Estate Sales – Love them or hate them?

At the first estate sale I went to, I purchased a terra cotta bowl for storing my hose in. I think I paid $6, which was a good deal. The sale was in southern California and my son brought me there to entertain me since he knew I liked garage sales. Since then I’ve been to several more.

One of my recent purchases was a family of quail terra cotta planters. I think I probably paid too much, in my eagerness to own them. But they do look awfully cute as containers for three of my succulents.

Most items I pick up, I put down and walk away, because I am painfully aware that I should be getting rid of my clutter, not adding to it.

Estate sales galore

There are many estate sales in the area that I live in. In fact, I am signed up with two different companies to get notified of the estate sales they are offering each weekend. They entice you with pictures of the items for sale. Tons of pictures. I have fallen in love with many furniture pieces and kitchen items. And books and outdoor plants and pottery. There are so many things that a person could buy, relatively inexpensively. The pictures arrive in my inbox 3 or 4 days prior to the sale. They also list the day(s,) times and city. They don’t give you the actual address until the day prior. This is to keep people from stopping by early to try to snag something first.

These days the notification arrives with a long list of Covid-19 precautions. Masks are required, as is social distancing. One company even suggests you wear disposable gloves. A sign-up sheet is put out in front of the house about 30 minutes before it opens. Once the home is open they will allow 10 people in at a time. So if you are the eleventh person on the sign-up sheet, you may have a long wait. If the sale is for two days, I have found that the second day, though short on items for sale, usually comes with all items half-price.

I might be going to one on Saturday, but then again, I keep saying that every week. Sometimes I get busy with other things or I get too lazy to drive over.

Where does all of this stuff come from?

At first I believed the owners had died or moved into a convalescent home. What other reason would someone have to to give up almost everything, including their Christmas decorations, pads of paper and paperclips, pots and pans, and laundry detergent?

I was wrong. One estate sale I visited, had the family there, holding their own estate sale. They were moving to Hawaii. This made sense to me. It would cost more than the value of the items to ship them to Hawaii and the wait to receive them could be quite long. So another reason can be because the owners are moving to Hawaii or a country overseas. I suspect there could be some big-time lottery winners that decide to move and start fresh with more expensive furnishing and matching silverware, instead of the bits and pieces of three sets that are now being sold in the estate sale.

Another scenario that I hadn’t considered was a divorce. I guess neither person wants the other’s stuff and since most of it may be “theirs” they just might not want the memories. Or, maybe they are moving in with someone new, who already has a beautiful home completely set up.

The day it became too real

I loved estate sales until the day I went to my first one near my new home. Walking into the kitchen there were a collection of spices, Ziplocs, tea bags, silverware, dishes, pots and pans, dish towels, etc. They were all on display with little price tags on them. The master bedroom included furniture, a collection of sheets, bedspreads, nightgowns, shoes, work out clothes, and bras. In the family room sat a woman who appeared to live in the home, yet she seemed to know nothing about what was going on. That was eerie.

I don’t know what I expected. It made me think; will my sisters and I, one day do this with all my mom’s stuff? Including her bras and nightgowns. What happens when I die, will everything I have in all my cupboards be on display with little price tags on them? And then on the second day, most of it would be half price? All my secrets out in the open, for whoever has the cash. It had become too real.

Love them or hate them?

However, I realize if I’m dead, I won’t know the difference, but I would rather have everything donated or trashed. With my children living hundreds of miles away, I’m sure that would be the easiest thing for them to do. Please kids, please listen to your mother.

I will not do this with my mom’s stuff. Never. It becomes an instance of sharing all her dirty/clean laundry for all to see. And from that viewpoint, I hate estate sales.

What will happen when your mother dies? Will I be walking through her home, avoiding the bras and nightgowns, in search of something I can use in my yard?

Yet, without estate sales, there are a few terra cotta items that I wouldn’t own. I’m bewildered. Do you love them or hate them?