Today we had a garage sale to try and empty out as much of our house as possible. It’s a little odd to do that in a gated community. But we put our ad in the penny saver, on craigslist and posted signs in the neighborhood.
One member of our small group offered to stand at the gate with a sign and try and lure people into our place. She did manage to get a date out of the deal, so it was worth it for her.
We had decent traffic flow all day. We got rid of a lot, so that’s all that matters.
You know you’re in South Orange County when people coming to the sale were asking for name brands like Coach, Juicy, Seven, etc. It was just funny. We all looked at each other and just laughed. Then there are those that want to bargain for everything. Many items were sold for a dollar and they would ask if we’d take less. It’s like, lady, its a dollar.
It’s also always interesting the cross section of people you meet. Most are very nice. They all want to know why you’re getting rid of your stuff. Our simple story was that we were moving to Ohio. But in hindsight I wish we had made up something interesting, like we’re on the run from the law. We only have three months to live. You know, something fun and festive. But we stuck with the easy explanation.
I also discovered that there is a sub-culture of individuals who are professional garage sale shoppers. A few today recognized each other from various other sales, compared where they were going today and gave each other tips on the best buys. Another subset of this population are those who are buying at garage sales to then go and sell the items in Mexico. They were mainly looking for electronics, which are much more expensive there.
We also managed to attract the resident crazy lady, who stayed for hours (literally) and wanted to chat. It was all quite interesting.
All I know is that I’m exhausted, but grateful that a lot of stuff sold.
Filed under: Living in LA LA Land , garage sale
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