Garage Sale'n

This is my favorite season.  The weather this year has been amazing.  I am embracing it.  This also happens to be my favorite time of the year for garage sales.  I get kind of giddy about it, yeah I know, some may think I am weird... don't me judging me and my thriftiness.  I am going to share with you some of my favorite finds, but not now.  Today I would like to share with you my garage sale pet peeves.  There are many . . . it happens when you hit as many as sales as I do, I could probably write a book on it.

Please go to some garage sales before you have one yourself.  See what the average prices are for garage sale basics, then try to price yours accordingly.  I mean, that is, if you would like people to buy your stuff. ;)  Because some sales I go to, I honestly think they must not want to sell their stuff.  Surely you don't think I am going to pay $4 for a pair of your stinky old shoes?  This fall I have seen shoes marked for $10-$20.  No, not brand new shoes . . . old beat up shoes.  Seriously people?  I rarely buy shoes... unless they are brand new and/or are like a quarter.  On average nice shoes go for about a buck where we live.  Last week I saw a pair of old nasty black Chuck Taylor's for $4 . . . then about two sales later I saw some almost brand black Chuck Taylor's for 75cents.  I snatched those puppies up and went home to give them to a happy camper.

Overpricing makes me crazy.  When you have a garage sale, realize you are selling your junk that you don't want anymore . . . if you don't sell it here you will most likely be giving it away or putting it back in your house.  Take an offer if it is fair and reasonable, just do it.  Otherwise you will be looking at that thing the rest of the weekend wishing you had.

Nothing makes me want to leave a sale faster than those pre-marked stickers.  I get it.  Pricing is a pain, and you are tired, it's late, you just want to be done, yada yada.... but I can't tell you how crazy it makes me when people price things based on what stickers they have left.  Don't deny it, you know you have done this if you use those pre-marked stickers.  You say to yourself, "Self, I have this $2 sticker left, hmm, what can I use it on?  Oh that t shirt, yeah, that is nice enough to be $2"... deep down you know that tshirt should be 50cents so stop being crazy like that.  It always makes me laugh when I am at a sale and see those so I say, "will you take less" and they respond, "Oh yeah, I just ran out of ___ stickers".  Yes, it happens, often.  If you are feeling tired just do what I call the lazy price method.  You know lazy pricing . . . where you stick a sign on the front of a table that says, "$1" or whatever.

There are times when I will pay more for something ... it is becoming rarer now a days because I typically know that I can find what I am looking for at another sale since I am out enough.  But there are times where I am looking for something specific and if I don't find it here then I will have to pay full price at a retail store.  So then when I find it, if I may an offer and they say no, I will consider paying their asking price.  That is just the bargainer in me.

So there you have it.  My garage sale rant for the day.  What do you think?  Do you love/hate garage sales?  Do you even notice those pre-priced stickers?  Find any good deals lately?