Dec 06 2008
Lesson Learned - Why $97 Isn’t Worth the Aggravation
Never again.
I will never ever again have a yard sale in this lifetime. Never ever again. Ever.
On a good day, I would not characterize myself as a people person. After our yard sale flop today, I am completely ready to dig a moat around the perimeter of the house, populate it with hungry gators, and proceed to live the life of a reclusive novelist…minus the novel part since I haven’t as of yet been able to throw one together.
The husband and I spent all last night gathering items, clearing them of dust, and setting them aside for our yard sale today. We advertised on Craigslist as we planned, we made signs, we got change. I’d been apprehensive since the idea first gleamed in my husband’s eye, but I got on board with his logic. A few dollars for an item we were just going to give away, is better than no dollars at all.
I’ve since changed my mind.
Coincidentally so has my husband.
I think the first ambush set the pace for the entire afternoon. When I say ambush, I mean a car load of people sped in to my driveway and without ever making eye contact proceeded to grab as many items as they could carry then offered me $3 for the entire bundle. When I disagreed, they argued loudly amongst themselves over the audacity of the price and began to cite inaccurate examples about how they could get a brand new “X” for next to nothing at the store. They also used a variety of diversionary tactics to confuse and intimidate me, before settling on $8 for their armloads and then taking off.
I am pleased to report I only went inside to cry once.
Honestly, what we were selling was run-of-the-mill yard sale fare, nothing fancy but everything clean and in one piece. I also had several toys still in their original packaging. I was expecting people to barter, but I wasn’t expecting so many folks to just walk over without greeting us, pick through everything on display as if it were covered in fecal matter, and then act like we would have been lucky to have them take the stuff off our hands.
It was frustrating and humiliating and so not worth the $97 we collected in mostly dollar bills.
Afterward my husband whisked away all the clothing, baby items, and toys to the Goodwill. So if anything positive came out of the entire thing, it was that I can now actually see the carpet at the bottom of my closet.
We start work on the moat tomorrow. Hopefully $97 is enough to buy me a really surly alligator.
Yard sales are rough. I’ve had one or two myself, and I’m not a fan either. I’d also rather just pack it all to Goodwill. I’ve taken, over the last year, enough stuff to earn at least…a couple hundred yard-sale dollars. I say good riddance.
I’m so sorry this was your experience…but not surprised. I did ONE yard sale many moons ago and learned the hard way that it’s better to just take the stuff to the Salvation Army or Goodwill and get a receipt. That charitable tax deduction is less cumbersome. Since you can pretty much claim whatever amount is reasonable, you can save a lot more money and time.
Davida