Readers asked me to describe the garage sale we held last year and what happened.

When Jerry and I blended our households we opted to hold a garage sale of our many household duplicates. We spread the word in the neighborhood and in our block alone, five families also set up.
We made signs for the street corners and ran several ads on Craigslist.
We carefully priced everything, grouped it by category- i.e., household necessities such as linens, kitchen, bathroom, yard, and fun things such as books, music, electronics, jewelry.
We had 4 people helping us, one there just to watch the crowds we anticipated. The ad stated 9 a.m. so we were set up and ready at 8 a.m.
We live in San Diego and had been warned by neighbors that we should be on the lookout for people who “worked garage sales”, ripping things off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we scoffed. If they want it that badly, since it’s all practical stuff, we would give it to them. Need bedding? here. etc.
But we just weren’t prepared for what happened.
At exactly 8 a.m. we were converged upon by about 15 people, some children with parents, some adults. Each of us was suddenly kept very busy with little children swarming to handle things, and adults speaking very broken English keeping us focused on them as they opened up and examined queen size quilts, large towels and so on. The woman I worked with said she would take this, this, this, and so on. She stacked up most of the bedding, a set of dishes for 8, bathroom towels, shower curtains, bathmats, and her husband would pick it up and she would keep me focused. It was happening to each of us working at the sale. What we didn’t know was that there were several men - “husbands”- quickly piling the selected items into their car trunks. At one point I asked the woman where the items were as I couldn’t see them and we were just swarmed by action and distraction. I looked over to see if any one could help me and noticed a brand new large silver Chrysler slowly driving away, the man at the wheel the woman I had been working with peering anxiously at me, the children in the back seat waving the toys I had given them and realized they were driving away with about 60 percent of what we had put out for sale. There was nothing to be done except warn the other neighbors. We were all shocked. As quickly as they came and swarmed us, they were all gone, vanished. It was still. The bits of jewelry and electronics were there but nearly everything in the household category was in their trunk. We had been scammed.
Later, we learned that there are bands of Hispanics who routinely hit garage sales in upper scale neighborhoods, grab and go and drive across the border to sell it in Tijuana.
A few hours later, a group of Hispanic day laborers walked up, clean and tidy with rough, work-bitten hands, spoke no English, very polite. They wanted to buy very simple things such as the few remaining washcloths, a hand mirror, the kind of things you could use if you were living in an outdoor camp. We were happy to share and gave them the things they needed.
Two very different experiences, one greedy, one not.
We heard strikingly similar stories from many people over the next few months who had been stolen from in the exact same way. Our household has decided not to hold another sale, not to put ourselves through the experience of having our goodwill treated so carelessly.
In past years, we had had a garage sale every year or so in another state and never had anything but fun. This was such a sad experience, and we wonder if it’s because we live in a border town or if it is a sign of the times, or both, or how to best understand the motivating factors. We have learned that it is quite a thriving little black market and routinely see trucks loaded down with used furniture and household goods lumbering down the freeway toward the border and can only imagine that it is headed for resale in Tijuana.
Since then, we’ve been warned not to sell electronics, jewelry or other valuable commodities from our home because the theft factor is so great here. San Diego is a great place to come for vacation but there is an increasingly dangerous element here. Be warned.

One way to encourage people to show up is to make responding to your post require some thought–in the listing, ask them to respond with a phone number and two dates and times they can come. Note that any emails not including this information will be ignored.

Now when you read emails, you’ll know who was serious enough to read your entire posting. And getting a phone number (cell, home, doesn’t matter) highly increases the chances of someone coming by, as opposed to just making plans via email (even if you never use the number, they know you have it).

And if someone stands you up and then calls or emails an hour or a day later to say they forgot and want to reschedule, don’t fall for it. If they stood you up once, they’ll probably do it again, and should they really get your stuff for free if they’re not being respectful of your time?

You’d think that this might make people a little less interested in responding to posts, but I haven’t found that to be the case. If anything, I get rid of things quicker, because the requests are more serious and people actually show up.

I will respond to the queries about the garage sale and what I learned.

p.s. I was a social issues investigative journalist- print- for many years and it was so satisfying to see that people responded so well to your blog.Doesn’t that feel great!!

It seems you might equate “foodie” with “snob” and/or “prestige” and I don’t think it’s the same thing. Done well, any meal can be a luxury.

As for the expensive gear, most of it is not necessary anyway. A good chef’s knife is worth the money, pots and pans can last a lifetime, but most of the other “stuff” doesn’t get used after the novelty wears off.

I do have a fair number of kitchen appliances but all are used on a regular basis. I have no desire to buy silly things like juicers and salad shooters and the like. But this doesn’t stop me from dropping some serious money on quality cooking gear. As an example, one pan we use is over 40 years old and still going strong.

One of the joys of life is to live simply. Another is to eat well. We find we can do both.

Also, for what it’s worth, I find folks with more discriminating tastes tend to be fitter. Since they know more about food, they tend to stay away from the processed stuff.

I’m a foodie who would like to disagree - but I do so knowing that I’m probably in the minority. It is definitely possible to be a foodie and live a relatively clutter free life. It’s taken me a long time to learn to buy spices in small amounts, and not let the food in the fridge go to waste. I think the big difference is that we only buy ‘ingredient’ food: meats, veggies, spices, oils. The only pre-packaged food we buy is breakfast cereal for the office and we go out maybe once a week, including lunch (but that’s not the kind of foodie you’re talking about, right?). But we can keep the gadget clutter down because I understand how I cook. I don’t need a stand mixer when a good hand mixer will do the job with just a little more muscle power (and a lot less money). I like kneading dough, I don’t need bread machine. But yes, I do have foodie friends with the $400 kitchenaid pro that never gets used - talk about a waste of space and money.

