Statistics gathered by a recent Newspoll has the power to change lives.
1. Two thirds of Australians aged 18-64 say they have “too much stuff at home and not enough space for it all.” You know what that means? Two thirds of Australians aged 18-64 need to get rid of a lot of stuff.
2. The survey, which also found that 86% of Australians have at some point either ‘bought things they end up not using or hardly using at all’ (87%). You know what that means? A lot of Australians need to get rid of a lot of stuff.
3. It also found that 79% of Australians ‘buy things on impulse and then regret it’. You know what that means? Australians need to get rid of a lot of stuff.
How do they even begin to think of getting rid of said stuff, you ask? Three statistics, three words: Garage. Sale. Trail.
Garage Sale Trail, a national not-for-profit sustainability and community event, has been remedying the good, stuff-laden people of Australia since 2010.
Garage Sale Trail encourages Australian households, schools, community groups and other organisations to register garage sales to join one huge national Garage Sale Trail on Saturday 25 October. Theoretically, shoppers could travel the country buying up on unwanted goods on the day if they wanted, jumping from sale to sale like a frog jumping lilly pads. Not only does the sale remedy what has become one of Australia’s biggest sartorial problems, it is also a fun, social and creative way to take part in reuse and recycling activity.
And you know the really good thing about garage sales? You’re selling/shopping with a conscience. Self-confessed “world-class accumulator of stuff” and Garage Sale Trail ambassador, Wendy Harmer, believes it’s not that we shouldn’t have material goods, but that the stuff we have should be sustainable. A reused and refurbished antique banker’s lamp circa 1901? Now that’s sustainability.
Upwards of 350,000 Australians are expected to take part in the initiative, with over two million pre-loved items estimated for sale. The Trail will generate average earnings for sellers of $323 and facilitate an average of 13 new community connections between local sellers and buyers on the day. And over one third of participants will fundraise for a charity or a cause.
Have I convinced you? Do you now feel an overwhelming urge to clean out your kid’s barely worn baby clothes, to resell that pair of Adidas tennis shoes you loved for three weeks in 2002, or to siphon off your Great Aunt’s dusty yet highly profitable postcard collection? Yes? Good. That’s very healthy of you.
If not, I actually have some incredible news for you.
The Garage Sale Trail will be collaborating with Splash Adelaide on a super sale of kind, which will feature a mini market on Leigh Street in the CBD. Think street party. To the pleasure of many an Adelaidean lady, Australian Fashion Labels will be holding a sample stock sale (Cameo, Finders Keepers, Keepsake etc) there that, as always, is expected to be absolutely massive. Other retailers at the super sale will include Naomi Murrell (jewellery), Nosha (Crafts, candles, pots etc), and the guys from the Coffee Branch (who will be selling some great shoes, vintage furniture and the like).
Other particularly epic super garage sales around the city include The Flinders St Market on Flinders St (35 stalls + food and drink stalls + a DJ playing vinyls), the McLaren Street Garage Sale just off Hutt St (selling, among other things, “the biggest collection of handbags you’ve ever seen”), the One Small Room sale in Croydon (fashion + furniture), and the Vinyl is Back in the Groove sale on the corner of Hutt and Pirie Streets (books + vinyl records + all of their proceeds are going to Oxfam).
If you want to cleanse yourself of stuff by getting involved in the Garage Sale Trail, follow this link.
If you’re merely curious and want to have a little stalk, click through t0 the Garage Sale Trail’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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