The Estate Sale
One thing that I have never wanted to have was a garage sale. I don’t like going to them and I certainly never wanted to have one myself. But now we are moving and keeping very little ‘stuff’ and had to somehow get rid of it, so we had an “Estate Sale” instead of a garage sale. Big difference?…well not really but it sounds better to me than just garage sale. A little classier perhaps? A funny thing though about calling it an “Estate Sale”, people think someone has died. When they came they usually expressed condolences to Megan who was stationed at the front door. She didn’t explain but just said yes it was her parents. Easier to say that and not explain….or was it wishful thinking on her part? After all we have put her through with helping us move, it might be the latter.
Well, I dreaded this estate/garage sale with more passion that you can imagine. I hate doing this sort of thing. Really HATE it! I was almost sick thinking about having strangers come into my home and pick through my treasures and offer a pittance of what I paid for them. Orie was stressed to the max as well. We don’t do this as it goes against our personalities. I think we would rather give it away or throw it away than have folks come and pick through our junk.
But I got through it and actually had a little fun with some of the folks which for the most part were quite friendly. Orie mostly hid out….the big chicken! I couldn’t believe how many people showed up. They started coming an hour early and were pretty steady until late afternoon. And they bought the stuff we considered junk. It was unbelievable. We put out all the junk for sale just because maybe someone would want to buy it and sure enough, they did. You know the saying, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure”. It is true apparently. As for the good stuff, they passed it up for the most part and settled for stuff I would have thrown away. And I got paid hundreds of dollars for it. I did sell some good stuff and got paid a fair amount for it but really people won’t pay much for 2nd hand stuff. They give you a quarter for something you paid $20 for and then try to talk you down from the quarter if they could. Most people are pretty stingey that come to garage sales. A quarter, come on. You have to be kidding. I just laughed and said “okay” and I guess they went home feeling happy. Merry Christmas to you!
Kyle and Megan showed up early and spent the day helping us, for which we are extremely grateful. They were a lifesaver in helping as well as lending us much needed moral support. Kyle is a natural salesman for sure! But he did get trigger happy towards the afternoon and started marking things down without my knowing so people would hand me $10 for a nice coffee table I paid $200 for and I was quite shocked. I actually thought about beating him. He sold Megan’s Cabbage Patch doll she saved for all these years for 25 cents. I was aghast. It was a genuine Cabbage Patch Doll for petes sake. But what do you do when some stranger hands you a quarter after Kyle priced it that low….have an argument with him right in front of them? Surely someone would have paid a dollar!!! Oh well, 75 cents more is certainly nothing to worry about but it is the principle of the thing….a quarter is nothing. For a quarter you can’t even buy something you chew for a minute and then spit out… like a pack of gum. It is like they got it for free and felt okay about that. Don’t they know I stood in line for hours 25 years ago and paid a tidy sum for that precious doll? Have they no shame about handing me a quarter in exchange for my treasure that I sweated blood and tears to buy for my daughter’s Christmas gift long ago? Cabbage Patch dolls were the rage! That’s all people talked about back then was where you might possibly find one to buy. It was a fight to get one and I’m not kidding! Surely by now that doll must be an antique and worth many times over the $60 I paid for it. 25 cents! Good grief! It is a good thing money doesn’t buy happiness because I couldn’t buy much from what I got for that doll. And so with a catch in my throat and a tear in my eye I watched that doll and all those wonderful memories go out the door in the arms of someone who may or may not have any appreciation for or take good care of that treasured doll. Sigh.
The weird thing is that as the rooms become empty in this house I feel strangely liberated. Although my ‘treasures’ are almost all gone and I hate to see them go for reasons stated above, I actually feel light and liberated from the weight of all this stuff. It feels kind of good to walk through the house and see empty rooms so clean and tidy and devoid of stuff. Less IS more I guess. Less dusting, more freedom. Less clutter, more open and tidy. Less stuff to worry about, more important things to spend time and money on. Oh and speaking of money… with the sad and scary state of our economy these days I have a new philosophy…spend it quickly before it is gone! But what do I spend this little wad of cash on…surely not more stuff? Hmmm. How about wheat? I can eat wheat. I can’t eat stuff. It may actually come down to wheat being far more valuable than gold, silver or any stuff. Yep, I’m buying wheat!
