Around here, the yard sale season is in full swing. I often wonder about the stuff that people buy and never use…which of course makes it a candidate for a yard sale. Stuff like:
-tea services: does anybody use these anymore?
-monogrammed glasses-this is a frequent sale item
-those horrible 'paint by numbers" pictures (to bad to hang on the wall)?
-little glass knic-knacs-my father calls these “dust collectors”
-sets of expensive soaps-why aren’t these used?
-trophys-the cheap, brass plated, plastic base kind (commemorating the lowest score at the Acme Offal Works company tournament)
-fruitcakes (the answer is obvious)-since nobody eats them, might as well regift it
What kind of unusable junk do you see?
cloudy glassware, gaudy dishes,weekly magazines, dimestore novels, cheap bluejeans, 1$ store christmas decorations…
Bocce and Croquet sets, also Badminton and volleyball nets. Everyone buys these with a vision of family unity and lemonade on the picnic table while the kids have all their friends over.
Face it, the kids want to play x-box. It’s hot outside. . . and there are bugs.
We used to visit the San Jose Flea Market back when it was mostly people getting rid of their old junk (most of the vendors now have established spots that sell new stuff). It seemed like the items for sale never changed all that much over time. We had a theory that 75% of the stuff never left, it just went from one stall to another.
There’s a guy down the street who has a garage sale every single weekend. I suspect he gets his “merchandise” at unpaid storage unit auctions. There is always old (non-collectable) glassware, mass-market and book club books, old TVs, monitors and printers, boomboxes, lots of rusty tools and garden implements, and piles of unfolded clothing. Its kind of funny because there’s a Goodwill store about 3 blocks away–they have basically the same inventory, and I think their prices are a little cheaper.
Plastic VHS organizer cabinets with little drawers.
Dead light fixtures and old ceiling fans. Couldn’t bear to part with them before.
Ripped up children’s books in a huge pile on a blanket.
An oddball tire.
Sack of cement.
Religious LPs or cassettes.
I see these things regularly.
I see a lot of people around here trying to sell off their old clothes. That makes sense for baby and kid’s clothes, but for just regular adult clothing? I’ve never seen anyone buy any of it, and I don’t think I’d ever get anything I couldn’t at least try on.
A Huffy bicycle
Whipped Cream and Other Delights by Herb Alpert
Informercial exercise equipment
“Collectibles” like empty Avon jars
Tabletop appliances designed to cook only 1 food such as hot dogs or baked potatoes
Longaberger baskets
The person who mistakes a tag reading “$25” as “25 cents”
Those badminton/volleyball sets suck (the racquets an shuttle cocks are useless). Badminton is an indoor sport for a reason. The slightest breeze will screw you up even if you’re a good player. Volleyball actually requires skill. Grandma just isn’t spry enough to jump up and spike the volleyball, mom’s hand-eye coordination sucks so she can’t hit the shuttlecock let alone get it back over the net, and Dad is busy trying to keep the net from falling over, because there really is no way to set it up properly.
The kids and their friends get bored of it all because you serve the bird/ball once and then someone has to go retrieve either the birdie from the ground/tree where the wind blew it, or trespass in the neighbor’s yard to get the volleyball, and then wait for dad to shore up the net again.
Those sets are stupidly ill-conceived in every way, and always of crap quality.
Sad times indeed, when kids don’t actually want to play anymore.
And the yard sale proprietor who writes tags that say “$25 cents”.
. . . convince the ill-trained dog to drop it and then wipe off the spittle. . .
Good times! 
[ul]
[li]Outdoor water toys (kiddie pools, Slip N’ Slide, etc).[/li][li]1970s-era all-in-one stereos (tuner, phonograph, 8-track tape player).[/li][li]Luggage without rollers, especially old hardshell suitcases.[/li][li]Cheap corded telephones and huge 900 MHz cordless phones.[/li][li]Promotional coffee mugs.[/li][/ul]
- old printers that cost more for the ink than the printer
- old, yellowed monitors
Just take it off to the electronics recycling already; yes, I know they’re perfectly good, but everyone in the neighbourhood has stuff that’s 10 years younger and faster.
Everyone seems to be posting stuff that doesn’t get passed around. I’m thinking bread machines. People buy them at yard sales and never use them and then sell them at their own yard sale. I’ve bought unused stationery, never used it, and resold it without even taking off the old price tag. I buy a lot of cookbooks that at first glance look better than they are, then resold them.
We had our second Garage Sale in 15 years. Man, I mean we had some GOOD STUFF! Nothing like that OTHER crap you see in OTHER people’s garage sale. We’ve been saving up! Really awesome things that EVERYONE will KILL to buy!
Then the stuff hits the daylight for the first time since we moved it and, hey, it’s the same crap. Pasta Machines, a stove top smoker, a (fully complete!) Farberware Rotisserie grill. The 10 lb heavy glass <strike>murder weapon</strike> Eagle Ashtray.
And the thought of taking it back downstairs just kills ya.
We had two chairs from mom-in-law. High-backed. Powder Blue and Pink. $20 each, the set for $30. (Mostly because everybody wanted the Blue and we didn’t want to get stuck with the pink.) This tall, willowy, guy is just AGONIZING over the Blue chair. Didn’t bite on the package deal. I offered $15 for the chair he was so obviously in love with. He countered with $10 and I stated no thanks. AGONIZINGLY IN LOVE with it he was.
I ended up giving it to the neighbor. That damn pink thing is STILL in my garage.
Strange things made of string. My friend had one of these selling, it had a tiny pottery vase entwined in it. To our amazement someone picked it up saying “Ah - this is perfect for Jean.” “What is it?” we chimed. “A curio for your patio!” It’s become a catch phrase around here.
Box of various Tupperware lids.
Cookie tins.
That, you know, just might fit.
Not so fast there. I kept suggesting to Mrs. FtG that I pick up a bread machine at a garage sale sometime. She loves to cook and I knew she’d love it. She finally decided to try one. Got one for like $5 or some such. Had little to no use. And she indeed loves it. Gets used 1-3 times per weekend. It’s starting to wear out so I’ll be getting her another one in the near future.
It’s the decorative stuff I don’t get. Tins, baskets, etc.
Drive through here on a weekend and you’ll see a card table set up in the driveway while the people sit sheltered from the sun in their garages. You will see the table just covered with small shoddy stuff as mentioned above, and nearby a rack of size XXL polyester blouses, coordinating knit pants, and worn flannel shirts. Always those glass vases from old flower arrangements (or from the dollar store). A few lamps, without shades. Wooden things - boxes, giant fork and spoon sests to hang on your kitchen wall! - old stainless steel cutlery. Candles in jars, outgrown sneakers, napkin holders, CD towers, old Disney videotapes. … In other words, the exact same depressing, mundane stuff cluttering up my own house!..I only held one yard sale in my life, after someone died and we had to empty the house of stuff by the end of the month. Early birds looking for ‘antiques’, usable bits of furniture, and old vinyl LPs showed up like locusts. I did pretty well, I sold an old baby bassinette to the mailman, who came back for it later!..There is always a lot of kids stuff - toys, books, dolls, tons of clothes, those horrible plastic Fisher Price play stoves. Everyone has that, for expectant parents you can get some good stuff, cheap, unless you’re an entitled princess from a McMansion. For the rest of us, save while you can, those kids are gonna cost you sooner than you think.