“Spring Cleaning Fever” reached new heights today when we ran our first ever (and last) garage sale. We had spent the last few days sorting through items that we no longer needed, checked through the shed and the kitchen cupboards. The alarm clock was set to go off at 6.00am on Saturday morning, and after a quick breakfast we were busy putting things on tables. Although the sale was advertised to start at 8.00am, friends had warned us that people often arrive an hour or more early. And they certainly did, although we suspect that most of the early arrivals were dealers.
After the dealers came the family groups, and most were looking for a good bargain. People haggled over a dollar or two, and we found that we had to drop our prices to get a sale. We finally said goodbye to our “white elephant”, the mini camping washing machine which travelled all around the South Island with us earlier in the year. This was sold at a loss, compared with what we had paid for it, but it didn’t really matter as I was pleased to see the back of it!
Mini washing machine went to a new home
Robin cleared lots of “stuff” from the garage, buyers were happy to take home old cameras and flash unit, cables, car books, a camping lamp and even a George Forman grill. All sorts of bits and pieces changed hands for small amounts of money.
Come and see my wares
I had a couple of tables on the deck set up with crockery and assorted kitchen stuff, vases, a box of books, baking tins and plastic-ware, and that sort of thing. People came to look, pick things up, and haggle over the price. Our water pistols used at a caravan rally water fight were gleefully carried away, and one customer even looked through the kitchen window and wanted to buy my pot plant! So I sold it to her for $5.
More stuff on the deck
A couple from England came to check things out and told us that the Brits don’t have garage sales, because they don’t (usually) have garages. Instead, they have “car boot sales”. That was interesting, we didn’t know that.
By late morning the people coming through had slowed right down, and we were happy to sit down and rest our weary feet. We took stock of what had sold and what hadn’t. Some of our customers scored real bargains, but no one was interested in any of the outdoor camping furniture. We concluded that people seemed to like small items they could easily carry home. Interestingly, the most requested items were tools especially garden tools. In our garage is a large three tier cage which we put Muffy into when went to work (so she would not get stolen), and Robin could have sold it three time over, he said.
The left over stuff was packed in cartons and will be donated to the op shop during the week. So that’s our experience of running our first ever garage sale. Would we do it again? No way, Robin declared, and I agree with him. We did make a few dollars, but it’s a very stressful way to spend a Saturday morning, we decided. We are just not the “wheeler and dealer” type of people.
5 comments:
Pecan you tell me why the washer was a white elephant? Did you not use it ? Was it useless?
The little washing machine was far from useless and I used it several times. But it had a very small capacity. When I had washed a couple of loads, I had to drain the soapy water, return them to the washer for a rinse cycle in clean water. But the biggest drawback was that the machine had no spin function. All the clothes had to be hand wrung. We were pleasantly surprised to find that many of our overnight stops had washing machines available.
Here the name of sales depend on where you live. Garage sale, tag sale, yard sale and probably many more I haven't heard of. :-)
We use the camping twin tub washing machine, it has a better spin cycle than most washing machines! Load capacity is low, but it has kept me in shirts and socks when times were hard!
We found that most places we stayed either had a washing machine available for a cost or a laundromat was handy. Therefore we will try without for a while.
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