Why I created this website and how my idea for
Local Yard And Garage Sales Online (LYAGSO)
came about ...
I'm embarrassed to say that I am an addict ... No, it's not drugs or anything like that but my addiction is still very much an addiction ... you see ... I am a recovering shop-a-holic. I LOVE sales of all kinds - yard sales, garage sales, moving sales, estate sales, and, yes, even auctions. Even though I don't go to very many (because I know better and try to stay away to avoid the temptations), I still ended up becoming a very sick shop-a-holic. I still have to go shopping ... and, whenever I go to Walmart or Target - or any other store, I always end up buying LOTS of extra things on sale - whether I need them or not.
Over the past few years, I have really tried to curb my habit. When my children were growing up, I used shopping as an escape to save my sanity and give me the much-needed break from kids 24 hours every day and my house became overfilled with 'stuff'. So, we moved. Then, we moved back. I've found that, even after moving twice, we still have LOTS of extra 'junk'. Now, I can't say that it's really junk - we don't keep garbage in the house. What I mean is that I know one person's trash is another person's treasure. My goal with this website is that I'm hoping to clear out my all of my extra clutter with this website.
My thinking is that by offering others the chance to have these good items (some of them even brand new, still), there will be less waste. If we all adopt this way of thinking, it will help the environment from excess manufacturing. We all need to jump on this bandwagon because the Earth and all of it's natural resources are dwindling quickly.
I've often tried to have yard sales or garage sales, I've even tried to have huge moving sales ... Sure, the results brought us in a couple hundred extra bucks here and there ... but - oh, man! - The time to get ready, get organized, and then get rained out was phenomenal! Plus just having the stash of piles of stuff that were waiting in anticipation for the sale. I used to enjoy having the sales but the last 2 yard sales that I tried to have were rained out ... after that, I decided NO MORE!!!
So, then I began packing everything up and donating it to the Women's and Kids Shelter, the Senior Citizen Center, and - of course, Goodwill. I must have taken about 60 car loads (very literally) FULL of 'stuff' to a Goodwill center that was 30 and 45 miles away in other towns ... this was before we eventually got our own Goodwill in our city. I enjoy the convenience now but I have mainly bigger stuff left so I offer it and have people come pick it up now. The largest thing I donated was a 7 1/2' Christmas tree and a large ab-rocker. My small car won't hold anything bigger so I'm kind of at a point where I'm stuck now. If people want my items, they will need to come pick them up.
You'll find my items on LYAGSO.com under the seller name 'Cleaning House Sales'.
And, of course, there's always the few items that I would end up paying big bucks for and just can't give that stuff away for free now ... normally, time has to pass before I'm willing to do that. I think it's a conscious thing to know that I spent SO much money on something and then I'm just throwing it away. I've found that if I try selling something before I give it away, if it doesn't sell, then I feel better about donating it. Just my mind's way of saying it's ok to let it go, regardless of what money was originally spent on it ... Hey, we ALL have to rationalize and justify the expense in our minds, I'm no different than you except maybe I'm more impulsive so when I see something, I buy it (BEFORE thinking about the cost) ... then comes the guilt. Whereas, you probably justify the cost BEFORE buying it and either make up your mind to buy it or (more likely than not) don't buy it.
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