Yes, the rummage sale...I've forgotten the joys of sitting outside in the heat for hours upon hours, waiting for someone to come along and buy what you've decided you don't need or want anymore. Okay, yes, that's sarcasm. For weeks before, you open up every closet, every cupboard, every drawer, and dig way to the back, pulling out all of the things that haven't been touched in 5 years but are still there just because "you never know..." After you have selected the items that are no longer worthy of your possession, you dust them off, wash away the grime and make them look presentable again. Hmm...maybe I should keep this one. No, no...we never use it.
Now it's time to put a value on the items. How much would you be willing to give these things up for, or conversely how much do you think someone would be willing to shell out for this piece of crap? Keep in mind haggling - it's rare that someone will actually want to pay the full amount. "Fifteen dollars for this pan? I'll give you ten." "How about thirteen?" "Deal." Then there are the collectors items that are worth far more than what you're asking for, but still nobody will want to pay the posted price because the people collecting them want to pay as little as possible when they'd turn around and sell it for the same price that we're asking for or even higher. No matter what number you stick on the item, you're always doubting yourself - it's either too high or too low, never just right. Well, except for that box of items for twenty-five cents.
At this point, you make a choice as to how you're going to display your items. Some people put everything neatly on tables, some people put things on the ground in boxes, others kind of throw things around and leave them where they land. Do you group them by type of item: toys here, electronics there, housewares in the corner, or do you mix them all together so people have to look at everything? In the garage or out in the sun? Oh so many decisions just to get rid of this crap. Wait, no - it's not crap, it's still perfectly good, you just don't want it anymore. You know, maybe it's not such a good idea to get rid of this quite yet...eh, if it doesn't sell, I'll keep it.
The day finally arrives and the swarms of people that you were hoping for never quite materialize. A slow trickle of people come and go. Some drive by...very...sloooooowly, others get out, leave the car running, take a quick look around and get right back in the car. Oh, I'm sorry, is my crap not good enough for you? There are the large families whose children descend on the toys like starving hyenas upon the corpse of a tiny jackrabbit, the people who look at one or two things forever, and the people who go back and forth 3 or 4 times. Finally something sells and you have hope that maybe, just maybe, most of your items will be sold and you'll be left with a mountain of cash. Then you sit alone for another half-hour and conclude that you're not going to sell another item and you'll have to figure out how to haul everything to Goodwill.
For two or three days you endure this roller coaster ride of hope and hopelessness and on that final day, you decide you just want everything to go. You want to buy the glass bowl that someone paid $25 for in the store for a dollar? That's fine, just get it out of my face. When it ends, still quite a bit remains, and this is either taken out to the trash or put in the trunk to go to the resale shop. You count the money that you've made, wondering if it was worth the work and time put into it, but then remember that it's money you wouldn't have had otherwise and figure out how to spend it on other things that you'll end up putting out in a rummage sale another 5 years down the road.
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