A writer finds failure in getting rid of her goods through her sale.

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR
Special to The Jewish News

admitted pack rat who clung fiercely
to stacks of junk in the basement.
"First of all, no one is going to buy
that garbage," he said as he blocked
my way to the storage room. "The
computer? Please. It's older than I am.
Its worth is in its historical valde.
"Secondly, some of those things are
my mementos. Like this," he said,
holding up a T-shirt advertising a col-

y garage sale folly began
one day last summer
when my sister, Patrice,
bragged that she had
made a small fortune with her two-
day garage sale. So successful had the
venture been that she was now able to
afford a very stylish summer
wardrobe and had money to
spare.
"It's so easy," she claimed ;
flashing a fist full of dollars.
Cathy Pedigo's first garage sale was a
"All I did was put up the sign
dismal failure.
and open the door. People just
After hours of cleaning, tagging and
poured in and bought up every-
arranging her cast-offs for sale, the former
thing."
Saginaw resident nearly wept after her ini-
Not to be outdone by my
tial foray into home sales netted barely
slightly older sister, I began
$40.
thinking about everything I
"It was terrible," she said "I couldn't
would sell at my own garage
understand what I did wrong."
sale and how much more I
But unlike others who would give up
could make than my sibling
after those returns, Pedigo was determined
rival, the one blessed with a :
to find out how to do it right. Now hurF-
lesser IQ and the greater fanny.
. dreds of garage sales and-tens of thousands
Surely, I, the smarter of the
of dollars of income later, she thinks she
two, could duplicate if not
has found the right formula. In fact, she
exceed her profits in the same
even wrote a book about it How to Have
or less amount of time. And it
Big Money Garage Sales.
would be a great opportunity to
"NoVi I make about $1,000 for a five
get rid of everything taking up
day garage sale," she said "But it didn't
space in my basement storage
happen overnight. It took a lot of fine
room: the three-piece dresser
tuning."
set with matching desk that had
Pedigo and others who have become
been so smart looking in my
garage sale mavens offer their advice on
barely post-college apartment
doing it right the first time.
and so shabby looking next to
my new furniture, the tired old
Gathering the goods
waterbed, the ancient computer
The more the better, say the experts. If
that measured speed in Ks,.
after looking through
boxes of items from two house-
your closets, basement
holds merged into one via mar-
and attic you don't think
riage and bags of unwanted
you have enough, tell
clothing, some from my hus-
neighbors of your garage
band Joel's late teens (he is now
sale plan and invite
pushing 40).
them to sell their wares.
My first hurdle to success
came from my husband, an

was given the once over and tagged for
sale as I mulled over what I would do
with the new found cash. .
In the days before the garage sale, '7)
set up tables, made signs and prepared
a till with change for the expected
hordes of garage sale groupies known
to comb my area. I wrote an ad for a
local newspaper and spent the entire
night before the sale arranging attrac-
tive displays in my garage.
On the day of the sale, I
beamed with pride as the first
carload of people stopped in
front of my house 15 minutes
"You will want to have friends, family and
before the garage opened. As I
neighbors include items, writes Jean -f
pushed the automatic door
Hines in her book, How to 1-1ave High
opener, I expected a gasp from
Dollar Garage Sales.
admiring shoppers. Instead, I
"It can be very helpful, a lot.more fun
got my first blow of the day.
and definitely more profitable with others
"This is it?" a man with
involved."
brown teeth asked. "This is all
you have?"
-Be friendly
He and his partner, sporting
t h
e eety the e cu
d h s-
Greet::
s p
a tank top that was unsuccess-
tomers and ask if
ful in hiding his hairy belly and
need
matching arms, proceeded to
finding some-
haggle over the price of a book
thing in particu-
on collecting art pottery. The
lar if they appear
book, tagged at a very reason-
to be hunting for
able $5, left my possession
an item.
three dollars later.
You know what is available," writes
-\
It was _a good 45 minutes (j
Hines. "Help them find it."
before the next carload arrived.
Decide what to do with the rest. If the
I held my breath and the two
item was salable fora garage - sale, it is
stylishly dressed women waded
probably good enough to donate to a local
through my goods. As they
charity for a tax credit. Call your favorite
clutched their cash stuffed
charity in advance to arrange for pick up
designer wallets and picked
or drop off of the items following the sale.
through my clothes, I was sure
they would buy just about
Tell the world
everything.
Use as many signs
Instead, they nodded a
as is possible within a
polite "thanks" and left empty
half-mile radius of the
handed.
home. Place balloons
The next handful of shop-
and more signs on the
pers did the same. So did the
house. Be sure all signs
next and the next.
GURUS on page 34
I felt slightly miffed. What
,106
3 0„,
GAGE

lege intramural game. "I wore this
during the championships when I
caught the winning pass."
Nothing — not even his tearful
pleas — was going to stop me. I
pushed him aside and spent the next
two weekends plowing through every
inch of closet, basement and attic stor-
age space, hauling all of the garage sale
goods into a heaping.pile. Each one

Garage sale gurus offer tips for success

5/22
1997

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