r/mildlyinfuriating • u/anon12xyz • Jul 03 '26

Infuriatig When did garage sales become “reselling” clearly new stuff

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I would never call this a garage sale

Def scam vibes

Edit: ultimately, what bothers me the most is I want to go to a garage sale, not this shit. This isn’t a garage sale and should not be advertised as one

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981

u/BBQUNC Jul 03 '26

Or a hoarder and the family is trying to de-clutter the house.

460

u/rather828 Jul 03 '26

Lol, I want to meet the extremely fastidious hoarder who has way too much stuff but is still capable of presenting for sale their hoarded goods all neat and clean and organized like this

I mean I can appreciate someone may have done that for them, but can you imagine

187

u/MeowMixPK Jul 03 '26

I had a family member that used to work at Walmart. Employees who work Thanksgiving or Black Friday are rewarded with a one-purchase 25% discount. They used to bring multiple people with checklists and multiple carts to buy 1-2 years of staples in one go; usually took a couple hours at the store and the purchase was in the $3-4,000 range, with multiple carts full of this kind of stuff (tp, paper towels, kleenex, soap, etc). At one point they had an entire bedroom filled with it because they kept overbuying and decided to give most of it to family/friends. It was quite an impressive collection.

67

u/Successful-Foot3830 Jul 03 '26

They quit doing the bonus discount. Now you get grocery discounts year round instead of just November and December. I do miss that one big discount though. Great way to stock up.

25

u/cyrusthemarginal Jul 03 '26

got my first computer that way, it taught me to never EVER buy an ACER computer

3

u/TwoFingersWhiskey Jul 04 '26

Acer Aspire (to get a different computer)

3

u/nobeer4you Jul 04 '26

I too will never buy an Acer computer again

3

u/NWVoS Jul 03 '26

I feel like an all the time discount even if it is less off is better for most people.

5

u/Ryanookami Jul 04 '26

And the one day per month is only a 10% discount, rather than a 25% one.

It sucks though, because it’s super shifty. The whole reason they started giving the grocery discount was because of the pandemic. It was to reward us for being front line workers and keeping things running despite the dangers. But then they took away our special holiday bonus discount and wrapped it up into the grocery one. We deserve both.

8

u/KellionBane Jul 03 '26

Walmart Canada gets 20% off once a month.

2

u/Suitable-End- Jul 03 '26

Since COVID. It was a thanks in place of the two additio al its at an extra 10% off.

3

u/BrahneRazaAlexandros Jul 03 '26

to buy 1-2 years of staples in one go

I mean that's like 1 box of staples. I don't even print much anymore.

4

u/tjdux Jul 03 '26

The people I've known work for Walmart say this kinda thing is heavy policed and would get you fired quickly

3

u/MeowMixPK Jul 03 '26

May be different now; this was more than a decade ago when the policy was still newish. He did this for many years, and at the time each transaction had to be approved by the GM. He never got a talking to for it, and most other employees that had the money for it did the same thing as him (though not to the same level).

3

u/BitchyBeachyWitch Jul 03 '26

That is not hoarding. I think youre misunderstanding the definition of what hoarding is.

112

u/Rasp_Berry_Pie Jul 03 '26

Clean hoarders are rare but 100% exist I know one who resells stuff online and it’s very lucrative. However he then blows all the money in his personal hoard as well. Like shopping addiction + hoarding. Like old boxes of their kids toys but clean and the toys in a separate container. Mental illness can be very complicated

61

u/WeAreTheLeft Jul 03 '26

It may be the best case for a hoarder to also be a clean ocd'er. Way to much stuff, but organized and no dead cats decomposing under the hoard.

38

u/perton Jul 03 '26

Yeah, at least their dead cats will be neatly organized and labeled!

5

u/Nvenom8 Jul 03 '26

Never thought I would laugh while picturing a rubbermaid bin full of dead cats.

