I'm a Garage Sale Hypocrite

I admit it -- I'm a garage sale hypocrite. I absolutely hate going to garage sales, but I love it when people come to mine and buy the stuff I need to get rid of. Yes, yes, I know, I know. I already said that I'm a garage sale hypocrite, so get over it.

It's not that I wouldn't buy a used item from somebody else; it's that I don't want to spend the time driving from garage sale to garage sale and looking through piles of stuff for that one thing I might actually treasure. I have way too long of a list of projects that need to be completed and places I'd like to visit to spend my valuable weekends looking through other people's castoffs.

However, I know that there are a lot of people out there who actively seek out garage sales every weekend of the summer and go looking for bargains on barely used clothing (or in the case of a bunch of things I recently sold that were my son's -- NEVER worn! Grrr.), old items they can restore and sell for big bucks and whatever other oddity that sets their hearts to beating.

I think that avid garage sale shoppers view a garage sale the way I view used bookstores -- as treasure troves of things to be discovered. I also know that my preference for old, used books goes against my natural aversion to buying other things used. Again, I'm inclined to buy used items; I'm just not inclined to spend the time looking for the opportunities to do so -- after all, my cars have all been used, but I've actively shopped for them when I needed a new (to me) vehicle.

I recently held a garage sale in which I got rid of many things, and I will be having another one in a few weeks to, hopefully, get rid of the things I didn't sell on the last one and a variety of other things that I still plan to take out of my house. As I sorted out things for the last sale, I sadly realized that over half of my house is full of stuff that I either no longer use/need or stuff that has never been used/needed. That's what happens as children age and outgrow clothing and toys, and that's what also happens after a divorce.

A divorce is an enforced purge. Yet, it's a purge that is good for you. I not only unloaded a person who made me miserable for years, but in the garage sale I also unloaded things that reminded me of that misery. By selling them to strangers who will now put them to use, I've removed the stigma from my house while also giving new life to the things that were unwitting reminders of a person I just want to forget.

Of course, removing the reminders will never make me completely forget that person, but it's still been a wonderful cure for my soul. Where the offending couch that he always fell asleep on once stood is a cute little love seat I'm borrowing from my parents until I find the perfect piece of furniture that suits my taste and my new life. Knickknacks he liked and things from the wedding have been removed, and things I like have replaced them on my shelves.

I don't wish the items themselves a death in the local trash dump, so I'm glad that there are others willing to give them new homes -- I do, however, wish the memories associated with those items a permanent burial somewhere.

So, despite my inclination to avoid garage sales to buy myself or my children something, I'm glad that garage sales exist and I'm even happier that the country is full of people who do like to visit garage sales. They have allowed me to rid myself not only of the things my children no longer use, but also of the things that have left behind a nasty after-divorce-taste in my home.

Now I'm working little-by-little and day-by-day to make the house reflect my life, my style, my preferences. So maybe I need to revisit my garage sale aversion and check out a few for some treasures just waiting for a newly-divorced and blissfully happy woman to come by and give them the new life she's recently been given.

After all, I do need a ladder, more tools and a good buffet for my newly repainted dining room, so . . . anybody up for a garage-sale-shopping Saturday with me?