Yard Sale!
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"Sign, Signs, Everywhere Signs!"
Yard sale season is in full bloom here in Springfield, Oregon. ...Or, as my cousin likes to refer to us; "Springtucky." He and his family live, by the way, in Forest Grove, Oregon. A little burg smaller than Springfield, about two hours away... As soon as I come up with something clever to replace "Grove" with, I'll have a good comeback. I welcome all suggestions.
(I think I've got a good one: "Boorest Grove." Whaddaya think?)
Anyway... back to yard sale season.
It starts as soon as the weather begins to warm up. I know when it gets here because tacky signs start to show up on telephone poles - I've yet to see a store-bought "Yard Sale" sign. Really. Last week I saw one hanging on a pole which was written in really big letters but, I shit you not, in pen. I, who was walking right past it, was barely able to read it. A passing motorist most likely saw a blank piece of white cardboard hanging on a pole. Brilliant. What bothers me about yard sale season is, after the sale is over nobody takes down the sign. The first signs are still hanging there, with newer signs stapled above and below them. I wonder how many yardsalers go pulling up to the posted address, looking for a sale only to be met with, "Uh... that was two weeks ago, bud."Then take the sign down, Cleatis! You made the trek up to the corner to staple the thing up there. Make it again to take it down! Ya lazy bastard!
A new sign which just appeared a couple days ago says, and I couldn't make this stuff up, reads "Save My Baby Yard Sale." After the initial reaction of "What?" wears off, I realized the "baby" could be anything: A dog, a motorcycle, a boat, or even an actual baby. Some kind of fundraiser?
I didn't go check it out. I'd rather not know... and it was out of the way. Too hot right now to make a side trip.
Despite the occasional oddity, yard sales are fun. I've found some pretty cool stuff at yard sales: One of those folding wooden dish drainers (I love that thing!), a great captain's chair, a little antique clock for four bucks... or was it six? Either way, what a bargain! Some great over-sized painting frames, An oval, full-sized, wooden framed mirror for $5 (!!!), the occasional CD or DVD, and so far, I've never gotten stuck with a scratched one. My mother just found a very cool, old-style, brass double lamp.
But on the flip side, most of the stuff you see at most yard sales is crap. Yet, one man's crap is another man's future attic debris. There's a lot of clothes, too. I don't get that at all. I would never, ever wear used clothes. Sure I've borrowed or loaned the occasional shirt from or to a buddy. But that's your friend, your buddy. You know him. Somehow that's better, right? But, I just can't bring myself to put on a stranger's clothes.
There's a house on the route I walk to work. A mysterious and interesting place (do all neighborhoods have one of these?) because it's got a moat. Really! There's a tall fence, which is never open, surrounding a fair sized yard of dead dry "grass" and then an entrenched waterway running diagonally across the yard. A moat! On the far side on the moat is a tall wooden fence, followed by a smaller patch of yard, then a couple of ill-kept, connected buildings or, the home. I've never seen the people who live there, except when they have their yearly yard sales. Yes, plural. The first sale is just a bunch of knick-knacks and very old junky small appliances. The second sale is wracks and wracks of old clothes. Not vintage, which might be cool. Old clothes. Circa 70s and 80s. The tacky decades. But there's always a lot of people at these sales, milling around, checking out each and every item, because it's the only time anybody sees the people who live in the "moat house." And the residence of the moat-house fit right in with what one might expect: Unsmiling, eyeing everyone suspiciously, saying nothing except when spoken to, and then as little possible. You know, it's very suspicious that I see several missing pet signs around that area... Hmm...
Springfield's own Addams Family.
The funniest, or most pathetic--epending on how you look at it, is the perpetual yard sale. This is where a household sets a bunch of junk in their yard and spends the day out there, drinking beer and listening to music, but doesn't sell anything because it's, well, junk. The following day everything is still out there but the residents are inside with the front door open. They've lost interest in sitting watch, but will come out if they notice someone in the yard, but no one ever is. The third day, everything is still out there but now covered with sheets. They just can't seem to work up the motivation to haul everything back inside. It's junk ... they don't want it, either! It'll stay that way until the rainy season starts and they're absolutely forced to bring all the crap which nobody wanted back inside.
And they'll do the same thing next year. I love it!
All in all, yard sales are fun and interesting events. They're a little glimpse into the lives of the people who live in my community. We get to see what kind of stuff somebody else has. We imagine that if they're selling cool stuff, they've got even better stuff inside. If there's movies, CD's, or books, we get a good idea of what kind of people they are. Are they reading the classics, sci-fi, horror, romance, ...or Archie & Jughead paperbacks? Do they watch indies, blockbusters, foreign films, ...or do they own the complete "Dukes of Hazard" DVD boxed set? ...Complete with bloopers... but that would be redundant.
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X-treme Yard Sales!
