So....................We decided to have a Garage Sale!

[Paul65K]

Well..........after moving from CA to Havasu a little more than a year ago and then remodeling the house here in Havasu we had a bunch of "Stuff" that we either didn't need, couldn't use or just didn't fit into a house that's about 1/2 the size of the one we had in CA so..................we decided to have a garage sale and try to move some of it out so I could recapture my "Man Cave"


My wife is the ultimate organizer and she placed the ad in the local "Shopper", made signs, borrowed tables from our friends and we stayed up the night before putting all the stuff out, putting prices on items and getting organized for the next morning (Yesterday). We decided we'd do a Friday/Saturday sale from 8-2.

We get up early yesterday to get the final details ready for the 8AM Garage door lift. First thing we're greeted with 36 degree temps at 6AM and there are already people waiting for us to open the doors........I'm like "We'll be open at 8". Shit I can't even get into the garage with out 5 people walking up to be "First". My first thought is "Hey can't you read we open at 8".........but 35 years of sales tells me to make hay while the sun shines....what are you looking for??

Well...........probably sold 30% of the stuff before 8AM.........60% by 9 and about 95% by the end of the first day.....including a Couch and Loveseat, furniture, silk plants, tools, an extra set of tires and wheels for the Jeep, electronics and even a few computers old (like windows XP running Office 2000 )...........I couldn't believe it!!

I had a great time actually....even though I had everything truly "Priced to sell" everyone wanted to "Dicker" and it was fun really....lots of fun I'll never forget this one guy; I had a screen door protector, you know the thing that keep s a dog from running through the bottom, it was brand new (still in the wrapper), probably $10 - 15 at Home Depot that the previous owner had left.....I had it marked $1 and the guy offered me .50 and I'm like "Really, you're offering me .50.....are you kidding me, you're not really serious are you??? his wife looked like super embarassed and he hesitated a minute and said....no I was only kidding and handed me a buck....what a tool!!

When the "Snowbirds" come to town apparently it's Garage Sale Central...........we literally had 300 people come through yesterday....no exaggeration!!!

Bottom line is when the day was done we sold almost everything that we really just wanted to get out of the Garage anyhow and actually decided to cancel today's session cuz there really wasn't anything left to sell....we're going to pack up the leftovers and take 'em down to Goodwill a little later.......then I get my garage back


Best part.............when the day was done, the garage is empty and ready to turn back into a ?man Cave" and we ended up with more than 2 grand in our pockets


We never had this kind of luck when we'd had a few Garage sales in CA but Havasu was amazing!!

Anyone else had a similar experience???

[Eli]

That's awesome Paul!!! Glad you have your caveman ...err...man cave back!!



Sent from my Bat Cave!!!

[ChumpChange]

I can't believe you didn't post it in the spam section here first to let us have first crack at it. I'm heading to HD this morning for a screen protector!

I've never hosted a garage sale. Never accumulated stuff fast enough and am at the age when moving means bigger. I do hate when my neighbors on the cul de sac have one(about one home per year). I always feel I have to keep my garage door closed.

[McRib]

This is gonna sound retarded coming from someone of my status but I've always thought garage sales were a bit low end.

ive never had one and I dont recall my parents ever having one as a kid. The thought of random strangers jewing me down on shit marked for a dollar would piss me off.

[GRADS]

Was there any wine for sale?

[ChumpChange]

This is gonna sound retarded coming from someone of my status but I've always thought garage sales were a bit low end.

ive never had one and I dont recall my parents ever having one as a kid. The thought of random strangers jewing me down on shit marked for a dollar would piss me off.

That's the reality of most of them I think. When my parents downsized, they had antique furniture that went in the thousands. Took the proper marketing to get those buyers there but there can be high ticket items too.

I took my neighbors nine foot Christmas tree for free. Tough to sell that in July.

[Paul65K]

This is gonna sound retarded coming from someone of my status but I've always thought garage sales were a bit low end.

ive never had one and I dont recall my parents ever having one as a kid. The thought of random strangers jewing me down on shit marked for a dollar would piss me off.

So........since I spent my life in sales......I really kind of had a good time and actually was the one with the upper hand yesterday.....I sold everything for as much or more than I had originally planned so I didn't look at it that way.....I was always in control and I had some fun. I remember my best line when someone offered me like $5 less than it was marked. "I'll give you $20 (marked $25)".....I've already turned down $20, 3 times today.......sold all of those things for asking price

Our garage is completely separate from the rest of the house so it was almost like being offsite. We had a great chance to actually meet a couple of the neighbors that we hadn't met in the year we've been here and we had always approached this as something that we'd have some fun with

Shit Andrew....I'm retired now.......what else do I have to do when it's like 40 degrees outside??

[RVR SWPR]

[Wendi]

I've had a few garage sales years ago but the caliber of people that come made me never want to have one again. Id rather give my stuff away to people in need then sale it for pennies on the dollar and the headache off setting up and tearing down.

The price you set is not what you get 80% of the time. They want these items for next to nothing. I told this guy id rather give the item to goodwill then take what he was offering me. He go pissed but ended up paying my price!!

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself and got your man cave back. I will never do another garage sale again!!

[Paul65K]

I've had a few garage sales years ago but the caliber of people that come made me never want to have one again. Id rather give my stuff away to people in need then sale it for pennies on the dollar and the headache off setting up and tearing down.

The price you set is not what you get 80% of the time. They want these items for next to nothing. I told this guy id rather give the item to goodwill then take what he was offering me. He go pissed but ended up paying my price!!

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself and got your man cave back. I will never do another garage sale again!!

I completely agree.....Garage sales in CA were mostly people buying things to resell.....mexico and other places so they were what I call "Professional Garage Sale'rs".......here in Havasu it was like 90% Snowbirds with nothing else to do and for most of them it was kind of a social event.

I was kind of dreading the thing but Jean wanted to do it and once again........she was right and I was wrong