I have to ask myself, "Is this really worth the hassle?"

A couple Saturdays ago was our neighborhood garage sale. We haven't participated in this biannual event since we moved into our house a little over 2 years ago. The timing of that one was perfect since we had moved in the month before. Plus, the rental house we had been living in the previous year was so small that about half of our stuff remained in boxes until we moved here. Needless to say, we banked!

Once or twice I decided to collect up "junk" the week before the scheduled sale only to decide the night before (when I really started collecting) that it wasn't worth the hassle. Most of those things have been donated to the Vets. And, that was probably best.

But, for some reason, I really thought I should participate at this past sale. Even though I had a hair cut scheduled for 9. And, the garage sale officially began at 8.

We only had a few toys, an old printer, microwave, and golf equipment to part with...no big deal. Besides garage sale-ers always start early and I knew (from our previous experience) that whatever time I got out there, someone would come looking.

Well, I sold the golf equipment and 1 toy for a grand profit of $6.

I loaded up my car with the toys and stopped at a children's resale shop on my way home from my hair appointment. Now, I've done Once Upon a Child, so I know that there is like a 9 1/2 month waiting list to get in there for them to tell you they'll pay you $3.50 for your Peg Perego Pliko P3 stroller in almost new condition.

(Not that this is what exactly happened to me. We are very loyal to this stroller brand and will probably be using ours until Addi is 12 since she sees no reason to stop being strolled and, apparently, finds no shame is strolling as her younger sister walks along beside the stroller. But, that's beside the point...)

This particular resale shop is a small, independent store. I really thought I could get them to take the toys off my hands without having to go through making an appointment. Boy, was I wrong. Their first available appointment was at the end of June. No, thanks.

The toys went back into the garage until this weekend when Bryan said he was taking them to the dump if I didn't find a home for them.

I listed them, along with the microwave and printer and a few more things I've cleared out since the garage sale weekend, on Craigslist Saturday night.

When I checked my email Sunday morning, I had 3 emails begging for the toys! The first emailer wanted all the toys. You should have heard my boasts to my husband!

I'm not sure what happened to that lady.

The next on the list has become a royal pain in the you-know-what. She emailed me this morning to tell me she wants all but 1 of the toys because they already own that one. Okay...whatever. I emailed her back asking which toy it was, exactly, that she didn't want because I have about 5 other people who have emailed about the toys and I would like to let one of them know they can have whichever toy it is that she doesn't want.

Is that really that hard of a request?

So, she writes back to tell me not the one that uses the same balls as that other one and really she's not sure about the piano looking one and actually it all depends on if they are in good condition and, oh, can you meet me at a shopping center that is about 20 minutes from your house?

Okay, first of all there are not 2 toys that use the same balls, so that doesn't help me. At. All. Also, these are "bigger" toys...like $30 brand-new toys. I'm asking $5 and they are almost better than brand-new because my children have so many toys that none get that much "play time" and these are already all assembled with proper sticker placement. And, lastly, did she seriously ask me to meet her at a shopping center she knew (I had already told her where I lived because she said she wanted to pick-up today) wasn't anywhere near my house. Does she call ToysRUs and ask them to send one of their cashiers to a more convenient location so she can Christmas shop? Oh, and I would go to all that effort (remember 3 kids in car seats) to maybe make $15. Would it even cover my gas?!

So, I have to ask myself, "Is this really worth the hassle?" Maybe I should've let Bryan contribute to global warming by adding plastic toys to our local landfill. At least I wouldn't have to be thinking about it today!