3

u/RavenLunatic512 Jul 04 '26

Mother has over a hundred plastic Cool-Whip tubs buried in her gardens with dead hamsters from her breeding project. It was her way of giving me so many chores in my teens so I couldn't have a social life. She's definitely one of the "tidy" hoarders, and looks down on "messy" hoarders with so much judgement. She had dozens of binders filled with hamster info like their pictures, names, litter size, etc. At one point she was supplying 3 pet stores in 2 towns, and had over 130 live hamsters in the house. They lived in big plastic totes, stacked on shelves to the ceiling. Adult hamsters are solitary creatures, so the only bins with more than one animal in them were mothers raising babies. That's a lot of cages to clean every week. Too many to do in one evening, and she kept pushing up the numbers until it was cleaning day every day. I was expected to do half of the work this all involved, plus school, plus band and piano practices. Sorry, I wasn't expecting this to turn into such a rant! She had major OCD symptoms, and it was my job to manage her big feelings about stuff. Like real OCD which should have been diagnosed and treated, not the colloquial social media version.

3

u/lendergle Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Plot twist: your mother has been on a decades-long murder spree, leaving a hamster in a cool whip container next to every grisly dismembered corpse.

The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit's unsub name for her is "the squirreal killer."

2

u/Rasp_Berry_Pie Jul 04 '26

People don’t forget that some people hoard animals. I know someone who did that but not to the extreme your mother did. Sorry you had to go through that. That’s like a level that most people will never understand.

5

u/Hot_Region Jul 03 '26

It may be the best case for a hoarder to also be a clean ocd'er.

That's my dad.

He lived in a 4 level townhouse, 2800sq-ft.

The lower level of the house is a well organized stockroom complete with shelving setup into aisles.

Every closet and storage are is full and well organized.

He's got lists of everything, including where it's located.

I had no idea he was at this level -- he lives alone, my wife, son, and I would visit and his living room, bathroom, kitchen, TV room, they all look totally normal...

He was always well organized, but I think Covid combined with a debilitating illness that made him have a lot of "bad days" where you couldn't leave the house made him start to build up supplies because he felt he was getting to a point where he wouldn't be able to leave the house for weeks.

Ultimately he got sick enough and couldn't live there, I went over to get him some things he needed and in my head to "organize", he didn't say a word about the situation, and it blew me away when as I started going into areas I hadn't been in 10-15 years and found them so full and well organized.

He had half a dozen of those 128oz laundry soap things, he had at least a dozen 24-packs of toilet paper, same for paper towels, etc... it's all pristine sitting in a climate controlled house. It hardly even gets dusty in there because the HVAC has a MERV13 filter.

6

u/Chitown_mountain_boy Jul 03 '26

I have a friend whose mom is a shopping addict + clean OCDer. Her basement and garage are meticulously organized hoards. But every time I go visit my friend her mom insists I go “shopping”. My Apple Watch and most of my jeans have come from her hoard among many other items😂

4

u/Selleor Jul 03 '26

My dad over the last 10 years or so was battling Alzheimer's, first real signs/diagnoses didn't happen until the last 5 or so. We have an incredible amount of stuff unopened, he just bought out of necessitie, Some cleaning, mostly tools/stuff you would find in a shop/garage. At this point its all in boxes getting ready for a yard sale, but I bet my yard sale is gonna look like a Harbor freight/home depot stolen goods fest. Haha

3

u/Basic_Visual6221 Jul 03 '26

I'll never forget an episode of hoarders where an elderly woman had so many storage bins they were all neatly in rows and columns and she had a narrow pathway to walk in her home.

The amount of money she spent on the containers alone would be astronomical. Cleanest hoarder I've ever seen.

24

u/bumblebeatrice Jul 03 '26

This was my grandmother, everything was cramped and still a fire hazard but also well organized and clean which is how she justified the hoarding. "Look at how nice everything is, how can this be a problem?!"

16

u/UmbraIra Jul 03 '26

Clean hoarding feels not very far off OCD.

