A garage sale is a means to get rid of what we bought, no longer want, love, or use. Why “garage”? That is where we put all the things we don’t like, love, or use. We only move it to the garage when the shelves and cabinets in the house are overflowing. It is a consequence of excessive buying and keeping.

My son-in-law says, “Yep, we buy high and sell low.” As I help price items for the garage sale, he also says, “If it’s not worth a dollar, it goes in the trash.”

I’m thinking of our upcoming garage sale this Saturday, knowing full well that it is not financially worth our time and effort, but here we are. I think universally, it is hard to get rid of things—gifts from friends and family, memories from places we’ve traveled, and, of course, it is harder to part with something we paid too much for. Yesterday, I asked my daughter, “Do you think $5.00 is too much? I paid $100.00 for it.” But, I tell myself it is better to sell it for $5.00 rather than put it back in the cabinet and shut the door.

Garage sales, Facebook Marketplace, thrift stores, and the like are solutions to our over-stuffed homes, but wouldn’t it be smarter to find a hobby other than shopping?

Speaking of hobbies—you know, those things that always involve shopping. We need far more than paint, brushes, and paper if we want to be artists. Imagine what you need if your hobby is woodworking, auto mechanics, jewelry making, quilting, gardening, scrapbooking, or heaven forbid, collecting something like salt and pepper shakers, arrowheads, cookbooks, or ceramic nuns.

Yes, hobbies contribute to our purchasing decisions, but we all need hobbies to lead an enriched life. Right?

How about clothes? How did I get so many shoes? Why do I have that 20-year-old blouse? Who needs all these hats? Do I really wear fifteen pairs of blue jeans? With over-laden closet rods, why can I find nothing to wear? I’m not mentioning the jewelry.

The truth is, shopping is fun, hobbies contribute to good mental health, and we buy too much and too many because we can. It’s one downside of living with abundance. We could blame the stores that offer more for less. Imagine a store where nothing costs more than a dollar, or you get a year’s supply of something that expires in 60 days. WOW, what a deal.

I have no answers. However, I do have colored stickers, banquet tables loaded with various items, a marker, and a sore back. This article is not the time to solve the whys of our overstuffed homes.

So, let’s have a garage sale! It’ll be fun???

Until the next time: Live while you live.

Jennifer Goble, Ph.D., LPC, is the author of “My Clients…My Teachers,” and the blogger and writer of Rural Women Stories: www.ruralwomenstories.com.

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