Say what you want about the South, but them good 'ol boys (and girls) know how to yard sale:
- "World's Longest Yardsale" On the 127 Corridor. It's 450 miles long and boasts several thousand yard sale and flea market booths, and stretches from Covington, Kentucky to Gadsden, Alabama. August 6 - 9
- "Bargains Galore on 64" Hundreds of churches, schools and families set-up shop for 160 miles along Highway 64, from Fort Smith to Beebe, Arkansas. August 13 - 15
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I love yard sales! We found both of our bikes at yard sales. We have three of them, and we spent all of $25 for all three! Also got our entertainment center and most of our furniture that way. Great hub!
Great Hub! We had a 2 family yard sale about 2 weeks ago. Our friends' yard was uphill and it's hard to see their yard from the street. But, their street has a good amount of traffic. My house is out in the sticks and is not an ideal location for a yard sale.
My kids (13 and 10) wore paper bag masks on their heads and started waving at the people to turn to our yard sale. People thought it was amusing and just had to come to our sale--it was great! We paid the kids of course, some yardsalers even tipped our kids. The next yard sale, we're going to find some cool custumes for them to wear. My son suggested he wear a gorrilla suit and my daughter a banana one.
Thanks Mulder, We have those, too. The weird thing here is some people call them garage sales, but they're in the yard, and vice versa. Funny.
Pgrundy, definitely. I found an awesome, 4-foot tall, carved-wood framed mirror at a yard sale. Really heavy, but I love it.
Smart promo ideas, Momma! The gorilla costume might get kind of hot, but if the he's up for it, good for him. I think it would be smart for yard sale hosts to offer refreshments, too. Water and lemonade... maybe even cookies.
We throw a yard sale about twice a year. Sping and late summer. You would be surprised how much money we make over time. Great hub
Thanks for reading, Rodney, and I do not doubt it for a minute. Do you take your signs down when the sale is over? Don't lie... ;-)
CW
Have you ever heard of an English phenomenon called a "car boot sale" ..... this is were at a prearranged time and place, car owners load up the boot of their cars with items which they no longer want and would like to sell ( aka junk - no that`s not strictly accurate .........)
They drive to the sale and along with up to a hundred or more other car owners sell their things from the back of their cars !!! pretty good huh?
And of course the fact that they have their car with them is useful for transporting all of the unwanted items that they have bought from all the other car owners back home ...........
PS you don`t have to have a car to attend ;)
Viv
Hi Duchess. Nice to hear from you, and thanks for reading. The Car Boot Sale sounds like fun, and a little like the Swap Meet here in the states... but without the cars. It's typically a big empty lot, people set up "booths" - usually just a canopy and some chairs and tables - and sell junk, collectable stuff or crafts, some of which are quality craftsmanship. A big swap meet I happened upon while in Arizona had a whole bunch of beautiful swords for like five and ten dollars apiece! I didn't buy any, though. I couldn't believe that any self-respecting sword could be so cheap. haha!
Great hub Constant! I loooove yard sales, I live for yard sales. And second-hand stores/thrift stores, but yard sales are the bomb because it's so personal. With a thrift store you see something interesting, perhaps buy it, and wonder forever "Whose was this? What's the story behind this thing?" but with a yard sale, they're right there! I love having a piece of clothing with a story behind it, or a lamp that I can tell people was from some cool famous person's house or something like that, you know what I mean.
On the subject of secondhand clothes: I'm down for it man. Wash it, or sometimes don't wash it (hey I'm a risk taker, what?), and throw it on. I even find things in the street and incorporate them into my wardrobe. I do wash those first though, rest assured.
And I live in Oakland (read:San Francisco) so the stuff I find in the street is usually in a box marked as free. Here we don't have yard sales, because there's no room for a yard!, so people just put a little bit of stuff at a time in front of their house in some kind of box and it's usually gone by the end of the day. Good finds all the time.
Jonno, we have those "FREE" boxes, too. Usually it's the stuff nobody would buy at the yard sale, but the box is always empty after a couple of days. "Oh, well since it's free, I'll take it..." I've seen people take something out of a free box, absolute garbage, right? just because it's free.
"Dude, what are going to do with half a ladle?"
"I don't know... it's free!"
And Jonno, as for wearing used clothes, I have but one thing to say: EW, EW, EW!!! ...OK, three. I tried buying a couple of used shirts from the thrift store because they were really outragious looking and I thought they'd be great stage wear (hey, they wash them, right?) but then after I'd wash it, (I'd always have to wash it first, just to be sure) a funky pit-stain would appear. Like they'd do something to hide the stain that wears away as soon as water hits it.
Any way you could post a picture of the house with moat for us to see?
It's not MY house... but, I would love to do that, however, do not own a digital camera, yet.
Constant Walker,
I live about five miles from a house that has been having a perpetual garage sale for the past 5 years. It's the only place I will buy my clothes from:).
Loved the hub.
sschilke
Thank you! ...and, you cannot be serious! You're yankin me, right?
