Tis the season for purging junk from your home and having strangers pay you to get it off your property.
See it, hear it, love it or hate it; the rummage sale season is in full swing.
In our city, you can’t go a single block without being blinded by dozens of neon-colored signs fighting for space on the corners of busy intersections.
Suburbia is littered with trash, treasures, and teamwork.
Yes, teamwork.
For many families, hosting a rummage sale requires a combined effort by all of its members regardless of age. At least that’s what my neighbors tell me. They were one of the first clans to kick-off the rummage sale-a-thon this weekend, and they didn’t skimp on a single detail.
The family’s teenage boys were responsible for creating and erecting two-dozen signs advertising the sale. Meanwhile, mom and daughters were in charge of setting out the merchandise and tagging each item. Dad pitched in by hauling all of the items out of the garage and onto the driveway. Heck, even grandma and grandpa got in on the sale by manning the cash box and greeting would-be buyers.
Poetry in motion… meh… not so much.
Apparently, my neighbor’s kids didn’t really… rather, really, really didn’t want to “waste” an entire Saturday helping out with a family rummage sale. Still, their parents stood firm and insisted that the teens pitch in no.matter.what.
When my daughter and I cruised over to their home early this morning, my neighbor’s children looked like they would rather eat live beetles rather than wait for strangers to buy the family’s unwanted goods. In fact, I distinctly heard one of the boys offer to buy some of the tagged items, so he could clear a rack and split early to hang out with his friends.
However, when my daughter and I strolled over there after dinner to see if the sale was a success, I was amazed to hear that the family’s purging more than exceed any and all expectations, though not in the sales department.
As it turns out, the family didn’t make as much money as they had hoped for, but according to mom and dad neighbor, in the fourth hour of the sale, their kids’ attitude changed dramatically and the entire clan actually had a good time spending the day together reminiscing over old items and teasing one another about whose junk attracted the most attention from customers.
I joked that the promise of profit sharing incited the attitude adjustment, but the dad adamantly denied that money fueled the multi-generational bonding.
Who knew that a simple rummage sale could bring a family together?
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