Garage sales can open your life to the locals, says Edel Morgan

LAST WEEK WE had a feature on making money out of your home and one suggestion was to hold a garage sale. It got me thinking that a garage sale would be a far more convenient way to unburden our attic than a car boot which involves having to load everything into the car and driving miles before having to unpack and then re-pack what hasn't sold.

Instead of shivering in a draughty car park wondering who's going to keep an eye on your stall while you use the facilities, you can stay at home and save on the €20-€40 fee. There's definitely an appetite for them.

The last Dublin City Council household collection in our area had lots of our neighbours out on the road, openly sifting through each other's piles for useful items.

In our case the first snag is that we don't have a garage, and lining our wares up on the front drive would leave us feeling a tad exposed. In a garage you can discreetly tuck that clapped-out hostess trolley beside a table and pretend it isn't part of the sale if anyone raises an eyebrow but if it's out there on the lawn for all to see, there's nowhere to hide. And nowadays even in the friendliest of neighbourhoods - which ours is - there's a line over which many are reluctant to cross in terms of drawing attention to themselves and their property.

The prospect of having a mob - some perhaps strangers - converge on your doorstep can be slightly daunting. Then there's the etiquette; can you actually charge a close neighbour full whack for an item? Only if it's in the name of charity. Or do you end up giving a lot of it away for virtually nothing because you're too intimidated by the local gossip machine to be seen haggling over a fondu set? And what if there's an unseemly debacle on the lawn if two neighbours set their sights on the same object?

Since I moved into my area over four years ago, noone has had a garage sale that I know of - and quite a few people do have garages. When I asked around the office, all but one colleague said their neighbours never have them and the feeling is that car boots are safer and more anonymous. That way, you aren't drawing attention to your home and won't be accused of attracting hoardes (and their cars) to the road . You can set the price you want without feeling like a raging capitalist and feel less obliged to donate the proceeds to charity lest your neighbours think you are Margaret Thatcher.

But are we ultimately missing out by worrying about every potential scenario. When I was growing up there were sales of works and garage sales throughout the summer. No-one seemed even vaguely embarrassed by their junk or about haggling on price.

Apart from myriad modern worries that stop us having garage sales, the opportunities to hold them continues to dwindle as apartments and townhouses are being built without garages or even front gardens. This tends to scupper any prospect for a household sale unless it's on communal grounds and involves getting the permission of the management company - unlikely given that it could be construed as disturbing the peace of other residents.

I Googled the words 'garage sale' and the results showed they're not completely extinct. Someone in Clontarf - advertising one in Gumtree, under the heading, 'Something for everyone' - was selling goodies ranging from pocket knives (just in case the local hoodies are low in stock) to chrome bar-stools. But it emerged that these people are moving overseas and leaving their neighbours far behind, so why wouldn't they? A much safer option is the virtual garage sale - on ebay. I came across one woman selling everthing from her dead mother's shoes to Victoria's Secret lingerie in an attempt to "straighten out her life". And suddenly I find myself longing for the carefree days when you just lined everything out on the front lawn and got on with it.

emorgan@irish-times.ie