We are planning a garage sale for Friday and Saturday. If you’re into that sort of thing, come on over and clean us out. This should be a decent sale. Along with us, Jenny’s parents and sister and some of our friends are selling furniture, light fixtures, clothes, baby stuff, and other assorted things.

Some people love garage sales. Others hate them. I have mixed emotions:

LIKE:

• Reduce/reuse/recycle. Instead of tossing an unwanted item into a landfill, you can let someone else use it for another few months or even years. Stuff stays out of the landfill for a while longer, and the buyer doesn’t need to buy a new item (yet). Very green. You might as well plant a tree outside your garage and give it a hug. Maybe we could sell some this weekend.
• As a seller, instead of throwing something away for free, you can obviously get money instead. You won’t get rich, but small money > no money.
• As a buyer, you can get stuff you need or want for MUCH cheaper. Garage sales are great for kids’ stuff such as toys and clothes that have a high turnover rate.
• They are a great motivator for you and your people to declutter their homes. Just tell your people you’re hosting a garage sale, and they’ll get busy digging up stuff. Some of them don’t even want the proceeds; they’re just happy to get rid of their stuff.

DISLIKE:

• Garage salers, if that’s the correct term, often expect to negotiate. Some LOVE and DEMAND to negotiate, even if you’ve already tagged an item with an extremely low price. Jenny’s mom is a pro. That’s why I’m glad she’s coming over to help run the sale. She will make sure we don’t get hosed. I HATE negotiating and have volunteered to hide watch the boys instead.
• For reasons I fail to understand, many cities require you to get a permit for the garage sale. Seriously?
• As a buyer, you never know what you’re going to find. Advertised items might be gone by the time you arrive. The sale might offer nothing but thirty-year-old yellow vases and dusty eight-tracks. When I buy something, I research it nonstop for three years and then buy the EXACT thing I want, generally online. However, for the hardcore garage salers, the unknown-ness is part of the fun, transforming the trip from a mundane excursion into a treasure hunt. You never know when that beaten-up table you buy for $10 might be a 1780 Federalist end table worth tens of thousands.

Bottom line: come to our house Friday or Saturday with a wad of cash and a trailer. We might have a treasure that you never knew you needed!