Garage sale worth the trouble??

[LuckyBelle81]

We are planning a WDW trip for Dec and after a short vaca to the beach last month we have gotten pretty off track with our savings to pay off the trip and have enough spending money while we're there. We're tightening purse strings where we can (cutting out eating out, I'm making some things from scratch that we usually buy pre-made...that sort of thing) but I'm also looking at some ways to bring in some more money. I already do seasonal consignment and that money will go towards the trip but I am also considering doing a garage sale to make some more $$. We have 3 kids so there are toys and things I could get rid of as well as some household items we just don't use or have replaced with newer things. I'm just wondering if it's worth the hassle to get it all together and deal w the actual event of the sale. I have never done one on my own - only helped my mom with one like 25 years ago. Any advice?

 

[kellyjeanie]

We do one every year. It's so much work but I'm always happy with the amount made. I still have to get my stuff together for this summer's sale, I'm looking forward to the proceeds going towards our trip in November.

 

[tcufrog]

If you have enough and you live in an area with enough vehicular traffic to draw attention it might be worth it. Another option is to get some other neighbors on board and have a neighborhood garage sale one weekend. That way you save time and money by jointly advertising. The neighborhood garage sales are well attended in my area. I've also sold things online through community facebook groups and my Nextdoor community. I'm a bit leary of ebay and and Craigs List these days.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I have always been happy with our garage sales. I made $1500 last year. Yes, it takes time to organize. Yes, it takes time to run the sale. But it has many positive advantages. First, it forces me to go through the house and evaluate all of our stuff. Do we still use it? Do we still need it? Do we have duplicates? The decluttering aspect alone is great. Second, it is generally easier to have one big sale than to try and list things up on Craigslist of eBay, though you may get less money. Finally, the payout can be nice to use towards big goals, like a trip. When I sell something on Craigslist for $20, it doesn't seem as impactful as having a big chunk of money to put towards a bigger goal.

All that said, your results will vary based on your location, the date/time you choose for the sale, the stuff you are selling and how you organize and advertise your sale.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Part of it is what you're willing to put in. Our 4 keys:

1) clean your stuff. No one wants dusty or dirty stuff, people won't even pick it up. Putting dirty stuff out is a wasted effort.

2) neon signs, half poster board size. Not sure how much a few neon poster boards go for at Staples these days but if it's a few bucks buy them. We cut the poster board in two and used sharpies to write "YARD SALE" with a huge arrow underneath. We put out about half a dozen signs (and collected them and stored them for the next yard sale). We were off a main street, if you're on a Main Street you can skip this step- or put signs out on the surrounding blocks pointing them your way! (We sent dad to put out the signs toward the end of setup morning.)

3) Get your stuff off the ground. Do you have some random card tables? Big cardboard boxes that you can turn upside down into mini-tables? Outdoor benches? We found people are more likely to pick something up and consider it if they don't have to work for it! We put kids clothes in a big box and labeled the box 50(?) cents each (it was awhile ago). We also spread the cuter clothes out on an old sheet to catch people's eyes (this goes bad fast if the wind picks up- lol).

4) Start EARLY. Like waking the family up while it's dark outside to do the setup early. The early bird gets the first shoppers- who have the most money.

I hope you see something that helps make your yard sale a success! Yard sales are so different just neighborhood to neighborhood, what's worth it to one person isn't to another. You really sound like your trip can use the extra cash so I would go for it! The worst thing that happens is you waste a couple evenings prep time and a Sat of sale time. At the end you decide what you want to donate and what you want to put back in the house and you're done!

 

[brooke789]

Honestly , I really wonder if it is. We were at my in laws for a cookout on Saturday and there were two families on the cul de sac having yard sales. So, we went to look hole we were there. I bought a pair of Super hero Crocs for DS for $1. DH picked up a handful of unique Cars cars and some Star Wars figurines for $2. We also walked up to the next cul de sac be there was another sale there. We bought a set of WDW glasses for $1 and I got a cake pop maker for $3. That particular sale had signs up that it was running 8-3 Friday and Saturday. I really can't imagine they made much of anything for two days and 14 hours of just sitting out there.
I imagine it's more about getting rid of stuff and making just a few bucks along the way.

 

[megster1123]

We had a yard sale the year before last. We didn't have any really "big ticket" items either - I think the priciest item was $50 for a basketball backboard. We had it for two days, Friday 12-7 and then Saturday 8-3. When we were done we just carted everything that was leftover to a donation center and left it. We made almost $1,000. I'd do it again, we just don't have enough to do a full sale. Here are some tips -

• Display your items like you're in a retail store. Have things - especially clothes - organized, folded, separated...the presentation of what you have to sell goes a LONG way.
• Price your items realistically and make the prices easy to read and understand.
• ADVERTISE! We put our sale on Craigslist and there are at least 2-3 garage sale websites that I remember listing the sale on as well. I took some pics of all of the kids toys, the backboard, some household stuff...anything that looked inviting and I added those pictures to the listings as well. I had a lot of people comment that they came based off of the ad we put out.
• Don't hide the sale in the garage - if you have long driveway, use it! Get your stuff out there for people to see it. Use every table you can find - people don't want to dig around in boxes or buy stuff that's thrown on the ground.

