you calculate how much you “earned” on a $/hour basis?
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	No, all I know is that it seemed to take forever to go through everything in Mom’s house and decide what to keep, what to sell, what to donate. And what to trash. As far as the garage sale, I’ll give you your half the next time I see you.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	Keep my half. You did all the work. I did not even offer to help.
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	And that was a big help. Thank you.

Black assets.rebelmouse.io	Obviously, you must be exhausted because you are making no sense.
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	Sorry, but I have a specific way of running garage sales, and the last thing I needed was another “cook in the kitchen”.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	Not a good analogy as “cook” is a four-letter word that I do not use.
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	Cute. But seriously, I knew if I had asked you to help, you would’ve. But I can only imagine how you’d have reacted when you first saw all the stuff for sale. Especially as I treat garage sales as a way to get rid of items that I know have very little value. I’m not trying to maximize the money I make; I’m just trying to make the stuff “go away”. In fact, I don’t even put prices on them.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	That all makes sense. Except for not having everything pre-priced. That would drive me crazy. How do you know what to charge people?
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	It’s an experience thing and another reason why I didn’t ask you to help. I have a sense of prices, but not something I could quantify in advance. When someone arrives, I tell them that everything’s cheap and give them an example. They usually look at me like, “Wow, she means it.” And then I tell them to collect what they want and that I promise to give them a good price. And I do.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	Is that why you and Mom never had joint garage sales? I cannot imagine she would let you determine prices on the spot.
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	Actually, she’s the one who “taught” me not to price things. That if someone picks up something or you see them looking at it, they’re interested. And that’s all you need to know. Where we differed was in how much to charge. To her, it was fun, but also a way to make money. To me, a garage sale isn’t my retirement account. It’s my way to get rid of stuff, especially big, bulky stuff.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	In other words, people are paying you to haul off your trash. Or, save you trips taking stuff to your local thrift stores.
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	Exactly. Although I still take a lot of items to thrift stores that would probably sell for a decent price at a garage sale because I believe in what they’re doing, and I know that my donations make a difference. But I forgot how fun a garage sale can be, meeting people and laughing, just making connections, and knowing that someone will now enjoy and/or use your things. Or, in this case, Mom’s things.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	Is there a particular age group that came to your garage sale?
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	It was truly a mix of people. Not counting the kids tagging along with their parents, which reminded me of when the girls would set up a lemonade stand to benefit Make-A-Wish at my garage sales years ago, they ranged from 20-somethings to senior citizens. But I’m almost afraid to ask why you asked.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	I will not get into studies and statistics, but younger people are really into the environment and reusing older things, especially clothing (which is one of the three “new” R’s – reduce – reuse – recycle). So, garage sales, along with thrift stores, are becoming more popular than ever.
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	I love it! And the idea of so many of Mom’s things, now that she’s passed, will get to live on and be enjoyed by others.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	At the risk of sounding like a MasterCard commercial, there are some things that money cannot buy. Like sentimental value and fond memories.
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	I know. Which is why the process of sorting everything was so time-consuming. Interestingly, when that came up in conversation during the garage sale, so many people could relate and then shared their own stories. It was as if they wanted me to know that Mom’s things were getting a good home.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	Well, if you add that to the cash you made, it sounds like a very successful garage sale. Hopefully, the next sale, being an estate sale with larger and higher-priced items, will be as successful. And, although I tried to get you to use a professional “estate sale” company that would do everything for you, I am beginning to understand why you decided to do it yourself.
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	The hardest part was culling and organizing, and there was no way I’d let strangers go through all of Mom’s things. And the internet makes “advertising” the sale and posting items online very easy. All-in-all, there’s no reason we can’t do it ourselves.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	We?!
red head assets.rebelmouse.io	Yes, because your ability to combine photos into a single image and correct my grammar is important. But your spreadsheets will be critical.
Black assets.rebelmouse.io	Now, that I can do.

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