Friday Score

Garage Sale Friday netted me this nifty little reading lamp today. I remember the first time I priced lamps retail: why are they so expensive?


The little table was a steal at a yard sale last season, too. Both the lamp and the table were $5.


I also scored this perfect-sized soup pot, commercial grade, nice and heavy, for $3 today. Soup is a big commodity a good half of the year around here. The mod 60s chip/dip bowl was a find from last season, as were the blue canisters behind it. Did I mention I LOVE garage sales??


Since I'm showing off, here's my beloved $5 tea set from a giant garage sale in Waco when Lynne and I stayed at the Baylor House for a conference. (Anyone have any clue to a translation of the characters on the set? Lemme know.)

The best part is the fun stories you have tied to your "finds" if you are saling with a friend.

The problem is, not everyone has the garage sale mentality. For every wonderful place with friendly people, reasonable prices, good display, and clean merchandise, there are two or three real dogs.

Herewith are Tori's Ten Tips for a good garage sale:

1. I realize you remember how much you overpaid for this decor/furniture/clothing. That does not mean people who frequent garage sales are going to be impressed that you are offering your used items at the low, low price of 50% off retail. This is doubly true if your item is now hopelessly out a fashion, well worn, or just plain ugly.

2. You may have no idea how much to ask for your things. Price them anyway. I'm not going to ask and neither will a lot of other people. Before you have a sale, go to some sales where people are actually buying things and get a feel for the range you should use on your stuff. CDs and VHS tapes for $4 each? You're just going to be trucking all that crap back in at the end of the day.

3. Which brings us to an important consideration. If you think you are having a garage sale to make lots of money, you are in the wrong market. You want to make a little something, yes, but the highest priority should be to get rid of stuff you don't need. Do you really want to go to all the trouble of laying the stuff out, pricing it, sitting outside with it, only to have to box it all back up and still be stuck with it?

4. Mr. "Big Garage Sale" with signs all over the neighborhood, you aren't fooling anyone with your racks of knock-off sundresses for $10each or your tables full of Hobby Lobby frames for about the price they run at the store. It makes it worse when you have two boxes full of crappy clothes clearly taken out of your closet that morning for .50 cents apiece. That still doesn't make it a garage sale. Take the boxes to Goodwill and rent a flea market booth for your China merchandise and stop wasting my time.

5. Consider asking your neighbors about the best date when they might also like to sell some of their unwanted stuff and make it a block-wide effort. G-Salers will flock to you and walk the block, even if some houses only have a couple of tables apiece. Not true if it's just lonely little ol' you in a lawn chair and two tables. I'm going to keep on driving.

6. I hate haggling, but there's lots of folks who think that's the only way to really yard sale. If you are a seller who doesn't want to do it, be sure you've posted a sign saying "Prices Firm" and, once again, be ready to truck boxes back into the garage at the end of the day. Otherwise, politely say "no" to the obnoxious people who bring you 10 items and want to give you "$5 for the lot" and/or suddenly lose the ability to speak in English when you tell them the total. Also, be reasonable when someone offers you a little less on that knickknack you haven't dusted in 10 years.

7. HAVE CHANGE, including quarters. C'mon, folks, I'm sorry the cash machine doesn't give me singles, and if you're the first person I'm buying something from, chances are I need you to make change for my $5 or $10 bill. Also be sure you price your stuff in increments of .25 cents so you aren't stuck having to sort all manner of change.

8. Borrow tables and get your stuff out of your boxes. People are much more likely to stop and shop if they don't drive up and see that they have to basically engage in modified dumpster diving to see your stuff. Throwing everything out on a comforter is not the greatest substitute. You have a number of older garage salers who don't kneel and reach so well. Don't let granny throw out a hip trying to see that thing in the middle of your king sized comforter.

9. Smile and greet people. Sitting back up in your garage yakking on your cell phone makes me less likely to want to bother getting your attention to pay for an item. A friendly smile and "good morning" goes a long way to make me want to find something of yours I like.

10. Be merciless when going through your house to add items to your sale. If you're going to go to all the trouble of putting on a sale, make it as big as possible to rid yourself of piles of things you never even look at or use and to pull more lookers into stopping rather than doing the deadman's driveby.

As the season gets further underway, I'm sure I'll think of things to add to the list. For now, happy garage sale-ing!