"Garage sale madness..." 'Judith Whitehead (Inspirational Monday)

Guest blogger Judith Whitehead from Amherst, N.Y. is back for another Inspirational Monday about how to clean the house, catch up with the neighbors and pay for a few groceries...

Everyone wants a deal!

Every year our neighborhood has its famous “Block Garage Sale”. It is always the first week of August and we know well in advance who will be participating. Signs are made, adds place in newspapers and the flyer's are distributed. I have always participated in the past years but only as a novice. This year I was determined to not only get my feet wet, but to plunge in head first. I informed my husband well in advance that this was going to be a year to unload our treasures and to hold nothing back. Husbands seem to need advance notice for events such as this if they are to be a part of the festivities even if only to add some muscle to the preparation.

Mementos Hidden deep in the bowels of the basement were going to be awakened and put out on tables to see the light of day once again after 30 plus years. We decided to make our garage a staging area and began to drag items up from the basement into the garage for tagging. Once we started the process, I realized that this was going to take a lot longer than anticipated. Every box that was opened brought back memories to reminisce about which began to slow us down. We devoted a few hours every weekend to sort through our treasures and felt we were ready for the big day. It turned out we had more than we thought and the five huge rented tables were not going to be enough to hold all our items. We priced everything to sell because there was no way I was going to drag those items back into the house! The morning of the sale, at the crack of dawn, I was prepared for those early birds. Tables were displayed and items tagged. There I sat with my husband on the porch ready for browsers.

The weather man was forecasting rain; not to worry, I had clear tarps for the tables. There I sat…7AM, 8AM and finally 9AM a few started to trickle down the block. Now keep in mind, I knew I wasn't going to get rich from this sale, but was hoping for a little extra jingle in my pocket. Things were priced to sell. I had a dinette set with a table leaf and four chairs, perfect condition, asking price was $45.00. I sat all day trying to sell that set until someone was interested in buying it for $10.00. It was going to be used for a good cause, so I caved and let it go. I had tables of men's’ shoes and boots worn once, some of them, sold regularly for over $100.00. I tagged them $5.00-$8.00 a pair. People offered $3.00 for some of them. I told myself, less is more and let them go. I had a snow blower, hadn't been used in several years, was asking $15.00 which sold for $10.00. By now I think you can get a snapshot of my day.

By the time I spent 8 hrs. perched on my porch in 85 degree humid weather, I ended up barely making $200.00 of which I had to pay $40.00 for the table rentals. By the end of the day, I began to have a different viewpoint on garage sales. I had accomplished one big thing…I had managed to clean out the basement and garage of useless “stuff” that cluttered my house for many years. Sure, I didn't make much money but I didn't have to pay for groceries the next day and the rest of the stuff I trekked to Good Will so someone will take great benefit from my nearly new items. I got to catch up with the neighbors and got some “color” on my face. So all was not lost…will I participate with the block sale again next year?? Probably so, because I will have already forgotten how tired and hot I was on that day after going through a winter season and there will always be treasures to unload again.

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