We and our neighbours held a garage sale yesterday. Now we can afford brand name macaroni and cheese. Woot! This time around, we didn't have that much stuff to sell, so our chances of achieving early retirement status were limited. Not like the good old days when DH and I first moved into our home and had fifty years worth of stuff none of my relatives wanted taking up residence.

There was a time when I'd map out a garage sale gameplan for Saturday mornings and cover miles upon miles of driveway discoveries. Some ended up being lovely gifts for friends and relatives, and others just took up space.

Then the clutter really started to get to me. So we started the "if something comes in the house, something has to go out" policy, which forced me to contemplate the consequences of a hasty garage sale purchase. Which coveted item would this bust of Elvis replace? How many shower curtain ring repair kits does a household need? Or the ever-popular, "Damn! I own the book/album/movie already" phenomenon.

So we put out stuff out there for people to pick at, purchase or simply ignore. The remaining items were boxed up and taken to the neighbourhood Goodwill. Some of our neighbours bulkier items didn't make the trip and sat at the end of their driveway, waiting for the regular bin divers and rubbish rummagers to grab it. This photo was taken at 11:30 last night.

By the way, the lamp was gone this morning. So don't feel sorry for it, okay?