It all started with a garage sale #win… then a terrible #fail.
Garage sale, perfect opportunity to raise funds for my race, get the word out about my cause, and additionally clean up some of my hoarding. I’m a gadget hoarder. I’m better now (mostly) but I’ve had this terrible habit of buying every new shiny gizmo-gadget that catches my eye. I justify this by saying, “I work in technology, so it’s important for me to be familiar with it. “…but kiki…that’s a wifi/bluetooth enabled digital …stethoscope. It’s a stethoscope, kiki…” [Crazy eyes] “I work in Technology!!”
Anyhoo, thank God for deliverance, even in small steps! I gathered a bunch of my “toys” and I put them on a table. I also put out a couple of racks of clothing and shoes. Not a bunch of rags… great quality stuff, that I just have way too much of. I haven’t really outgrown anything since pre-adolescence. Some stuff I purchased thinking I’d grow into it one day, but that also never happened. So I had tons of great clothes, shoes, and electronics, wildly underpriced. So underpriced that I’m not going to list them. I can imagine the flood of comments now… “Can you send me one of those $15 ipads?”
I was really excited at my sale because most people, seeing that my prices were totally fair, purchased items as marked *and* donated money to my cause. That was totally encouraging. Some people, even when they didn’t buy anything, just gave money to my race. I thought, I’m winning! Then some family stopped by and said our neighborhood was having a mega multi family super garage sale next weekend and it was well advertised so I should put my stuff out then. Cha-ching, right?!
But trouble was looming, and I should have seen the signs. First sign, some woman wanted to buy a tablet I had out for sale for pretty much nothing, but she just HAD to bargain still and asked for a lower price. I’m like, lady, I’m selling a barely used tablet, never uncased, still with plastic on it for 5% of what I paid for it, and you still want it for lower?! Sure… you can have it. (Un)fortunately I didn’t have the cord for it, so I couldn’t sell it. I thought I’d had the cord, but when you’re dealing with boxes upon boxes of gadgetry and wires, things get lost. So she took my number. And called me over and over to make sure I wouldn’t sell it, and stopped by again to ask if I had the cord, and all kinds of craziness. Frankly, I was very annoyed. She gave me terrible energy.
Nevertheless, most people were kind souls and I was hopeful for the super mega sale coming up. Since there would be a lot more traffic, I thought I should be more prepared with my race advertisements. Many people that first week were asking about my blog and the website etc etc, and I had to hand write everything. But not this week; this week I’d be ready. I printed out some literature on the race. I also drafted up letters to my neighbors for people who stopped by, and had it printed with my donor cards at the bottom. I set up again, ready for the floods of people, but they never really came. It was the same amount of people who stopped the previous week. Which was a decent number, but no where near the advertised flood. Additionally, these people were not really like the folks who stopped the last week. They were way less interested in my cause; mostly professional price hagglers, drawing their energy from every bargain they “won.”
And this is when it hit me. Now wait, remember the previous week I was selling my toys at rock bottom prices. And I was happy and excited. But that following week. I’ll tell you, I had a moment. I had a pair of shoes out for sale with a $5 tag on them. Pristine condition shoes. They were pretty high end hiking boots that had never seen a dusty trail. Over 10 years old, but looked untouched. I actually got great wear out of those shoes, but in a testament to the craftsmanship, they looked totally unworn. They were a gift from a friend of mine. A christmas present from 2002-ish. Someone asked if I’d take $3 instead of $5. Sure, you can have them. 2 dollars and 4 quarters later, I watched them go down the street. I read a bunch before my sale on how to do it right, and somewhere it was said, make sure not to sell anything sentimental. The problem is, I didn’t know the shoes had sentiment until those 4 quarters hit my hand and another proud bargainer walked away, chest puffed out. I clutched my heart and took a seat.
At that point I had a strong epiphany. I’m not really helping my race by being out here. There are easier and smarter ways to get the word out. And further, the folks out here buying this stuff are probably not the ones who need it most. There could be a ‘needy’ person in the crowd, but from what I saw, these folks are mostly just professional bargain shoppers. So I decided I’m not going to sell anymore of my stuff. I’m going to give it all away. Yeah, friends and family, you get first dibs on whatever gadgets you want. Just come by the house this weekend, I’m going to be in town. Clothes/shoes, you can also sift through those too. Take what you want! Whatever I don’t get rid of at my friends and family free99 sale, I’m going to take to the women’s shelter. (Except for gadgets, as I’ve been told they have no use for those) Suits and work clothes, I’ll donate to the ‘ready for work’ organization. If you happen to know some small professionals, come on through.
How is giving everything away going to be better? Hopefully my clothes will go to people who are truly needy. It's not like selling them would make a dent in what I need to raise anyway. Better to be useful. And besides that, I think having my friends and family come scavenge through my gadgets is going to be way more fun. We can make a party out of it! And while I probably won’t raise any money doing that, there’s great value in moral. See you Saturday!
What are you hoping to find for free this week? You might wanna use the comments section to call "first!" 🙂
