I posted a while back that we were able to re-do our kid-centered "play room" into a more family centered t.v. room with some Christmas money. It has been such a fun thing and a blessing that we have enjoyed immensely.
However, all good things have by-products. This one had two.
One of those were the huge boxes that the sofa and chair came in. They were so much fun to play in that we had an entire Sunday afternoon devoted to playing in the boxes before they went out in the trash on Monday. We cleaned out the garage and invited friends over and everything. Here's a glimpse...
Yeah, I think they had a good time.
But this is the other by-product. All the stuff that I cleaned out and need to get rid of. And this doesn't include the empty entertainment center that is sitting in my living room that can't be rearranged with it still sitting there. Nor does it include the 3 sets of speakers we need to get rid of.It's not nearly as pleasant or fun as the boxes, is it?
And it's all just stacked in what is supposed to be my guest room / office / craft room (if I were to have time to do crafts any more).
So, here's my dilemma. I think I need to do a garage sale, but I've never done one.
I've never had so much to get rid of all at once. I have always worked at keeping up with the kids' clothes and taking them and some toys to our local resale shop. I have never dealt with anything like this before.
So I need your help. I need your garage sale advice. The day of the sale thing doesn't stress me out as much as the time I anticipate it will take to go through all the stuff and price everything. AND, I know I have a couple of expensive toys that are still in excellent condition. How do I price those? How do I efficiently and most effectively set up the items for sale the "day of?"
I am pleading for your help here. Picture me on my knees with my hands folded...
Will you help a girl out? PLEEEAAAASE!
So, if you have ever posted on your blog about garage sales, link up here. Or you may be so inclined to write a post just especially for me... awww, wouldn't that be sweet. Please just enter your little ol' name in the top box and the link to your post in the bottom box. (Be sure to use your post's permalink.) Or please, leave me your tips in the comments. I need all the help I can get.
Thanks!!! Y'all are the best blog friends EV-VAH!
7 Comments:
I'd recommend listing the items on Craiglist first. It will be a few months before it's nice enough to have a yard sale. In the meantime, you can list the items for free on Craigslist and maybe get rid of some things now. Then you ask what you want for them and not have to worry too much about someone wanting to give you $1 for it. lol Good luck.
I clicked through to say the same thing as Karen. If you have some nice, expensive toys that you know you can get some good money for, I would go to Craiglist or ebay. People who are garage saling are looking for CHEAP (nearly free) and generally will not pay near what an item is really worth. If you have a $$$ amount in mind for those toys, do not try to garage sale them. That's my two cents. ;)
I haven't ever run a garage sale on my own - just helped others - so I don't have much more in the way of expert advice to offer!
Donna,
One of the things you have to remember when having a garage sale, is that there will be people that are wanting to buy your stuff cheap so that they can resale it. This is where a lot of antique, junk, and resale dealers buy their stuff. If it is something that has retained it's value, I would sell it on ebay, or take it to an ebay shop and have them sell it for you.
If you are having a garage sale to make money go for it, if you are having a garage sale to just get it gone, you might want to contact your local family shelter and see if they are interested in coming and taking some of the stuff off your hands.
I have never been able to have a garage sale, everytime I have gathered up stuff to do one, God brought someone into my life that needed every bit of it.
Hope this helps.
Sallye
Donna,
One of the things you have to remember when having a garage sale, is that there will be people that are wanting to buy your stuff cheap so that they can resale it. This is where a lot of antique, junk, and resale dealers buy their stuff. If it is something that has retained it's value, I would sell it on ebay, or take it to an ebay shop and have them sell it for you.
If you are having a garage sale to make money go for it, if you are having a garage sale to just get it gone, you might want to contact your local family shelter and see if they are interested in coming and taking some of the stuff off your hands.
I have never been able to have a garage sale, everytime I have gathered up stuff to do one, God brought someone into my life that needed every bit of it.
Hope this helps.
Sallye
I have at least one yard sale a year and usually 2 or 3. My best pieces of advice for displaying things is
*Use as many tables as you can beg, borrow, or steal (ok, maybe not steal!) and lay things out so they're not crowded. People don't (and most won't) want to look through things.
*Organize things by size or by what they are, ie. toys, household, videos, etc.
*HANG IT UP, if it can be. People tend to look at clothes better if it's hung up. I use ladders and either polls or sometimes broom handles.
*Set as much up the day before as you can. Put it on the tables, ready to go and all you have to do is open the garage and pull it out. It makes for MUCH less stress that way, on the day of.
*PLENTY of change.
I never come down on a price until the 2nd day (I usually do 2 day sales). Sometimes I don't come down at all. The rule I have is that I always give an item 2 sales. If it doesn't sell, either come down on the price (if it's something big or nice) or give it away to the local mission.
I've made a good amount of money on yard sales and it actually funded our trip to Disney World last month!
If you live in a neighborhood you may want to try to arrange a neighborhood sale--everybody garage selling on the same day. We try to do that because people seem to come in larger quantities...if the weather is nice they can make a nice stroll of it!
To price items, I like to use the bright multi-color 1/2" diameter circular stickers. (You can typically find at Wal-Mart or the like.) I will then price by color...all pink sticker items are .25, all green are .50, whatever works for you. Instead of writing the price on each individual sticker I will make a few colorful signs that list the colors and the prices (am I making sense???)
Remember that a lot of your customers will think that everything they see is for sale...make a few signs that state tables are not for sale, etc. It can be a hassle to repeatedly tell people that no, you can't buy my kitchen table! (unless of course, they can...then you might want to make that known!) This also goes for anything that they might see in your garage, or kids bikes that are in the driveway, etc! (somebody wanted my man's honda goldwing...that would have been a mess!)
Good luck!
My advice? Don't do it! (LOL- we had one years ago and it was a ton of work for not so much money). You could donate your items to a charity and get a tax receipt for those items.
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