My Last garage sale

[Jim Rimmer]

My subdivision had an area garage sale today so I thought it would be a good time to get some old tools out of my shop. Stuff that is not worthy of a classified on the Creek. So, on a Saturday, the only day I get to sleep in, I get up early, set everything up and spend 3 hours working crossword puzzles. I had 5 people stop and did not sell anything - NOT ONE THING. From now on, I'll give the stuff to a local church for their garage sale or throw it away. I'm not wasting anymore Saturdays on garage sales.

[Ron Conlon]

We've had hit-or-miss luck with yardsales. Sometimes a TON of people show up and buy stuff that I thought should go in the landfill. Other times, just a few folks, and nobody wants anything. It is frustrating.

[Pat Germain]

I can relate, Jim. My wife and I used to work very hard setting up and working yard sales. We had problems with flea market bozos showing up at dawn and wanting to buy everything for $20.00. We had people wanting to whittle down already very reasonable prices to near nothing. And we also had very nice people who appreciated the opportunity to get some very nice stuff at a very good price; especially the kids clothes!

Several years ago we decided it just wasn't worth the effort. We now make many donations to a local charity thrift store. A few months ago, I donated an electric range. "What's wrong with it?" scoffed a skeptical kid working the loading dock. "Abolutely nothing", I told him matter of factly. The other guys on the dock were very glad to see it. (They had been throwing a lot of donations in the dumpster.) I replaced it with a convection gas range. It was an OK, basic electric range. I'm hoping it went to a nice family who really needed it and not some slum-lord. Either way, I was glad to drop it off and get a tax deduction.