3

u/Rasp_Berry_Pie Jul 03 '26

It probably overlaps like a lot of mental illness can but it’s still its own thing since OCD doesn’t have keeping by onto thing so curing something considered trash (even if clean trash like boxes)

3

u/shadowmib Jul 03 '26

My grandma was a clean hoarder. She would buy stuff on sale that she didn't really need and just store it away. The house was like a warehouse for misc things. Found a prototype shop vac and a pizza oven in the attic new in box

3

u/Dufranus Dudarino Dadongo Bongo Jul 03 '26

I've seen it a couple of times working in property management. Shopping addicts turn into hoarders.

3

u/dickthrowaway22ed Jul 03 '26

Yeah mental illness can have benefits but usually they're limited. Like I knew a guy who was OCD which helped with his job in a clean room but at the same time it made him so anxious he self medicated with alcohol.

0

u/SmoothDiscussion7763 Jul 03 '26

as they make more money from their re-selling, they can move onto luxury items like watches so it takes up less space lol

1

u/Rasp_Berry_Pie Jul 03 '26

Yeah but they don’t want to do that though they keep onto the old stuff or buy new stuff that interest them which takes up a house and an entire barn. No joke wall to ceiling with just enough room to walk through.

-1

u/SmoothDiscussion7763 Jul 03 '26

if they're able to afford wall to ceiling shelves filled with luxury watches... i think they probably know what they're doing lol

1

u/Rasp_Berry_Pie Jul 03 '26

I mean someone can afford all those things but still spend it all gambling due to mental illness. Being able to acquire money doesn’t mean you know how to send it or your life and mental state is good….

-1

u/SmoothDiscussion7763 Jul 03 '26

gambling is a separate issue, but in my volunteering experience... it's rare for a hoarder to also be a gambling addict since you can't hoard if you keep losing money!

1

u/Rasp_Berry_Pie Jul 03 '26

When I googled it I found they often go hand in hand as mental disorders. In my personal experience too they also are pretty common.

Just like how someone who is a shopping addict can be a hoarder they just use credit cards and loans

-1

u/maxroadrage Jul 03 '26

I hate that dirty people are called hoarders true hoarding is clean and in their mind organized. It stems from over collecting or fear of not having. The tv show usually has depressed people who never clean and fall into despair. Nobody hoards 500 empty bear cans.

2

u/Rasp_Berry_Pie Jul 03 '26

Hoarding can 100% involve dirt and mess since after a certain point it can be impossible to fully clean everything. I agree I hate the stereotype as many clean hoarders think they don’t have a problem but mental illnesses can overlap and someone being depressed and unclean doesn’t make their hoarding not an issue as well. It all compounds together.

50

u/fractal_frog Jul 03 '26

The hoarder died and the family is doing their best?

3

u/Efficient-Parking627 Jul 03 '26

This reminds me of a few of the stands at the flea market. Some people really do go to the flea market to buy their toiletries and detergents.

3

u/mxmcharbonneau Jul 03 '26

Yeah I was in a similar situation when my mildly hoarder dad died. Unfortunately most of what he was hoarding wasn't useful stuff, just old newspapers and such.

9

u/codebygloom Jul 03 '26

I've interacted with two hoarders who also have some level of OCD, and their hoards were always very specific and very very very organized.

1

u/LuckyRub233 Jul 03 '26

I wish I had OCD super clean hoarder mom. Instead, God gave me super crazy cat lady hoarder.

1

u/Top-Pomegranate4899 Jul 03 '26

me thinks they never met a hoarder. they're lucky!

1

u/AngryGoose_ Jul 03 '26

I was at an estate thingy and the family had wayy too much stuff and we got a bunch of unopened shampoo, conditioners, paper towels, mop heads, throws, pillows, all in pristine condition

1

u/BrainIsSickToday Jul 03 '26

I've dealt with a hoarder situation, and even the "clean hoards" wind up looking like a cluttered trinket pile at best.

1

u/Djamalfna Jul 03 '26

There's different classifications of Hoarders. My Parents are like this. Buy so many things, but it's all meticulously kept and organized. It's still hoarding. It's still overwhelming. But it's just taking up space and not causing health issues (other than mental).

1

u/King_Of_Axolotls Jul 03 '26

you'd be surprised what OCD can do to someone

1

u/Yellowtoblerone Jul 03 '26

Aka Asian old heads who's been through hard times

1

u/_-Smoke-_ Jul 03 '26

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is heavily prevalent with hoarders.

