Random OT: Yard Sales
When we had the big kid's clothing and toy extravaganza. Spent it most of it on a nice Glock G41 my neighbor had for sale in his. Less crap and a new toy for Dad, a two-fer!
I can't stand yard sales. Wlaking up to someone's house, looking though their old crap and paying 50c for something they'd toss in the trash otherwise. Having one sucks too b/c it takes so much time to prepare and set up and you have to be out there for hours on end. The hours you put in might get you $200-400, but you're lookinga t probably 20-30 hours of set up, pricing and selling Fri-Sat-Sun.
Wife loves shopping at them (shocking), and the best ones are the baby clothes sales in a good subdivision.
Funny story I heard was a buddy of mine had a sale, some old lady walked up and wanted to negotiate the price of a 25c mug or something down to 10c. Dude looked at her, picked up the mug and smashed it on the ground, walked away.
Your attitude pretty much sums up my views on having a garage sale. Too much effort for too little money. We give the belongings away to friends, family, or charity. To a friend who went through a divorce, we gave several pieces of furniture, to our kids moving out of the house we have given furniture, small kitchen appliances, and dishes. Everything else we donate to charity and use it as a tax write off.
When we had a baby, I tried to buy baby furniture, but that stuff goes really fast, and often there would be a dealer in used baby furniture who would buy the whole lot before the sale was set to begin. I finally just bought new.
When my kids were a bit older, I would sometimes give them a few dollars and take them to garage sales. They really enjoyed that, and as someone up-thread posted, they do learn a little about the art of negotiating (although cute little kids almost always get the best deals, and it won't always be that way). They also do learn a bit how to manage money.
I remember my son and I cleaning out our house after my wife died. My son had about 4 or 5 large plastic bags full of things and I asked him, "I thought we were just tossing everything we didn't want into the dumpster. 'Where are you going with those?" "We are, but these - mixture of clothes, board games, sporting goods, etc., - are in good shape so I thought I'd just drop them into the Goodwill or Salvation Army drop box." Actually made me rather proud.
Good luck! My wife has a student who with his wife are trying to adopt. I only hear the info. 3rd hand, but it is amazing the hoops they have had to jump through.
I got fired from Zingermans about 15 years ago and it took me about a year to find a new job. During this time I made a living by buying items at garage sales and flipping them on Ebay. I also made good money during this time scalping football tickets.
Coolest things I found
1. A collection of about 20 team issued practice jerseys from the 80's. Bought for about $5 and sold for about $100 each
2. Old McIntosh tube stereo in working condition bought for a few bucks and sold for at least $1000. I really made out on a lot of vintage stereo equipment.
3. A huge stack of Pink Panther cells that I bought from one of the original illustrators that was living in Canton at the time. I bought the whole stack for $400 and made a mint on those.
4. Very early Atari 2600 system "heavy sixer" made in Sunnyvale CA. I did great at this time on vintage video games.
I have also hosted many garage sales. Probably the most I have made in a weekend is about 3 grand. It all depends on how much stuff you have and the quality. If you have 2 grand worth of craftsman tools, old dudes will buy it all within hours or less.
The Craftsman hand tools, like wrenches and screwdrivers are warranteed for life--no receipt or proof of purchase required. All you have to do is take it to take one that's damaged or doesn't work like it did when new to any Sears that sells tools, and they'll give you a new one.
I am fully aware of this. I made a mint on craftsman tools for a while. One thing people don't realize is that they don't replace tools if they are old, dirty, or dingy looking.
Also, the warranty is pretty much worthless now as all "Craftsman tools are made in china and totally crap these days. If I take in one of my made in USA socket wrenches they will replace it with a made in china pos.
For those interested I have started a Facebook group for yard sales in Wayne County . Its a small group now but hopefully it will grow .
You can join to get info when people post yard sales. Or join and give info on your own yard sale .
https://www.facebook.com/groups/889919631118062/?ref=bookmarks