Please share unusual, funny garage sales stories. Thanks
Hi, I'm off tomorrow to the Garage Sales. I've had so much fun going to them over the years. People are really funny sometimes.
My 80 year old friend who was getting Alsheimers, used to come along with me until she forgot who I was and thought she lived in Fresno (what the heck were we doing in San Luis Opispo, she ask a hundred times!!) Anyway, one day we were pawing through the 'junk' and she picked up a book and 2 magazines. She asked , 'HOW much'? and the nice people said, 25 cents, she thought a moment and said, 'would you take a dime?" THAT cracked me up! She was negotiating the people down from a quarter. (she had told me earlier that she'd always been poor and had to watch every cent) Oh my gosh, .....she was a really smart, woman and fun to be with. She died a long time after getting that dang disease. She would have been so made that she had it affected her mind.Lynda
Lynda,
I love yard sales!!!! One mans trash is another mans treasure for sure. I am sorry bout your friend...that is a terrible disease.
hugs
I'm in the middle of one! We had our first day of the sale today, tomorrow we do it again. We sold quite a bit of stuff - some of it was the crap I expected not to be able to sell. One man bought worth of that junk!
I sold one of my big antique pieces today - hoping to sell the rest of it tomorrow. It's nice to get rid of the junk, but I want to move the big ticket items!
This is possibly a local urban rumor, but it is true that all we do is put out what we don't need anymore for trash pickup and somebody just takes it. Its a city of swapping out furniture, big stuff, expensive stuff. Nobody cares, they redecorate every season. I have picked up sweet pieces for free all over this area.
Anyway, the urban rumor story is this guy was going golfing and getting ready so he took his bag out to the side of the road, then walked back into his house for a minute or two, and yep, you got it. Somebody thought he was putting them out to throw them away, stopped, took them, and oh well, a good lesson :)
Well, I guess the best garage sale I ever went to was in my Mercedes in Germany.
The Germans redecorate their houses about every four years, and to help the "poor" people they always put their "garbage" out on the sidewalk, and it is free to anyone. Well, I was coming home from a meeting and saw this oak chair, hmmm. I thought I would look at it. Well, this chair is very heavy, so here I am trying to lift this oak chair into the back of the Mercedes. I also found an atique table and a couple of wooden serving trays. Well, anyway...I was trying to be as quiet as a 5'3" gal lifting an oak chair can be, and then I look up and the German man is laughing his head off! We still have all of those artifacts.
I went to a garage sale this morning, and found a great ,brightly colored jacket for my husband to wear when riding his motorcycle. I said to the lady, "will you take 50 cents for this, she said, "NO!, it is only 25 cents! OH hummm.....Also, went to a Cancer society rummage sale where 'only donations' were accepted. I kept asking 'how much is this?" ....she kept saying 'this is just for donations' any amount is fine. I bought .oo worth of great stuff, lovealy yellow flowering plant , for the soul!!, and some jade plants for my patio. Pacific Wildlife that helps nurse injured animals back to health was also having a sale, so I stayed around a helped out for an hour.
such fun....!
I'm also in the middle of one. Woke up too darn early this morning to head to my parents where we're holding it, and me feeling really miserable. The morning saw a few folks, then around 11:00, without warning, it started pouring rain! We hurried to drag in some of the stuff and cover the rest, but it really did me in. Around 2:00 it started to brighten up, but only a few stragglers came about. Tomorrow is another day.
Funny thing is, we still had some people come back in the pouring rain who had already been there and wanted more stuff. One couple even came back to apologize for "jinxing" us by mentioning rain.My hubby goes every week and my house, barn, attic and shed is loaded! I asked him when he intended to sell some and he said "someday" He is 77 years old! Must I say more? Yikes! Well, hubby is already over at my parents for day 2, but I am so done in from yesterday (couldn't even stay awake past 9 pm) that I am not up to going yet. Trying to pull myself together...
My second day of the yard sale was a bust. It was very damp and foggy in the morning and not many people were out. They really didn't start coming around until about 11 am.
We had a lot of antiques, and only one piece went. We also had a lot of collectibles, like depression glass, Hall teapot, old pottery and crocks, etc. But no one was looking for that stuff, even though that is how I advertised the sale.
Everyone wanted the 25 cent junk that I probably would have given away for free! I had a lobster trivet or hot pad that was marked 50 cents. One woman picked it up, walked around with it while she shopped, talked about how nice it was, and then she put it back. Later another woman came picked it up, showed it to her husband and said she should get this and he said "Yeah, why not?" Then she put it back too.
The first day of the sale I did okay, made a couple of hundred dollars, but the second day - I made a whopping . Just wasn't a good day - I ended up taking lots of photos of things, so now I need to post them on ebay.
I had one a few weeks back took me from 5am to 9 to get everything ready. I went through the house and just pulled so much out because we have so much crap. I was sold out by 2pm, the sale was to go till 4pm and I also did where after 1 pm everything was 1/2 off. I basically told people pick out what you are interested in get it in a pile and we would come up with a price we both would be happy with I had 4 bags of clothes left and I took those to the Salvation army. I went back in the house after getting all cleaned up from the rummage sale and realised I could have another one yet!!!!One yr, I was trying on a pair of overalls and got stung by a wasp!!!
so thats you're warning for trying on clothes... shake well.. lol
ps: I'm a major freebier, if anyones interested, I have a regular freebie board I go to everyday, its great. This wk alone, I got a Free
Coleman Lantern, FREE 25 gas card~ going to auto place, they don't want to waste their time, so they just sign the sheet and i send it and get money!! Love those testdrives! Just from my freebies alone, I've got enough toothpaste, razors, to last a yr, lol.
MY mailman knows me, in fact the whole po knows me, lol
Also saved 160 bucks, so far this month, just w/ coupons. Like someone said it feels Like Christmas everyday, cause i'm always getting tons of goodies and pkgs. Its a nice cheer up, when you're not feeling great, ya know.. and even if you are :)
hey can you share that website? I know I'm interested! I LOVE free stuffhey Freebeee stuf sounds great. We need more information on that!! I go to the senior Co-op for food give-away. M & T, you can't believe the food I get. We do coupons at the markets, but that's about it. Tell us more! Pleeeze. LyndaStopped by a friends garage sale and she said everything was a dollar, it was all still in boxes, wrapped in cellophane. Tables and tables of it. She said her uncle, who lived alone on Kodiak Island, liked to get mail, so he ordered stuff. When he died they rented a U-haul, filled it up and brought it back home on the ferry. I got 2 brand new videos on traveling in Scotland and England, watched them that night before DD left for Scotland. Why would an old guy in a remote part of Alaska, want stuff like that? Shirley said she guessed she should have written him more often.