Yard Saling (Sale-ing)

This is a post about a very common weekend activity here which my parents call 'yard saling.' Basically, it involves one family or group of persons placing all of their unwanted personal possessions outside their house, into their garage and/or driveway and yard for other people to come by and peruse and to buy for ridiculously little money. The first time I heard them refer to their hobby of going to garage sales as 'yard saling,' I got a sudden image of both of my parents standing like surfers balanced on their boards, arms out, hair blown back from their faces, and I had to smile. When my fellow countrymen and women decide to rid themselves of the their current collection of capitalistic excesses, they often hold a garage (or yard) sale. Whether it is called a garage sale or a yard sale usually has little to do with whether the goods are sold from the garage or the yard. It's purely a matter of personal speech habits or whatever happens to be on the available store-bought signs.

To hold a yard sale, one goes through one's personal possessions and chooses what one no longer wants, places an advertisement in the local paper, places prices on stickers on the items themselves or on signs on the boxes or tables that hold them. ANYTHING can and is sold at yard sales. I have seen eyeglasses, paint, toilet plungers, tools, motorcycle parts, make-up (ick), dishes, building supplies and bikes, old family photos(!), medicines, and once, groceries! Prices are extremely low, usually from as little as 10 cents (about 2Kc) to just under $20 (500Kc),except for some furniture or autos, depending entirely on the whim of the seller. My parents once bought a good car for my brother for $100.


As all of these sales begin early usually on Saturday mornings at 7 or 8, it is important to get an early start to catch the best bargains. Mercifully, how one dresses for this actvity is unimportant. In fact, casual and unkempt is the norm, and it is not unusual for women to go without their make-up or for anyone to be still clutching their morning mug of coffee. It is interesting to see how happy it makes some people to get rid of their junk and how equally thrilled other people are to pay for it, and to watch all of the people involved. As they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." We went to eleven such sales on Saturday and among the things we returned with were some 'silk' flowers, a cashmere sweater (for 50 cents--10 Kc), some books, and a pair of crutches which were Bram's purchase. He likes to play on them. Go figure. When we returned, I gathered up a few bags of my own things which I will donate to Goodwill. Even though I could make a good bit of money if I held a yard sale of my own, I confess that I am both too lazy to do the work to have one. But after reading that the average profit for a one weekend yard sale is about $600, it is very likely that I will soon find a way to overcome my laziness. I would be thrilled with half that. Who knew my junk might be so valuable?