Growing up garage sells were the hit in my family. We didn’t have a lot of money and they were a chance to go shopping on the cheap. And they were a lot of fun too. They were sort of like a scavenger hunt, and you never knew what you would find.
Now as an adult, established and with a family of my own I find that the idea of garage sells still appeal to me. Now, however I tend to host rather than attend. And I love meeting all of the different types of people that come through our addition. It is partially a chance for people to socialize in our community.
When you decide to have a garage sell you have to anticipate a little work. Sorting out your family’s belongs, what to keep, what to sell and what to give away takes time. But I like to keep the house clean and will usually have one every couple of years.
That said I generally try to only include things that are useful. And while I understand another man or woman’s trash is another man or woman’s treasure I will only include things if they are still useful.
As I said before, with my history of going garage selling as a child the desire to give back is strong.
I have a little checklist of things that I will go over mentally when I add them to the sell pile.
- Is it in good condition?
- Is it useful?
- Would I buy it at a garage sell?
If the answer is yes then I will go ahead and include it. I also usually do a free pile for things that don’t make the grade.
Once that is finished I will contact my friends and ask them if they would like to be included. If you can get a couple of people together you can garner more attention. Instead of one small table you can have a couple of larger ones that draw more attention.
I am lucky because my community offers a week for garage sells in the Summer. This means that more attention is paid to them around that time and you can usually get a better turn out.
If you are thinking about having a garage sell I hope that this has given you some insight into them.