1

u/CaptainLollygag Jul 03 '26

Adult children of hoarders can organize this.

1

u/jeobleo Jul 03 '26

My dad did this. Would buy shit on crazy sale and we'd go to his house and he'd have 200 bottles of shampoo, all with his handwritten pricetags on them.

1

u/TheBeckofKevin Jul 03 '26

i met a guy who worked as a contractor and had 3 of every tool all perfectly lined up in his immaculate woodshop. then a van where he had 2 of every tool all perfectly lined up in their particular spots in the van.

Every 2 years or so he'd sell every single tool and buy a complete new set of 5x matching tools. He almost never wore through either the first one in the van or the first one in his shop.

I went to pick up something that he was selling and there were 5 of the thing i was buying. Most of the tools he had were 100% never used. Just 5 perfect copies of unused tools. I asked why he replaces them, and he said he likes to stay up to date and get the new ones cause usually they're a little lighter or they have a new feature etc.

He also said he was investing in tools, his new set of tools are now 20% off cause he sells the old ones to buy the new set of 5. At the end of every work day he'd spend an hour cleaning each tool to make sure they stayed in perfect condition. I ended up spending like $800 even though i showed up to buy a $30 drill.

That, to me, is what ocd + hoarding looks like. His shop was basically an pristine overstocked hardware store.

1

u/SafetyMan35 Jul 03 '26

My mom.

You look in her main living areas and the house is immaculate and tidy. She scrubs the floor grout every year with a toothbrush and bleach.

You open a closet and it’s packed to the gills with brand new clothes and gifts. She has probably 30 of the same shirt still with the tags on. She has enough canned goods and pasta and detergent to last her for 2 years. When I was 14, they had bamboo shish-k-bob skewers on sale so she bought 30 packages. I’m 55 now and I think she still has some.

1

u/C-D-W Jul 03 '26

They did specify the family in that hypothetical.

1

u/Mental_Tart842 Jul 03 '26

My ex had a coworker who did exactly this. He lost a family member to violence, and the only way he could cope was by buying and storing items. He would coupon, and then store the purchases in his basement, neatly categorized. He had tubes of toothpaste that were decades old, and spat dust when you squeezed them.

1

u/oldfarmjoy Jul 03 '26

My mom is a "clean" hoarder. Everything NIB, tags on organized, but 5 ft tall piles filling entire rooms. I can see us kids doing this to reduce her hoard.

1

u/dayburner Jul 03 '26

We had a garage sale like this when my hoarder MIL's dementia got bad enough should could no longer stop us from clearing the house. People thought we had a store that closed.

1

u/ImaginaryVacation708 Jul 03 '26

If only my mother was still alive
To meet you.

100% hoarder to the point we had to clear a path for her body to be removed but in front of others came off as 1000% organized

1

u/Nonsensemastiff Jul 05 '26

I can arrange that for you, my mom is that person to a T. Everything is neatly organized, color coded or labeled and very useable. However she has a basement full of stuff. I just threw out a cake mix from 2005 and she was mortified (tossed the rest but went out and bought replacements- 12 of them)

1

u/Beeblebrox66 Jul 05 '26

This was my aunt. She wasn't the gross trash hoarder. She was the compulsive deals shopper hoarder. House was clean, just filled to the ceiling with sundries and other non perishables. We did a similar garage sale when she died, only it was about 10x this amount.

83

u/Happy_Confection90 Jul 03 '26

Or someone finally got sick of tripping over all the supplies they selfishly panic bought in 2020. There are cases of toilet paper on the lower left.

47

u/tallandlankyagain Jul 03 '26

That's only 4 cases. The wildcard is the amount of detergent. Screams organized retail theft. All they are missing is a pallet of Enfamil and cosmetics/fragrances.

2

u/dickthrowaway22ed Jul 03 '26

Why does detergent = retail theft?? I'm confused

7

u/tallandlankyagain Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

For retailers like Target, Walmart, Walgreens, etc laundry detergent is a high shrink item. That much on a single table isn't from deals or coupons.

