I love going to garage sales. Having them is another story. Every May my neighborhood has garage sale weekend. My first one was very organized: everything was tagged, I had tables, there were signs. I spent all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday sitting in my least favorite room of the house. It was exhausting. I swore I’d never have another one.
Then the 2010 Spring Cleaning began. I found a lot of big items that I wanted to get out of the house. Big, heavy items that weren’t quite big and heavy enough to ask the Mission truck to come pick them up, but too big and heavy for me to pile in my car and make a few trips to donate. When I realized that the neighborhood sales were this weekend, I decided to put them out and beg people to take them away try to sell them.
Earlier in the week I had taken a lot of my daughter’s clothes and toys up to Once Upon a Child. This place is awesome. You drop off your bins of stuff, come back a few hours later and pick up a check. So I really didn’t have a lot to put out. My goal was to close shop once all of the big, heavy stuff was gone. If I sold any kid stuff in the process, it was icing on the cake.
Not much was tagged. My biggest signs were, “Make me and offer” and “Free.” I’m happy to report that I met my goal and closed the garage door after lunch on Friday (with a few hours to spare for my favorite church sale, which was this weekend, too).
The weirdest thing: I made almost the same amount of money with my Once Upon a Child visit and loosey-goosey garage sale as I made with the long, tiring and involved garage sale. Plus, I had A LOT LESS left over. Is this a recipe for success? Maybe I’ll test it out next year and see!
the string: Yes, it’s kind of weird, but I had to block off my garage. People kept wandering in and looking for stuff on sale. I had to tell them, really, what’s in the driveway is all. Our lawn mower and my daughter’s bike are not for sale!
that’s great! We decided once we move, we were going to have a Free Sale…which is exactly what it means. Take it! Take it all!
Sarah M
I try to hold two garage sales a year (spring/fall). One morning only and everything left over goes to the mission or goodwill. It works for us and it’s nice to have a little extra $ and a little less clutter, for sure.
I was at a garage sale a couple of weeks back held in someone’s backyard. Someone actually came through their house to get to the sale! The woman was like, “Did you just walk through my house!?!”.
That’s a great way to sell! Thanks for the tips, we are in need of some winter cleaning before my newest addition arrives. xo m.