Friday Question #114
Do you like going to garage sales? Do you go looking for something in particular, or do you just browse? What do you usually buy? Do you ever have your own garage sales? Any crazy stories to share?
Weird question, right? Well, the other day while in the car, Steven and I passed a banner announcing that our neighborhood garage sale is this weekend – Thursday through Saturday, in fact. I promptly told Steven that my idea of hell was spending a day going to garage sales.
I am not a very good shopper. I don’t like to browse. I like for a store to carry what I have in mind, or something adequate, then buy it, spending minimal time browsing. I don’t like to shop just to shop – to look for things just for something to buy, which is what would be happening if I went to a garage sale.
I know there are cool things out there to be found though! I’m just not driven to search for them, because I figure if I don’t want them now, I don’t need them when I find them.
And I think some people do go to garage sales looking for certain things. Again though, that is not for me because I hate to search/browse.
Right now, we give most of the stuff we could sell at a garage sale to Salvation Army (and deduct it on our taxes). I’ve heard horror stories about bartering at garage sales, so I am not sure if I would want to have one of my own!
Themocracy
I’ve never had one and I’ve really never been to a garage sale either. I’ve given stuff to people having one and let them keep the money just to unload some stuff but usually I’m over at Salvation Army/Goodwill as well.
Have a great weekend!
When I was little and it wasn’t my job to find a spot for all the junk in the house, I used to love flea markets. Now I am more likely to be donating to our local thrift store than I am to be buying. I just have enough stuff and I kind of like my stuff new.
Until recently we had always donated our stuff. Two years ago (I think) I decided to have a garage sale. NEVER again. It was awful. I priced everything at $1 because I didn’t want to deal with haggling or figuring out prices. I figured if even half our stuff sold we would have made plenty of money. People haggled anyway! Over golf clubs priced at $1! And all kinds of stuff that was worth way more than what I sold it for.
I don’t go to garage sales. This is totally a quirk of mine but using strangers used stuff kind of grosses me out. I don’t mind if I know the person, but otherwise it is just not going to happen.
OMG you are like my shopping soul mate! I feel the exact same way… I hate browsing – I need to have a purpose & get there and get done with it! My mom loves to “junk mart” shop (antique stores, flea markets, etc) just to find a “good deal.” I can’t stand it!!!
My feelings towards garage sales/thrift stores change regularly. Sometimes I think it’s fun to rifle through unique stuff. Most times, I just don’t have the patience.
I only go shopping if I know exactly what I need; I’m not interested in window shopping or browsing either! 🙂 I have to admit that I’m sorta one of those “minimalist” type of people. I clean out once a year and donate things I don’t need, or give clothes/blankets, etc. to shelters. I like looking at estate sales if I happen upon them or a friend drags me, but I don’t seek them out. There often is so much history in someone’s entire collection of their life. I like imagining what happened in their life, what their things meant to them, what stories live in the walls or in that chair or what secrets do this person’s items now hold as they’re being sold off?
On the flip side of the sentimental estate sales in people’s homes, my mother’s neighbor has a garage sale almost every weekend, from May to October/November! That neighbor is a hoarder, though. Her house is top-to-bottom filled with everything you can think of. And she goes out and buys crap from other sales and turns around and resells (without updating or refurnishing it, etc.), and a LOT of it is junk. We kinda think of her as the crazy, drunk neighbor. 😛
My mom tends to have one yearly she likes to dejunk the house. I am not one for browsing other peoples stuff. But I would not mind having one to get rid of some furniture.
I fall somewhere between you. If I NEED something, then I don’t want to mess around. I want to walk into a store, like you, knowing they have it and buy it. But, there are times when I don’t need anything in particular. And while I’d probably shoot myself spending a whole day meandering through garage sales, I don’t mind taking a look. There’s nothing to lose and possible treasures to gain. (That said, I can’t tell you the last time I actually went to a garage sale – ha!)
you and ME both! i hate shopping, really of any sort, so unless i knew that this garage sale had exactly what i was wanting….NO WAY!
I love garage sale shopping but hate driving around looking for them. I prefer to happen upon them. I also love antique stores, thrift stores and flea markets. Total sucker for them! I never really have a thing in mind when I go but I usually spy something that I must have- jewelry or housewares or furniture.
Not a fan. Although, I’ll totally admit that this is probably because of spousal ‘grooming’. My wife HATES clutter.
My mom LOVES garage sales but they aren’t my cup of tea. Like you guys, we just donate what we don’t want.