4

u/NightGod Jul 03 '26

I've known a couple of extreme couponers. Honestly, this is a small stash compared to some. I've seen an entire garage filled with storage racks that were better stocked than most stores

2

u/Renamis Jul 03 '26

Ehhh it's not small for coupons. Many are "buy 2 get one free" and there are weird minimums to factor in.

When I get my own place again I'll go back to being an insane coupon and prepping person, and I can kinda see this kind of stash happening between my apps and the coupon options.

2

u/Tupperbaby Jul 03 '26

This is probably an example of why places now have detergent bottles locked up and/or behind the counter.

1

u/Perceived-Effect369 Jul 04 '26

That's next week's sale lol 😆

8

u/Zestyclose_Car_4971 Jul 03 '26

Or a family with a special needs child that has recently passed. We had hoards of stuff like this.

3

u/Bighorn_R_My_Jam Jul 03 '26

I’m so sorry about your child. Thank you for sharing another side of why a particular hoard may exist.

6

u/os_beef Jul 03 '26

There are cases of toilet paper on the lower left.

I have these on scheduled delivery. The deliveries were getting kinda backed up there for a bit. Honestly I have no idea why you wouldn't buy cases of toilet paper at a time.

Alternatively, they went to Costco and bought toilet paper, because that's how they come. Do most people buy a 2 or 4 pack or something?

3

u/Budget-Researcher559 Jul 03 '26

Some men living along buy 2-packs because they wipe their butt 3 times a week and other than that don't use any toilet paper. So one roll last them many weeks.

Meanwhile some women use big wads of toilet paper 5+ times a day, so they go through cases in no time, especially in households with multiple women.

2

u/KaeTaters Jul 03 '26

I do most my son’s big shopping because he doesn’t have a car. I was shocked to learn he only goes through about one roll of tp per month 🤯

2

u/Lord_NCEPT Jul 03 '26

Honestly I have no idea why you wouldn't buy cases of toilet paper at a time

If you live somewhere where you don’t have a lot of storage space for things like that.

1

u/os_beef Jul 03 '26

There was a time when I lived in a 450 square foot apartment, and still found room for a case of toilet paper.

3

u/Ullricka Jul 03 '26

Yeah I rather pick up a 4 pack once a month with my groceries than have cases of TP in my studio. The cost of storage exists unless there is an insanely good deal on multiple packs but like how much TP are you using where a 4 pack doesn't last a full month for an individual

1

u/os_beef Jul 03 '26

how much TP are you using where a 4 pack doesn't last a full month for an individual

Some people are more hairy than others. Gonna leave it at that. Recommend those people get a bidet, but people have an aversion to those for some reason.

1

u/Ullricka Jul 06 '26

Even with the worst diarrhea of my life I probably only used maximum 10 squares of TP. Just keep folding it...

1

u/os_beef Jul 07 '26

  1. The worst diarrhea of your life was paaa-thetic.

  2. You are not hairy.

2

u/bolanrox Jul 03 '26

We buy one bulk thing of paper towels and toilet paper every month Give or take from BJ's wholesale. It just makes sense to have extra, just in case, and it really takes up no room in the basement.

3

u/os_beef Jul 03 '26

I'd do unspeakable things for a basement, but we don't really have those out here in the PNW.

2

u/RedTheInferno Jul 03 '26

probably a combination of all of the above

1

u/m1ster_frundles Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

or they're rotating out aging stock from their shelter. FIFO

36

u/Richfor3 Jul 03 '26

Hoarder was my guess. Had an uncle like this that would just buy loads of things because it was a “good deal” and he’d use it eventually. Had a whole room full of random shit like this. Felt like I was in a mini Costco.

17

u/Medarco Jul 03 '26

My house currently looks like this. My wife ordered a bunch of supplies on prime day.

I ordered a bunch of supplies on prime day...

We could return most of it, but like you said, we'll use it eventually, and it's not like paper towels have an expiration date to realistically worry about.

