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Friday, November 1, 2013

The Garage Sale: More Community, Less Stuff.



A garage sale can be an exposure of your personal life via used items on display for the whole neighborhood to rummage through. As your neighbors peruse your old stuff they get a glimpse into who you are based on what items you had and are getting rid of. Every item can tell a story about your style, hobbies, work or education. And the fact that you're getting rid of those items tells another story: what are you ready to leave behind as you move forward to the next step of life? We couldn't help but feel that everyone at our sale had a close-up view into who we were without ever needing to exchange a word. We were neighbors without borders. We intended only to purge our material items and make some dough, we didn't expect the outpouring of community, stories, and kindness.

If you're planning to travel long term, selling your stuff is a step we'd seriously advise including. It's not practical to store stuff long term. A garage sale will generate some funds and is a valuable exercise in letting go of the things tying you down, allowing you to focus only on the road ahead. We expected it to be a hot, boring, end of summer sale, little did we know we'd get to know all sorts of fun characters from around the neighborhood.

Because we didn't price anything (not intentional, we just ran out of time -- in hindsight, we'd really recommend it!) we were forced to speak to everyone that walked up. This turned out to be our favorite part of the day. There was the family with an American dad and Mexican mom, who'd recently returned from visiting her family. They gave us travel advice, should we end up in Mexico. The older of their two daughters was 9 years old, with personal style to boot. She was the unlikely purchaser of Justin's old work ties: 
We're so happy that we know this person exists
There was the father and two daughters who biked from miles away, all arriving on one bicycle with dad pedaling, one daughter on the handle bars, and one standing in back. They bought too much stuff to carry home, so they came back a few hours later, this time with three bikes.
This family won the award for Best Transportation
Even the neighborhood weirdo contributed to the fun that day. He was our first customer--he could have won a Michael Jackson look-a-like contest from the "Beat it" video. We all felt a little uncomfortable around him at first (think slow speech, mumbling, odd topic choices) but after he returned for the fifth time to pick up a set of dishes he planned to give to his sister, we all had to agree--he was pretty awesome. On top of all the cool strangers we met, we got to spend the day with our dear friends Amy and Torry who hosted the sale for us. Even their neighbor, June, cleared her side of the driveway and hung out with us for the day.

In the end we purged (it's amazing how much CRAP we realized we had) AND we made a over 700 bucks! But the real successes of the day were the connections we made with everyone, and that we gained a wonderful new story to add to our Round the World experience.

Garage Sale tips and tricks we learned along the way:
  • Advertise a week early on craigslist. List and picture some of the big ticket items and also state other types of things that will be for sale. Use keywords like books, DVDs, music, clothes, kitchen gadgets, camping gear, etc.
  • Make fun signs to put up around the neighborhood--many customers commented that our colorful signs are what attracted them
  • Don't bother pricing everything before hand. It takes a lot of time and people will barter anyway. And our favorite--it encourages interaction with people.
  • Have fun setting up. For instance, our buddy Amy made a camping display, setting up the camping chairs, picnic table and Coleman stove. We didn't think we'd sell much of this stuff--but it all went first! Thanks, Ames, for the idea!
"Like camping? Buy our stuff and this could be you!" (Amy and Erin)
  • We bought banquet tables, a clothes rack, and a money box for the sale and returned them the next day. This step isn't for everyone. We kept them in perfect condition and kept the tags for everything.
  • At the end of the day, take everything you didn't sell and donate it.
  • Use the buddy system. Odds are you have a few friends who have things they need to get rid of. Team up and spend the day helping each other.
  • Have FUN! We proved that garage sales don't have to be a drag, they can actually be a day well spent. (The mimosas and beer didn't hurt, I'm sure)

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