Another Man's Treasure

There's this familiar sound that happens early on Saturday mornings in the spring. It's one that, while in the barely conscious, mostly asleep state of 6:30 a.m. on the weekend, you recognize, but can't quite figure out for a few minutes. The continuous sound of car doors slamming, the slowing of the vehicles which eventually come to a stop, and the killing of the engines, and even the vehicles that slow right down, almost stopping, but then drive away quickly. Someone's having a yard sale.

I'll admit that it's not the worst sound to be awoken by. Not like the sound of our basement-dwelling landlord power-washing our bedroom window at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning - and this was before we had kids! But I do feel a certain amount of invasion when there is a yard sale in our normally quiet neighborhood.

Yard sales, and more specifically yard sale people (because I do classify them as a personality-type), fascinate me. I don't have anything against these bargain hunters, but I do admit that I have a hard time understanding some of them. I have a bit of a theory about them, of course, it's totally a generalization, but I think that a lot of these yard sale people feel that they don't deserve new, unused things. I will never forget this lady who tried to buy my half-used container of Lysol cleaning wipes that I had left on the table after cleaning it. I wanted to hug her and say, "You deserve to go out to a store and buy yourself and brand new container of Lysol wipes! You are worth that much!" Maybe I'm way off. Maybe it really is all about hunting out perfectly good items, and paying very little for them. I can respect that. But have you ever noticed that it's the junk that gets purchased at yard sales? If you've had one yourself, then you probably have seen this happen. It's the stuff that you just put out in hopes to really get rid of it - that box of old nails, some used gift bags, etc. that always seems to go.

We held a yard sale at our house two years ago. I had a lot of anxiety about it, since I do not like yard sales, but even I knew that it had to be done. I have a hard time with people picking through all of our garbage. Of course, a lot of the items were not garbage, and could be very useful to someone else, but ultimately, it was stuff that we didn't want to have around anymore. I felt a bit self-conscious about the whole thing. What if people didn't like our crap? What if our junk wasn't good enough? How do you put a price on stuff that you just want to get rid of? It's sort of like saying, "If you pay me, I'll let you take my garbage home". I'm exaggerating about the garbage thing, but if you really loved something and wanted to keep it, then you wouldn't be trying to get rid of it. And what's with people trying to get your stuff for even cheaper? Do you know how painful a task it is to go through and think about prices? If something is marked 25 cents, can't you just accept it? Why do you have to try to get it for 20 cents? Are you really thinking, 'well I'd pay 20 cents, but it's definitely not worth 25'. Quite honestly, during our yard sale, I spent most of the time hiding inside the house and peeking out the window at what was going down.

I know so many people who love yard sale-ing! People who don't need to buy second-hand, but just like to do so. People who save their change all week, do the research on where the best sales are happening, make a plan of attack, and head out bright and early on Saturday mornings to enjoy their day of hunting for bargains. I don't want to offend these people. If it gives them joy, then that's great. I totally understand people who are less fortunate, and really do need to buy things that are used, simply for the fact that they cost much less. God bless those people! I wish them to find all the best deals. But let's face it, it's not the poor, ragged-looking people with 10 kids covered in dirt who show up to your yard sale. If these people did come, I would just give them anything they wanted. However, it's the women who pull up in their shiny luxury cars, step out with that look of the best of everything, and come and sort through your unwanted things with a scowl on their face. I feel like saying, "Lady! What business do you have being at a yard sale and looking down on my junk?" But I don't. Some might argue that people like that are rich because they've always known how to save money and find a deal. That's fine, and more power to them.

I know that a lot of people who have many children choose to shop second-hand for their clothing. It's true that kids grow so quickly, and children's clothing can be very costly. For this reason, I only usually buy things after they go on sale. Sometimes, you can go into a quality children's clothing store, and buy items for under $5! Items that have never been peed in, puked on, sweat in, etc. I love finding good deals that way. Maybe the second-hand shoppers are finding things for much less than that. I know they sometimes find things that have never been worn - tags still on, and well, I guess that makes it worth it for them.

It is now that time of year when so many of us are looking at all the things in the basement that haven't been used in the past year...or 10 years, and thinking about gathering it all together for a yard sale. I obviously dread the thought, but I know it needs to be done. I donate clothing to charities almost on a monthly basis, but there's still a lot of stuff that needs to go. Hopefully, some of these things can make someone happy. I know there's a bit of money to be made too, but with all the time and work that goes into preparing for a yard sale, I have to wonder if it's worth it. I might try to take notes in the background to try and discover even more stereotypes of yard sale people. I need to make this daunting task more fun for myself.