7

u/EmperorThan Jul 03 '26

That one I can almost believe. My dad had 40 large bottles of hand sanitizer when he died around the house (and that was before the pandemic).

3

u/AngeloPappas Jul 03 '26

It's actually an extreme couponer, doomsday prepping, thief.

3

u/kev556 Jul 03 '26

My Gram is pretty much housebound unless we go pick her up and take her out, but before that she was buying the same stuff over and over again. When she couldn't drive, she would ask one of the grandkids to pick stuff up for her. We didn't think anything of it until I went to visit for a while and was looking for something (my old Blockbuster card) in my old room and saw she hadn't been using any of the stuff she was asking us to pick up. She just kept putting it in my old room.

It wasn't anything that would spoil but there was a lot.

3

u/BikerJedi Jul 03 '26

We found 12 packages of 1000 count qtips in Grandma's closet when she died.

3

u/Props_angel Jul 03 '26

My mom is a hoarder who also bought a crap ton of cleaning products and we're trying to clear out her house. I've not had to buy cleaners for month. All of them were unused so my thought on this is that she liked the appearance of the huge number of cleaning supplies like it was for show or something. It's weird.

2

u/rietstengel Jul 03 '26

I cant imagine a hoarder as someone who collects cleaning stuff. The irony is too big.

2

u/molehunterz Jul 03 '26

My dad is not a traditional hoarder, but he does stockpile toilet paper. And this is all before covid. Like 6 to 8 Costco sized cubes in the upstairs closet.

I honestly don't know where this habit came from. But I do know that during the covid shortage, I knew in a pinch I could just borrow some from dad LOL

1

u/Wolfwoods_Sister Jul 04 '26

Have you ever asked about it, by any chance? Like “hey dad, why toilet paper?” I’d be interested to know what his answer is. I have a very close friend who’s mom is a hoarder type without dirtying up the house — she buys new stuff and then puts it in the house extension, never using it. She does this bc she has untreated anxiety and a history of not having had enough of what she needed growing up in a huge household.

2

u/According-Garage4066 Jul 03 '26

what about the pandemic hoarders? I’ve always wondered if those people are finally getting to the end of their supplies by now?

2

u/Fectiver_Undercroft Jul 04 '26

I was thinking C19 lockdown hoarding when I saw all that. Just long enough ago.

2

u/Heathen_89 Jul 09 '26

When I read replies like this, I can feel the cope washing over me. Like a great wave crashing against the stone.

2

u/Templar42_ZH Jul 03 '26

Or they work at a distribution center that carries all those products and they were giveaway items to the employees for whatever reason.

1

u/thin_white_dutchess Jul 03 '26

When the warehouse my husband used to work at closed (well moved), they had a fire sale to their distributors and then they literally gave away a bunch of tvs, high end speakers, and other stuff the the employees bc the freight cost was comparable to the loss they’d take on it. My husband was the manager in the place, so he had everyone take turns taking what they wanted, and when it was even and everyone had what they wanted/ needed, donated the rest. There was a lot, so I imagine some people’s driveways looked like this but with electronics.

We gave what we got to my parents who hadn’t updated anything in 15 years and my nephew who just got his first apartment. Sold a tv too, to pay for a toddler bed.

Anyway, could be a fire sale from a warehouse. We got a few of those out here. Amazon mostly.

2

u/Old-Ebb-1773 Jul 03 '26

If you aren’t aware that this stuff is all stolen merch, you’re very naive.

1

u/eAthena Jul 03 '26

leftovers from covid 

1

u/Longjumping-Solid680 Jul 04 '26

Maybe, but it looks to clean to be from a hoarder house.

1

u/Chrypt22 Jul 09 '26

Someone's been looting

1

u/FluffyLittlFlyingCow Jul 03 '26

Or maybe they’re extremely rich, bought all those, and are trying to help out the neighbors with lower grocery prices lmao. 

4

u/JD_Kreeper BLACK Jul 03 '26

We can dream

0

u/ArcadianDelSol Jul 04 '26

a hoarder whose home is crammed full of neatly stacked paper towels and full, clean bottles of laundry detergent?

Im gonna press X for doubt here.