Someone else's ...bodily fluids!
Ann... Doh!, I thought you said "your house." Just ignore me, I've been reading and writing all day long... with no booze in a pickle jar, dammit!
My wife and her family are like yardsale addicts. And they like to get up in the middle of the night to go (well, ok, just before sunrise, but that's the middle of the night in my universe). I have gotten a few decent swords from those though (and lots of garbage ones).
LoL @ the sign in pen that you couldn't read standing next to it ROFL.
Oh, and how about "Gump Grove" ...?
Yes , Indeed!
Garage or yard sales are a sure sign of Spring around here. We learned our way around our new area by following the signs. Good hub subject (I wrote one too)-- :-)
Shades. Yep, I know some women like that. Just fard saling fools! I haven't come across a good sword yet, but that would be sweet.
sschilke, no prob. I've done that, too. I just deleted it.
Thanks Rochelle. Did you? I'll have to check it out.
"yard sail"... lol... ignorance is funny. Another nice one, CW... Bulls eye on this, mate.
Thanks Reid. Did I write that somewhere? Shit! I was so paranoid about doing that... I probably made it happen.
We have them too called jumble sales and in the last few years Garage or Car Boot sales (mainly due to influence of American and British TV shows). But mostly we have lots of flea markets where the old stuff turns up. We also (in the spring mainly) have a lot of church bazaars where the junk appears but it softened by great hand crafted goods and food stalls selling Curry and Rice, Bobotie (a mainly minced beef and egg dish) and pancakes (flapjacks sort of).
Also lots of home brewed alcohol that would go great in your pickle jar.
great hub Lots of fun.
Sixty, thanks for reading. Ah yes, the flea market, swat meet, car boot sale, yard and garage sale: so good to know it's a worldwide obsession. And... nothing like home-brewed alcohol, which is MEANT to be drank in a big pickle jar!
Like Jonno said...yard/garage sales not such a big deal from what I saw in my 6 years "up north" but he's right about boxes of Free stuff on the curb...what money they could have made! But in my fift...(ahem)... many more years as a native southerner, yes, Constant, I'd say you're livin' in Springtucky! At one point I lived in a very "hi falutin'" neighborhood in Alabama that only allowed these sales twice a year...April and October...and then, boy oh boy, did all the true non-hi-falutin elements come out...the scramble for signs and balloons and gimmicks to get folks to come over to their yard as well as the neighbors...it brought thousands from the entire county each time! Yep, but the place was 'hi falutin' enough that it had it's own security guards for the neighborhood take down all the left over signs and such. I mean, it was Alabama...they'd still be stuck to poles from 5 years ago if it was up to the residents!!! Sounds like AL and OR have some stuff in common!
Funny. And yes, the first sale sings are still on the poles... all hanging down on one corner, or dangling there by one lowly little nail. It's hilarious!
I don't know, but I think your "high-falootin" sales sound like a blast. Much more of an event since they didn't happen so regularly. I hope some had the business savvy to sell snacks and refreshments. That's where the REAL money would be, eh?
Ugh, I loved this hub, but it brought back memories of my return move to Texas & the moving sale I put together the day before the move. Not well thought out...a possible future hub, hmmm...thanks for the idea!
I do what I can... ;-)
Great--loved this! Love shopping at sales and thrift stores. No problems with used clothes--just wash them! Used clothes are great for little kids--they outgrow stuff so fast and as they get a little older, prices for stuff just gets higher. Do draw the line at shoes though. Just can't make myself wear someone elses shoes!
Thanks, Ruthie. I could see used clothes for little kids.
I love seeing the first yard sale in Spring it means winter is over. My husband loves yard sales and comes home with something all the time.
Enjoyed your hub.
Definitely! I typically do the same thing. Thank you for reading.
Where we live the whole neighborhood has a yard sale in late Spring (Usually in May). Other neighborhoods do the same. We also sometimes call them garage sales.
That sounds fun, Jeff. Thanks for reading this!
Ha the perpetual yard sale...that is great! Nice one!
Thanks, Funnebone. Check it out; that shit is STILL sitting out there!
Excellent article please feel free to help promote your garage sales yard sale sales etc... with Http://www.garagesalestracker.com
Garage Sales
Well, thank you, sebss, but I don't usually hold yard/garage sales.
Good Hub! I liked it very much! I'm a Yard Saler, I love looking for treasures, though I never have any of my own.
Haven't found any yet? They're still my favorite place to find large wooden frames -- just picked up another one a couple days ago for $4.
Keep looking.
I like to go to yard sales on saturdays, like u mentioned the signs are everywhere in my neighborhood, found some real good deals
They're out there. Glad you like this piece.
Hi friend i see your hub this is nice. If you want a best junk yard please visit our side...........
mulder 3 years ago
yeah I have admit I love yard sales but in Australia we call them garage sales you can find some good bargins. Great hub Constant