Garage Sale Tired

Don't get me wrong. I can be a people person. I love to entertain and play hostess. But, inviting strangers to come to my driveway and dig through my stuff? I'd like to keep it professional. Buy my stuff and leave, please.Honestly? I'd rather go to your driveway and dig through your stuff.

The thing is. I'm not much on dickering. I figure if you have a price on something, you probably want that price. I know. You might expect it, the dickering. And I might play along. Or I might just pay your price and walk away.

My folks are hosting a lovely gargantuan garage sale in their driveway at this very moment. I've worked with them the last few days, setting up and selling. And yes, I find myself shopping.

Between the dickering folks, the non-English speaking folks, the "can I have it free?" folks, the stealing folks and the folks who wanna talk my ears off, I am whooped! Some of your comments prompt me to add more. There are also the unruly, unsupervised, sticky fingered children. The early birds. The folks who jump the fence and peruse the goods after closing. And the tag switchers! Bad people. And those people who throw dirty diapers out the car window before driving off without one child in a carseat or seatbelt. My dad is convinced that if we speak crossways to the people, they will immediately go knock down or steal the garage sale signs. It's been done by someone more than once!

This Bar-B-Q Chef knife holder? Love it. If nobody buys it, I'm stealing it from Dad. No dickering. Outright raising my shirt and sliding it into my waistband. Just like the thief who stole a cell phone I was trying to sell. Ugh.

I must admit. We do make incredibly good money in the 3 garage sales the city allows a year. We have regular customers that love to see our signs. We have nice people who help with translations. Some people just pay what is on the sticker, because, ya know...we know it's a garage sale. We priced it pretty cheap in the first place. The last thing we want to do is pack it up to take away or store. We want it gone!

Yes, these are the very same parents who are coming to sell at the sale in Poetry on May 16. I assure you. They will have lots of good stuff. Like my favorite thrift store, my folks restock almost daily! And, by the way, they can dicker with the best of them, too.

Tell me. Have you any horror stories from hosting a garage sale?

Happy Friday!

~Mindy