Improve your garage sale with these tips

I recently went to some garage sales in my community and noticed some stark contrasts among them. It was not necessarily the presentation or the setup or even how the sale was along the sidewalk rather than in the garage. While I may not know much about hosting a garage sale (last year's attempt was a flop), I do know what I like to see when I attend one. Here are a few points to consider when you have a garage sale.

Be friendly and greet your potential buyers.
When the host or hosts do not even acknowledge me, I start to wonder what kind of situation I have stepped into. Sometimes the people involved in the sale are busy chatting with each other rather than saying "hello" to the person who decided to stop and take a look at the goods. For example, I stopped by a garage sale when I saw a sign by the road. When I stopped, I was mildly concerned about the dog at the end of the driveway as I am not a fan of barking and jumping on people, but hoped the owner would take charge of his pet. While I was grateful he did, the other two people standing at the end of the driveway did not even look at me, make eye contact or otherwise acknowledge my existence. Why would I want to spend money at the sale if the "hosts" are too busy taking a smoking break to say "hello" to me? I felt disrespected and annoyed, and did not end up buying anything from the meager offering.

Have the prices clearly marked, whether on each item or for a group of items (e.g., on a table).
Unfortunately, several garage sales I recently attended violated this rule. I find it frustrating to decide I like an item but then find no tag on it to tell me if I even want to buy it. Is the puzzle map 50 cents or $5? If it is $5, will the seller accept $2? It is hard to decide to buy or bargain on an item if there is no point from which to start. The nature of the host can also influence this aspect. If I did not receive a greeting and do not feel encouraged to talk to the host, I will walk away rather than ask about the price on an item.

Ask a friend or neighbor to help with the garage sale.
I found some rag rugs at a garage sale and was interested in buying them. While I did not need the rugs, I thought I might like to put them on the floor in the basement as a prelude to rendering it more useful than as a refinishing station. However, there were no prices on the rugs nor a sign listing "2 for $5" or something similar. While I did not hold the host's nongreeting against him (he was busy), I did get irritated when he said he would be right back before I had a chance to ask about the rugs. However, I decided I would wait for his return and decide whether I wanted the rugs or not. The host was showing some other customers the stepping stones he was selling, but the stones were in the backyard. Since he was the only one hosting the garage sale, there was no one else to ask question of or help out other customers. When the host did not return after a couple minutes, I decided my time was worth more than waiting around for this man to return and then find out I did not want to buy the rugs at his asking price. Therefore, I left, angry and disappointed. A second person could have taken care of me and the two other people who were interested in buying items, the other two with items to buy in hand.

Label items clearly.
I know it is difficult to price the item, organize the garage space and make each item accessible to potential buyers. However, if there is a label missing inside a garment, please add the size to the price tag or on a separate sticker. I find it annoying to find clothing that looks like it might be in my size but then the tag with the relevant information is cut out of the garment. While the person may not like the tag irritation, having a size, even estimated, would be useful for me to decide if I wanted to buy the item or not.

If pricing items by box or by a quantity, make sure the items are presorted. An open box with jars labeled "$4" does not help me if there are jars outside the box and I do not know if they are included or excluded.

Note for plant sales: Labels apply to these as well. This year, I have gone to three different plant sales in three different communities. The one in my community was an abysmal failure, in my opinion. While the prices were clearly marked, the plants were not. I have no idea what the name of the plant was, what its lighting requirements were, and the hostesses were standing around talking amongst themselves rather than making themselves available to buyers. Frankly, there was not a great variety of plants to choose from so I was disappointed in many ways. The previously visited plant sales had knowledgeable plant sellers with a great selection of well-organized and excellently labeled plants in individual pots.

While my list does not cover how to host a garage sale (good sites are here and here), I hope my list of suggestions helps improve the response to your garage sale. While it is hard to forget poorly serviced garage sales, I have several pleasant memories of friendly women and men who chatted with me briefly and made me feel a bit more connected with my neighbors.

Frugal snow removal: the ongoing saga

Today, we received another 3 inches of snow in my area. It seems to be the light fluffy stuff so I am hoping me and my shovel can handle it without difficulty tomorrow morning. However, my electric snowthrower is still not repaired. My interpretation of the situation: the repair shop did not really understand or want to deal with the snowthrower. I was told the problem (needs a new assembly) was not covered under warranty as I had "jammed ice" into the snowthrower.

As a refresher, I had purchased the Toro PowerCurve 1800 snowthrower in February 2007, never used it and finally brought it out a few weeks ago and it stopped working after less than two mintues. At my father's suggestion, I looked in the owner's manual (I keep them and read them!) There are warnings not to electrocute yourself or not to stick your arm into the moving parts but no warning that heavy snow or ice are incompatible with using the machine. When I informed the Toro-authorized repair shop manager of this, he indicated Toro warranty only covers manufacturing defects. After I asked, he said that gas-powered snowthrowers with this same repair would also not be covered and that he had fixed four other [gas-powered] snowthowers with this same "jammed it into ice and broke it" problem.

Then the power in my snowthrower was denegrated (electric does not have any power) and I finally just said reassemble the snowthrower and I will pick it up. This was the third phone call to the place, I had difficulty finding someone to talk to and I felt so dissatisfied by the treatment in trying to get answers. I did not jam my machine into the ice--I was moving heavy snow. How can a machine be considered free of manufacturing defects when it stops functioning after only two minutes? I have an electric lawnmower that has worked flawlessly for two years. As my dad pointed out, if the electric snowthrower was so under powered, how did it break? I intend on trying another Toro-authorized repair shop and hope my experience is more satisfying than the one in my city.

Until the snowthrower is repaired, my secondhand shovel and I will be putting in more hours.