Today and tomorrow we are having our big garage sale. We are having new carpets put in next week and we wanted to sell a lot of the stuff we have accumulated over the 20+ years we have lived in our home. Our kids have grown up and moved away but left a lot of their stuff. In addition, after my parents died and I had to clean out their home I made a pact that I would try to downside so my children would not have to go through that after I am gone! I am also a "pack rat" collector and have lots of things I have collected through the years. We have had sales over the years but this was the largest at home. We advertised in the local newspaper and put up 10 or so signs through out the neighborhood. Being a political junkie I have a lot of political lawn signs I converted to "Garage Sale" signs. The customers started arriving at 7:30 am at our cul-de-sac for or 8:am opening. When we opened the people started pouring in and we had a crowd until it got hot about 2 pm. There must have been 15 to 20 people waiting when we opened.I am a collector of Oregon Duck memorabilia and had lots of old Duck clothing items that I sold off. I also have, through the years, collected 100's of plastic Oregon Duck Cups at Oregon games. Yes, I am one of those people that pick up empty cups on the way out of the stadium. After keeping a good selection I still had over a 100+ I put out at 5 for $.05. My wife told me "No one will want those cups." I sold over 60+. I also had boxes and boxes of football cards. I collect football cards of the Oregon Ducks who have gone on to the pros..... but in looking for those cards you end up with a lot of cards from other players. Today I sold between 5,000 to 10,000 cards. Again my wife had said "no one will buy those cards" but I sold everyone I had put out. Granted, I sold them at discount prices but I sold every one. We also had Oregon Duck chairs and lots of other items that were very popular. One of our friends, who happens to be a Oregon State Beaver fan, was kidded us that we must be selling all our Duck stuff because the Beavers won the NCAA championship in baseball. We quickly assured her that was not the case and we still had more than enough Duck stuff. I was able to give away a lot of my old 8 track tapes. I had thinned out my vinyl record collection and sold a lot of records. It only hurt when I saw my Patty Duke album go. When she was young I thought she was very cute. We also were able to give away an electric lawn mower that didn't work. We will be open tomorrow on Sunday but even if we don't sell anything the sale will have been a success.
Garage sales are a good way to meet neighbors and folks you haven't seen for years. Our cul-de-sac was so crowded there was a traffic jam getting in or out. One of our neighbors came over and said "this is the happening place." It Was! Garage sales bring out the skills I learned working at a variety store (Sprouse Reitz) in my youth. My wife hates garage sales but even she said this wasn't bad. Our son, who is home for a few weeks, helped out as did my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. It was a real family effort. We open tomorrow at 8 am. Be there!
