New Economic Indicator

[Midpack]

It seems apparent we're in a recession (though no one has officially called it AFAIK), but now I am sure. I hate garage sales, but over the past 20+ years we have had 4 of them. Our first three netted $1500+ (lots of furniture), $800+ and $350+. Yesterday, looker traffic was way down and in two days we made a grand total of $178. I might have thought in a recession garage sales would pick up, but evidently not.

DW and I both concluded we'll never have another garage sale. We give most of our "stuff" to charities anyway, but now we'll give it all to charity. I sure like decluttering though...

[UncleHoney]

I haven't seen one garage sale in our neighborhood this spring. Usually by this time of the season there have been several. Our old neighbors used to do one every summer with lots of kids stuff, clothes and toys. They moved and all the activity seems to have gone with them.

It always seemed to me that families with kids were the ones having the garage sales, probably trying to recoup some of their losses. As kids grow up they move from all the plastic toys to things like computers and IPods and cell phones that have zero resale value.

Right now I'm contemplating how to get rid of a very nice, but dated octagon barrel table. I thought I had to have it when we cleaned out my mom's house but it just doesn't work with our decor. I might just carry it out to the curb this afternoon and put a "free" sign on it. Most things I set out only last about 30 minutes before someone loads them up.

After that goes I might try getting rid of our old 32 inch Sony tv. Perfect condition with a great picture, but time to make room for something much BIGGER.

[TromboneAl]

I'll bet that if you think about what you had to offer, the decrease in your garage sale profits say more about your success in decluttering than the state of the economy.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl I'll bet that if you think about what you had to offer, the decrease in your garage sale profits say more about your success in decluttering than the state of the economy.

True to a lesser extent, the bigger factor was the noticeable decline in traffic...nothing like previous years. It was a neighborhood garage sale, and neighbors also noticed a huge drop in traffic.

Garage sales are interesting in that it's amazing what sells and what doesn't. Mostly you just have to catch the right person, but things I thought would sell are back in dining room (awaiting donation) and things I wanted to throw directly in the trash before the sale (DW wouldn't let me bless her) sold well...there's no accounting for...

[Moemg]

I detest garage sales . I usually feel sorry for the people and just give the stuff away . Now I declutter by selling my books on Amazon and my other stuff on ebay . It's amazing the amount of stuff we've unloaded this way .Plus since I never see the people I don't feel compelled to just give it away .