yard sales

“You got the map? Let’s plan the route.” Super Shoppers cruise streets before dawn, targeting stops. Neighborhood porch and yard sales are not for impatient people. Groups of shoppers dress in loose fitting pants, roomy jackets, and running shoes, looking to find the one in a million undiscovered Monet or Degas hoping to lock up an appearance on Antiques Roadshow. Super Shoppers are porch and yard sales professionals.

Yard Sale Shopping

Motor vehicles turn into sophisticated shopping carts. Trunks open to guard treasures. Drivers suddenly stop when something sitting on a table catches their eye. Trucks pull trailers through narrow streets. Shoppers park everywhere causing mini traffic tie-ups. An SUV drives by with a bright pink “Barbie™ Jeep® Wrangler” tied to its roof.

Shoppers maneuver through maizes of shelves, furniture, dinnerware, and clothing.

What is it that causes us to get tired of possessions? Do we think there is something better we must have? Do we need a new [fill in the blank]? What causes us to keep stuff we may no longer need?

At yard sales, we learn about sellers: “We’re moving. My spouse took a new job. We’re downsizing.” We learn about buyers, “I’m looking for…”

I’m a proponent of porch and yard sales, thrift stores, and auctions. There is “stuff” in my home that I’ve purchased from yard sales, thrift stores, and auctions. Treasures I keep.

For sellers, I encourage you to give 10% or more of your profits to a charitable organization. For buyers, I hope you find what you are looking for at fair prices. Not everyone can afford to shop retail. Sellers, consider it a gift if you helped a buyer purchase something needed.

“He said, ‘Freely, freely you have received, freely, freely give. Go in my name, and because you believe, others will know that I live.'” From the hymn, Freely, Freely, Carol Owens, ©1972, Communiqué Music, Inc.

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” Matthew 6:19-20, The Message

What do you treasure? What do you freely give?