 

[jenniy122]

We did one last summer. I had kids toys of all age ranges, my parents had some outdated tech and household items, we all had furniture. I made around $50, my parents made maybe $10. 3 days (fri-sun), 10-5, everything cleaned, advertised online and all over the neighborhood. Several people we didn't know came, the only people that bought anything were our 4 immediate neighbors. I've worked more retail jobs than I want to admit and have a background in visual merchandising, so displaying things nicely wasn't the problem, it's just the demographic of our neighborhood and the street we live on (our house is at the most awkward place ever, everyone gets lost coming here).

It wasn't worth it effort. 90% of what we wanted to sell sat in the garage til this spring and we finally took it over to the Salvation Army. I was able to sell a few more things through craigs, offerup, and places like gamestop. That's the route I'd go for if I did it again (I actually have 4 or 5 random things listed right now as I cleaned out my craft room closet last week). If you have a community, neighborhood, or church one those are great as so many people are drawn in you don't have to worry about lack of shoppers.

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

You should totally try. I make 500 to 1000 each time depending what I have.

Organize each table with like things just like a store or boutique. If someone sees a group of things that goes together, they will buy all 3 instead of 1 for example.

Seperate girls and boys toys, cloths by season, games, books and movies . Hang if you can.

Sell adult cloths the same way.

Have spare batteries so people can test items and access to an outlet as well.

 

[tvguy]

I've done two. Last one made $3,000 gross, less about $240 for 4 lunches and 4 dinners for 5 people, so net about $2760. How much work? 5 people working 8 hours a day for 2 days organizing and seting up. 5 people working 8 hours for 2 days of the sale. 5 people working 8 hours the day after making runs to Goodwill and the dump. 200 hours labor, works out to about $13.80 an hour. So NEVER EVER EVER again. Stuff goes to charity now for the tax write off, and if I need money, I volunteer for overtime at work, it pays almost three times as much.

 

[MillauFr]

I prefer to give the stuff to charity and write it off on my taxes.

 

[Stephanator]

I think it depends on how much your time is worth to you. Personally, my free time is super limited so I'd rather not invest it in organizing and running a garage sale. I tend to donate to various charities (sheets to the homeless shelter, high school rummage sale asking for donations, etc...) and feel good about helping them and writing it off my taxes.

I think if you have the time to invest, it can be a good payout for stuff you already have on hand. I've helped with other's sales before and I like the one day sale approach. That way you've only given up one day to the efforts and you can decide whether you'd ever want to do it again. Lots of good tips here about pricing, displaying, signs, etc...! Make sure you have plenty of shopping bags and coins/small bills to make change too.

 

[Vijoge]

We financed our first trip to WDW entirely with our garage sale proceeds.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

No children's clothing or toys at our yard sales and we still bring in about $700-$1000 for about 7 hours of the actual sale plus maybe 5 hours not during the actual sale. For the past few years I have been donating to charity and using it as a write off and seeing more actual cash value in that over a yard sale through our taxes. Granted it's not cold hard cash immediately in your pocket, so there is that trade off. I accumulate a little bit of stuff at a time then just run over to a charity when I fill up a box. No more collecting for the entire year and sorting everything.

 

[tasha99]

I sell the big stuff on Craigslist and donate cheaper things. Much less work, and I used to find most garage sale profit came from a few higher value items.

 

[wendybeth75]

Have you thought about selling on ebay? My DD and I cleaned out our closets and have sold a lot of things on ebay to raise money for our upcoming impromptu trip for the Disunplugged 10th Anniversary. I pick out our nicer items and donate the rest for tax write off. We always have things that were only worn a handful of times. Our community also has a For sale Facebook page. I just don't have the time to coordinate meeting people so it's easier for me to ebay instead.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I lived in an association where garage sales were only permitted twice a year and each time association wide. It was well advertised. We made anywhere between $300 to $500. The higher amount being when we had larger item like patio furniture. I can only speak of my experience, but I found that when I would ticket something for $5, I knew I would probably end up at $3 or less. So I would never price things real low because then I'd be selling things for 50 cents! After each garage I'd say to my husband that's the last one, but we continued to do it. It's nice having that extra money, and yes, it usually went toward a Disney vacation.

 

[disneychrista]

To me they take way too much time & effort for way to little return. To me if you have enough stuff to have a profitable garage sale, you have too much stuff.

 

[LuckyBelle81]

Thanks for the input! Like I said, I've never done one so there is a lot to consider. Other than the children's clothing I consign each season everything I choose to part with normally goes to charity and we've never written it off on our taxes. But even if we did it wouldn't help before November (finally payment for the trip due).

I think my plan for the time being is to go through everything and evaluate what I've got. I don't think I've got any real "big ticket" items so it would be a nickel and dime situation. Just need to see if it's enough nickel and dimes to be worth it!! Thanks again!

 

[Narnia_girl]

I've had several yard sales over the years. Each time I vow not to do it again but then I forget how much work they are and start planning another one. So the last time I had a yard sale I wrote a note in my datebook for the following year. It said something like, "No matter what don't do another yard sale. Too much work, not enough pay. Just. Don't. Do. It."
So now I listen to my past self.