It's Hip to be Cheap

I live on a corner. We have a telephone pole in our front yard. People consider it to be public property and feel free to post their signs on it. Granted, it's not my pole, but it is my yard. I don't mind them putting their signs there as long as they take them down when they are outdated. But that's a "gripe" for another day.Today's blog is about the garage sales (or "yard sales") those signs advertise. This time of year, new garage sale signs appear on the telephone pole every weekend. More than ever before I have noticed cars stopping and reading the signs, then turning around if necessary to head in the direction they point. Shamelessly.

Another thing I have noticed is that Goodwill has become the "cool" place to shop. If people shopped at Goodwill in years past, they didn't talk about it. But now I see blogs, comments on Facebook and hear conversations in which people are bragging about the bargains they got there.

No one is ashamed to be "cheap" anymore. Which is a good thing, I think. Rather than a competition to see who could spend the most money, the competition now seems to be who can get the most for the least money.

The thing about garage sales and Goodwill is, they can't last forever. If the economy continues in its current trend and people continue to buy used merchandise, it will eventually wear out, and there will be no more used merchandise.

Just a thought to ponder.