I LOVE garage sales! I usually don’t have a certain thing in mind, I just go to see if I find anything I like. Last time I went to one, I scored two cute wrought iron garden chairs for 6 bucks each. Can’t beat that! 🙂
My wife has been having yard sales at her house for over 20 years now. In the almost 9 years that I’ve been with her, we have at least 2 a year. We’ve had 2 this year already and have sold almost $700 worth of stuff. I rarely go to any myself, but on occasion, I’ll stop and look around to see if there is a gem in the rough.
I’m a terrible shopper in general. I can’t stand picking through things. I’m very pragmatic so I only go out shopping if I need something specific and, in that case, I wouldn’t go to a garage sale. I guess if I happened to pass one and something jumped out at me, I’d go for it. I admire people who are great at finding deals. I’m just so impatient. My sister had garage sales a lot to raise money for her around-the-world trips. They were pretty successful.
I’m also not interested in “the hunt”. However, I do have some good memories of my mom and I going around to tons of garage sales the summer before I moved into my own apartment at college. We scored a ton of kitchen items and a coffee table for cheap.
I’ve done several garage sales and don’t love them. I’ve never made that much money and they’re just such a hassle. Now that we have craigslist and freecycle it just seems like a huge pain to have a garage sale. Plus, in our current town you can only have yard sales in the backyard (not like we have much front yard) and I think that makes it even harder to sell your stuff.
Brian LOVES a garage sale. We have quite a few items in our house from them, including the lamps and end tables in our living room. I think they’re fun sometimes. The thing that bothers me most is when the garage sale host is trying to push a sale on you when there is absolutely nothing you want to buy. My feeling is, put the stuff out, price all of it, say hello to your customers and then leave them alone unless they want to talk to you!
When I was moving out, I hit up a bunch of garage sales because I needed EVERYTHING, and I wanted it cheap. Now, I dont bother with them. Partly because its too much effort to park the car, get out, look around, and talk to people I dont know. And partly because I dont carry cash.
My parents are having a garage sale sometime soon. Maybe this weekend actually I dont know, and I considered bringing some stuff to sell, but honestly, taking it to the Salvation Army is less work, and Im all about making as little work for myself as possible.
I used to go to a lot with my parents when I was a kid. We had a couple.
Last one I had was when I was leaving LA. Had a great location, lots of walk-by traffic so had a good number of people even with no signs. Made over $200, might’ve been over $300.
Only 1 person tried to barter with me and I just said no. Voila.
I’d like to do 1 now for a bunch of CDs but don’t have enough other stuff to be worth the hassle; I’d have to deal with advertising in the paper & putting up signs since I’m not on a thoroughfare.
i love poking around in garage sales. you never know what you’re gonna find!
I’m not a huge fan of garage sales because when I was younger, my dad would drag us all to them every.single.weekend. Most of the time we just came back with junk.
I don’t, however the neighborhood next to mine (my neighborhood just sort of tags along) has a HUGE garage sale every spring. We didn’t realize how insane it would be until we pulled out of our drive way one afternoon and it was literally a carnival on the street. There were so many people it took us 20 minutes to drive the 1/3 mile out of the neighborhood and to the main road. Some houses weren’t even selling their own things, they were actually selling food and drinks to the crowd. It was insane and I think next year I’ll have to walk around just to see what the craze is about.
Since we don’t have garages here, we have yard sales. I love them in the summer! I love sitting in the sun with my friends, and I’ve made well over $100 in the past. We just take what doesn’t sell to donate.
I like going to them too. I’ve found some very cool art that way.
But, I can see how they can be annoying, and you might have a different vibe/demographic outside of the city.
I’m not much of garage saler either. If I happen to drive by one and something catches my eye I will stop. But I don’t think other’s people junk is going to be my treasure. Except for the sweet wine rack I got last summer. Other than that, it’s just a lot of work to look through other people’s stuff. 🙂
I’m not much of a garage sale shopper either. I’ve actually never been to one. Funny you should ask this because just yesterday I passed one and thought, “does anyone go to those anymore?” I feel like they were more popular about a decade ago. I think at those types of things you can’t really go looking for anything in particular – right?
I LOVE garage sales…they are so fun!! I usually have 1 big sale every year. Usually in the fall and then whatever I don’t sell I donate to Goodwill. I usually make about $200-$300 which for me is kind of nice for a morning on just sitting around selling stuff I no longer want! 🙂
Sister, I love going to garage sales! Although it can be extremely frustrating. Right now I go to every garage sale I can because I am looking for a dining table and chairs for my new house. BUT everytime I find one it is already sold.. That’s the frustrating part. Hopefully I get lucky and find one soon though! 🙂