Scrapbrooks: Garage ...Giveaway

Monday, October 14, 2013

Garage ...Giveaway

We attempted to participate in our annual neighborhood garage sale last weekend. It seemed like a great chance to get rid of some stuff we've been hauling to and fro around the country and benefit from shoppers already casing the neighborhood without having to do any advertising ourselves. Well, we ended up not being able to GIVE our stuff away. And we had some pretty decent stuff so this surprised us: a crib/toddler bed, a portable heater, a whole houseful of lovely (just not our taste) drapes and valances that came with the house, picture frames and cookbooks, etc. And I had prices marked very low...nothing like my Pipe Dreams days.

By late morning we were totally disinterested in sitting in the driveway any longer so we put signs on everything that said "FREE". Stuff started to clear out at that point. First the crib mattress went. Without the crib. Strange, but the crib left shortly after that and we started to see more and more stuff leave the driveway. Corey even threw in FREE delivery for the FREE oversized stuff so that convinced a few waffling over random items. Finally all but the last few items remained and we moved those into the garage and closed up shop. But when I returned from running errands a few hours later I noticed the FREE crib mattress someone had taken earlier (leaving the taker of the actual crib without a mattress) BACK IN OUR DRIVEWAY. Someone had actually returned a freebie. Totally new garage sale low point. I told Corey we should have added some fine print to our FREE signs
...ALL NON SALES FINAL.

So, this might be the last year we participate as sellers in this neighborhood giveaway! Natalie had the most luck of all. She sold her old bike for $5 and promptly spent her loot within a quarter mile radius on a new doll named Gracie, a Care Bear for Audrey and a new Princess Jasmine dress up outfit. She was totally thrilled. So, not only did we not make a dime, but we actually brought more stuff into this house from neighbors' garages. Mercy.