No, I’m not retiring from my day job, but I do think I’m through with moving sales and yard sales for a while.
Don’t get me wrong: today was sort of fun. I had friends stop by to chat, and I met many new neighbors as well. And I think I did a fairly decent job of staying somewhat disinterested in the whole profit motive for selling all this stuff as well. But as a strategy for shedding what we no longer need… probably not the best way to spend my day.
We did sell off a few chairs, and some of the kids’ toys, and a decent stack of books. But at the end of the day, I was packing up lots of clothing and books and household items to donate to charity… which I could have done in the first place, without having to go through all the bother of holding a moving sale.
We also hauled a bunch of stuff to the curb, having faith in the power of drive-by recycling. It didn’t take long: I was still in the process of bagging up clothing when the rickety, back porch table and chair set was making its way into the back of someone’s pickup truck, along with piles of wicker baskets and various bric-a-brac.
We got rid of more of our unwanted, excess furniture in fifteen minutes on the curb than we did all day at our moving sale.
And even though we probably sold close to 100 books today, I must have dropped off at least twice as many at Dr. Bombay’s later in the evening, and all it took was a ten minute drive.
So maybe in some distant future I will hold a yard sale again, but if I do, I think it will be to hang out with old friends and meet new ones. Until then, I’m retiring.
And speaking of retiring, I think it’s time for me to retire for the day as well–it’s been a long one!
365 Simplify 
Sounds like you still had some fun though, with neighbors and friends 🙂 but you are right, easier and quicker to donate right away… Here in Norway we don’t do much yard sales anymore, so here it would be a hole lot of work for probably next to no results 😦
Yup. I was talking to my wife about this “guilt” I feel, if that’s the right word, with items like our solid oak, crib-to-daybed-to-twin bed furniture. Somehow I feel like I am “wasting” money if I’m not recouping my investment. I know, it sounds pretty dumb (And not really like me, so I’m not even sure where it comes from). Anyway, we are going to call the Salvation Army to come by with a truck to pick up bunches of stuff later this week.
I feel ya. Been there, done that. Glad you got through the day and got your overall desired result.
More or less 😉
That’s been our experience at well.
Once I held a FREE yard sale for friends in the dining room. I gave them each a box and told them to grab anything that interested them. They each left with a bunch of stuff that was happy to be adopted by friends and co-workers.
Freebie Day sounds like fun for all.
Great idea.