My neighbors and I had a garage sale today. The weather was good and we thought the merchandise was interesting. Some kids stuff, CDs, bed linens, clothing, furniture, dishes... you know, the norm. The ad in both the newspaper and Craigslist called for 8am and of course the early birds started showing up at 7.
By 8am I made $20. By noon we made $60. It did not go well. The kids would not part with the stuff I made them clean out of their rooms. They are already back on the shelves.
If a brand new pair of pants with the $50 tag still on it is marked $5 why do people need feel the need to haggle at 8:15 in the morning? Is it to take advantage of my uncaffeinated state? Or should I have marked it $10 and taken 5?
Unless one is moving and has a lot of big stuff that they don't want to deal with, I'm now of the opinion it's better to donate to a local charity that will come and take it away for free. Take the tax deduction and feel good that someone who needs the cash more than me is going to make good use of the stuff. My time is to valuable.
The upside of the experience is my neighbors and I had a nice chat under a tree. The last time that happened we were suffering the aftermath of a hurricane.
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