Plenty to sell at Aunty's garage sale, but not to make money

A lot of elbow grease went into turning the old dragon pot from the painted-over eyesore (left) back to its beautiful original condition. — Photos provided

WHY, Dad, why? I muttered through gritted teeth as I took a breather from scrubbing an old pot that had been languishing in my garden.

My vexed question directed at my late beloved Dad was because years ago, he had painted over this porcelain ware known as a dragon egg pot, over its original brown glaze and dragon motif that it is famous for.

So there I was, armed with steel wool and my favourite cleaning cream, trying my best to scrub off the badly-faded red paint because someone was willing to pay a good price for the pot.

It was desperately hard work but it worked and the paint came off, revealing the brown terracotta glaze and dragon design in near perfect condition because the red paint had protected it from the elements.

But before its beauty was revealed, with my nails breaking and my fingers getting minor cuts from the harsh steel wool, I was really upset with Dad for putting me through this horrible and exhausting task.

The columnist hard at work on her parents old garden pot. — Photo provided

I will never find out what prompted my father to paint it and in that weird colour but it was a blessing in disguise because I was able to sell the pot for a pretty good price.

This was one of the interesting encounters during my recent weekend garage sale, which I mentioned in my previous column as my attempt to clear my house of my worldly goods after downsizing to a condominium.

Garage sales have been around for a long time. They are an affordable and fun way to find lots of good items, especially if the sales are by departing expatriates.

As a newlywed looking to outfit my new home, among other things, I got two gorgeous rattan cabinets, sturdy bunk beds and solid oak storage shelves that way.

That was in the 1980s. Fast forward to 2024 and garage sales remain popular to dispose of things no longer needed and in the process get some fast cash.

That was the idea, but organising a garage sale is a very long, tedious and exhausting process. Perhaps I should have listened to Marie Kondo, that famous Japanese tidying expert, first, but I didn’t and plunged into decluttering the house.

It took almost three months to sort out what to keep, what to discard/donate and what could be sold among my own stuff accumulated over three and half decades, and that of my parents’ dating back to more than half a century.

One of the hardest things about a garage sale is figuring out the prices for all the items. I was fortunate to have a good friend who had held her own sale recently and was able to advise and guide me. Another best buddy also offered good ideas and spent hours helping to arrange the goods and check prices.

Checking prices online, however, can be quite distracting and maddening, especially when cross-checking with overseas sites. An item on Carousell or Mudah could be priced much higher on, say, eBay. And that’s when greed gets in the way.

But because of the proliferation of secondhand goods shops and the vast variety of cheap goods one can buy online, prices at garage sales have to be very, very low to entice buyers. I had to constantly remind myself that the main purpose of the sale was to find new “homes” for as many things as possible and the money I made would be a nice bonus.

Vital to a successful sale is the need to raise awareness to let as many people as possible know about it. My daughter designed a poster, took lots of photos and posted everything on Facebook, other marketplace sites and asked friends to share.

A lesson gleaned from the sale is that one can never predict what would be popular. My friend was able to sell off all the baskets she got from festive hampers. Mine barely moved despite the rock- bottom prices.

Tiffin carriers were surprisingly hot items and all got sold. My mother’s old but very solid aluminium and stainless steel cooking pots and pans were also a hit.

Some things which were not in the inventory got sold when they caught the eye of a buyer, like two very old and grubby glass and wood side tables.

That dragon egg pot was another sought-after item and I had seven of them. I had an idea these were antiques because they belonged to my parents who had had them for more than 60 years.

These traditional pots are found wherever the Chinese have settled. They were originally used to store salted or century eggs, and the classic motif is a continuous coiling dragon, a good luck symbol, chasing the mythical flaming pearl carved into the outside clay before firing. This gives the dragon and other designs a yellowish tan against the pot’s medium brown background. The inside of the pot and rim are tpically glazed in teal or turquoise.

My parents used the pots to grow their favourite plant, the fu gui hua, or prosperity plant. Some people use the bigger pots to grow the lotus and rear fish.

My pots quickly found a buyer. A disappointed latecomer tried to persuade me to let her have one by offering to double the price. That’s why I decided to scrub the painted-over pot and put it up for sale as well.

I still have two more pots but they are not in very good shape. Perhaps I will try to scrub those as well. They are my money-spinners because, as mentioned, most of the other stuff on sale are priced at a fraction of their original prices, including designer handbags, clothes and shoes.

Yet another surprise hot seller were my branded perfumes which I had kept (OK, hoarded) over the years. They were never opened but were at least 10 years old. Because I couldn’t be sure of their state, I sold them at one-tenth of their original prices and many were snapped up!

I still have some old vinyl records, laser discs, Dad’s old fishing rods, reels, hooks and baits, his handyman tools, boxes of aged pu-erh tea and Chinese tea sets, old typewriters and Christmas decorations which I unboxed on the second day of the sale. There are also lots of accessories, some furniture pieces, boxes of cookware and glassware, a staircase of books and magazines and other knick-knacks still available.

While the weekend takings can’t match the work and time it took to organise the sale, my daughter did astutely observe that the really special takeaway was the chance to meet many wonderful people who came, saw value in things I no longer have space for in my life and took them home. They were friends, neighbours, strangers and readers who had become familiar with me and my family through my column.

Thank you all for your support. I hope new people will also drop by. Even if you don’t buy anything, have a homemade choc chip oat cookie on me.

The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.