10 Things You Should Never Buy from a Garage Sale

Posted on 23/01/2024

You Should Never Buy These 10 Things At a Garage Sale

Your neighbour just went through house clearance and is having a garage sale! This is always a reason to skip over there and see the wares on offer. Garage sales can give you plenty of useful things you can implement into your daily life and make it easier or richer. Then again, garage sales also offer items that you should never buy. They are either worn out, unusable, or just plain rubbish which your neighbour didn’t want to hire a waste removal service for. After all, why waste something on junk disposal when there can be a gullible neighbour to buy it from you, right? Well, here is some advice on which items might constitute as rubbish and you should never buy.

1.    Technology
If there is a seemingly working TV, a DVD player, or even a game console on sale, there must be a reason for that. There could be a single burnt pixel in the middle of the screen, the player might be refusing to work half the time, or the console doesn’t accept all types of discs. Unless you are a technology wizard, buy your appliances brand new.

2.    Mattresses
So many things can be wrong with a mattress. It seems like an alluring buy as most of them are very expensive. But even if this one looks comfortable, it could have a loose spring that latches succinctly into your spine once you lie down, and that’s the least of problems mattresses can have, the rest varying from fleas to rotting insides.

3.    Tyres
Never get used tyres. If a tyre is on sale, then it is not usable. Unless you want more props for your obstacle course, stay away from tyres.

4.    Shoes
Worn shoes are never a good buy. They might fit you well and might be comfortable, but what happens after a few days when they crumble apart on your feet?

5.    CDs & DVDs
While you may be eager to buy that music CD which you couldn’t find anywhere else, you should rethink such a move. The CD might be on sale because the owner no longer wants it and wants to make some quick cash, or it might be on sale because only every other track is working.

6.    Watches
This is an obvious one. If there is a perfectly fine-looking watch on sale, then it doesn’t tell time properly. If it’s an electronic watch, then there could be a number of things wrong with it. Stick to your own watches or get some new ones.

7.    Stuffed animals
Sure, your kid might be delighted to play with a new toy... that has suffered living at the bottom of a waste heap in your neighbour’s garage for the past few years until he or she dug it up. Dust mites will be the least of your worries if you give your kid a worn out stuffed animal full of insects and diseases.

8.    Hats
Old hats contain everything from a comfortable prim to your neighbour’s hair and dandruff. If you don’t feel too grossed out to wear a used hat, go for it. Otherwise, let your neighbour keep it for junk disposal.

9.    Undergarments
This is just plain disgusting, let alone sanitary. No item that has touched another person’s private zone should touch yours, especially if taken out of a garage. No amount of washing can get the unhygienic feeling away.

10.    Sheets
Unless you need rags, never sleep on used sheets taken out of a dusty garage. Bed sheets already collect enough dust mites just laying still; you don’t want those collected from days to years of wasting away.

Be smart when going to a garage sale and see which items can be of any further use and which should stay where they are as subjects of future rubbish removal – the only thing some of them are good for.