Money-wise, our grocery bill is about $30/week, but it can be done for less. Starting this year and continuing next and every year after, we challenge ourselves to eating on $1/day/person for the month of February. Not something I want to do every day, but doable for a month.

Of course, it’ll be interesting to see what changes once kids come into the picture…

I’m in the midst of The Great Purge at my house. I’ve been to the Goodwill with 2 car loads of stuff and I filled about half of the apartment dumpster with trash and empty boxes. Why would I keep a closet full of empty boxes? I still have a few more things to tackle but I already fill such freedom and I fill so much calmer. Wow. I agree with Dave about the food. I think this move to getting rid of the clutter in my house will lead to getting rid of the clutter (junk!) in my eating habits.

This all started from reading “It’s All Too Much” by Peter Walsh. It’s a great book to get you off the couch and into the closets to clear the clutter. This is the review I did for my book club:

It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan For Living A Richer Life With Less Stuff by Peter Walsh (Professional Organizer from Clean Sweep)

This book is very useful if you want to get rid of a house full of clutter. It is a fast read and easy to use. There is only one quiz and you can do it in your head. The first chapter looks at the life you want to lead. He doesn’t try to psychoanalyze you; he just tries to figure out how you see your best life and then he guides you there. Also in the first chapter he lists excuses people give about why they don’t try to conquer the clutter. The two that stood out for me were:

1. I might need this in my new house/apartment. He discusses the need to live in the here-and-now and stop living for a fantasy life. Go ahead and live the life you want in the place you are.

2. It was a gift/heirloom/family memento. He discusses the fact that family mementos and heirlooms should not be in dusty boxes in the basement. You should have them where you can enjoy them, otherwise get rid of them. And with gifts, you are not obligated to hold onto every gift everyone has given you. The people who gave it to you probably don’t even remember that they gave it to you.

The group asked me to tell them what he said about books and electronics:

Basically he says for every 4 books or DVDs you keep get rid of 1. Keep doing this and you will get your collection down to a reasonable size. He also says to realize that once you have read a book and gained the knowledge you don’t really need to hang onto the book. If you don’t go back and use the books then you don’t need them in your house. (And you can always come and get them at the library!) He talks about a woman who owns thousands of books. When he suggested getting rid of some of them she said, “I don’t want someone else to have all this information I’ve collected. I paid for it and it’s mine. Why would I give it away?” I don’t think he could help her.

For electronics he doesn’t have specific suggestions but he does advocate zones of use. So if you have too many things for a specific area of use, like too many electronic games then you have to pair down using the ratio method above. I’ve been reading a lot of blogs on the subject and a great suggestion was to get rid of old pieces of equipment. One man talked about having a cable he had paid a lot of money for 8 years ago but he hadn’t had a reason to use it for the past 5 years. I realized I had the same situation! I had an old printer cable with the prongs and most printers today use the USB connectors. Out it went!

If you really get into the declutter mode you might be interested in these blogs and web sites:
http://www.squalorsurvivors.com/
http://blog.neatandsimple.com/
http://www.unclutterer.com/
http://psychologyofclutter.wordpress.com/

My book club is “Who Picked This Book? Club” at Haggard Library, http://www.planolibrary.org

Thanks!

For me storage units are just a waste of money. On my last move, I was moving boxes of stuff that were never unpacked from the move over 5 years ago.

I also have a declutter bag going most of the time. Once it’s full it gets carried out to the garage. It’s my husband’s job to take it to GoodWill. We’re moving across country in almost a year and my biggest dilemma is with things that we’re not using now but may be useful in the next house, like closet storage bags. Do I keep them and move them so I don’t have to buy them later, or do I get rid of them now?

As a parent to a cautious eater, I feel it’s my job to be enthusiastic about food. And if that keeps me out of the millionaire’s club, well so be it. And most times I love the challenge. I also feel very strongly about eating local and less processed foods and I think a certain amount of dedication and passion are needed to make it work.

For me, food clutter is all those foods that looked interesting in the store that never get eaten, or get tasted once and tossed. I try to have a pantry full of only the things I know we’ll eat and if something new doesn’t live up to it’s promise, I try and use it up somehow.

This is an area where I need work. You should see our kitchen. We have a lot of gadgets, and we cook a lot of food. We self-identify as foodies. We spend a lot on nice meals out. While in New York, I paid $330 — 15% of my travel budget! — for a nice restaurant meal for four people. There’s no question that if I were to de-emphasize food in my life, I would save both money and get rid of some clutter.

I also keep a de-accumulation bag, but I do use ebay and freecycle rather than drop it off at Goodwill etc. One reason is that I tend to accumulate things that do quite well on ebay and I don’t think it’s a hassle to deal with posting and shipping the items. I like to use my local freecycle as well so that I don’t feel bad picking things up from the lists occassionally.

Still, the bag idea is the only way I can get rid of anything. I try to add a few things to it each week and once a month or so I’ll go through it, decide whether it’s for freecycle or ebay and post it. If something doesn’t sell on ebay, it goes out via freecycle–no hanging around! I’ve never ended up having anything left over using this method–no matter what the item is, there’s always a market for it.

I got started (and quickly faltered) as we were also doing renovations so there was too much household instability and chaos to be effective. But those are all done, the new floors are in and I’m ready to tackle it again. I also plan to donate the majority of the stuff… eBay sounds great in theory but I’m not sure I’m up for the hassle…same with garage sales.

I’m curious - you said you got ripped off by an organized group of garage salers… I’d be interested to hear what happened. I’ve never heard of this type of thing before…