Layout:
Home > Garage Sale Preparation-

Garage Sale Preparation-

September 26th, 2008 at 04:46 pm


Why is it that you look around your house and think you have so much junk and imagine a house clutter free and cleaner...but then it comes time for garage sale selling you cannot bring yourself to add anything to the sell pile?

I want to get rid of all the porcelain dolls still in their boxes. I want to get rid of all the paperback books- I never reread them. Scrapbooking stuff that I will never use. Stuffed animals with tags still attached. Barbies still in their box. Shoes still in their box.....

But now we have a garage sale tomorrow and my sell pile is so small!

I think to myself.."If the junk sells then my bookshelf is clear to keep all these books."..."No one will pay $10 for these designer jeans but they were $60 and after tearing off the tags I never wore them once!"...."I hate this little figurine but if I sell it and my friend who gave it to me asks where it is-what will I say?"

And so back into the closets and far corners of the house the junk goes!

I WANT the junk-junk to sell so my semi-junk will have a place to live...but no one will buy the junk-junk and will pay such low prices for the semi-junk that I think I should keep it!

Lunacy! It is! I gotta get detached. Keep the vision of a clean house fresh in my mind.

10 Responses to “Garage Sale Preparation-”

  1. dmontngrey Says:
    1222447852

    I know what you mean. I am DROWNING in useless crap people have given me over the years. Stuff I don't even like and it certainly doesn't make me happy. For example, the Strawberry Shortcake pillow doll my mom gave me for Christmas when SS was the in thing a couple years ago. Um.... did she not notice that I've NEVER liked dolls?? Just the other day I finally told her I'm adding it to my freecycle pile because I'm sure some little girl out there would love to have it. It's still "new with tags". I thought my mom was going to throw a fit.

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    1222447969

    Absolutely! You won't make the profit you want, so let go of that figure right away. The junk-junk for the most part is out there to make your good stuff look good, and so that it goes to charity and not back in your house at the end of the sale.

    Do you get the Style network? See if you can catch an episode of "Clean House" so you can see what hoarding looks like from the outside.

  3. HELPmeFriend Says:
    1222448547

    If your friend really loves you, they won't mind that the little figure they gave you is giving someone else pleasure.
    If you want to get rid of the books, get rid of them. Don't keep them because there is now room for them. There will be twice as much room without them and you can get new ones.
    A sale is a great thing to get rid of unused, unwanted, and unloved things. Making money is just the extra kick to it. You will be happier without all the "junk" that isn't really junk.
    Also, don't expect to get what you paid for items at your sale. If you want to make at least $10 on those jeans, sell them on eBay stating that they are NWOT.
    People go to sales like yours to find deals. If you want a really junky spot, don't put the things you want to make money off of next to it. I had an "Everything $0.10" table at my sale. It got the most business.

  4. gamecock43 Says:
    1222449174

    Amazing...I have amassed 21 Bridal magazines!! I kept em all but not for long...into the sale they go!

  5. thriftorama Says:
    1222451542

    I agree. If you can't bear to sell something for less, sell it on eBay (but list it tonight!) and put the rest out at the yard sale. People expect yard sales to be very cheap. But please, do put your stuff out and then donate any extras at the end of the day. Cluttered houses equal cluttered minds!

  6. gamecock43 Says:
    1222451745

    How much do paperback books sell for? $1 each?

  7. scfr Says:
    1222456937

    Before we moved from Seattle to Ausin, I sold off a TON of stuff ... this included having a monster garage sale. (I also sold on Craigslist, Half.com, and Ebay.)

    There are definitely emotional issues involved with letting go of some things.

    I had a "purging theme song" that I used to keep me on track when I lost steam or felt emotionally drained ... "Almost Home" by Mary Chapin Carpenter:

    I saw my life this morning
    Lyin' at the bottom of a drawer
    All this stuff I'm savin'
    God knows what this junk is for
    And whatever I believed in
    This is all I have to show
    What the hell were all the reasons
    For holding on for such dear life
    Here's where I let go

    I saw you this morning
    You were staring back at me
    From an ancient photograph
    Stuck between some letters and some keys
    And I was lost for a moment
    In the ache of old goodbyes
    Sometimes all that we can know is
    That there's no such thing as no regrets
    but baby it's all right

    Hang in there kiddo, and good luck with the sale!

    Oh ... And sell the paperbacks for 50-cents ... and cut the price to 25-cents when the pace of sales starts to slow down.

  8. creditcardfree Says:
    1222470034

    Get rid of everything you know you shouldn't be holding on to...including that figurine you don't like. I agree with others about ebay...it's for the items that aren't appreciated at garage sales. I sold 18 items totalling $200 on ebay in the last 60 days, but only $65 at the garage sale for a much larger amount of items.

    If you truly are decluttering, nothing that is out in your garage tonight should come back in. Bag/box it up and get it to the thrift store by Monday. Good luck!!

  9. HELPmeFriend Says:
    1222480657

    If you sell them for $1 each tomorrow, sell the rest at 2 for $1 on Sunday. You usually sell all the left overs at half price the last day of the sale. My mom was giving stuff away on the last day of hers. The other neighbors started to sell their stuff too, and she gave the rest of her stuff to another neighbor to sell in her yard.
    My mom asked me if I wanted to do another sale and I said that I would set out a $1 table, but that was it. I am not going all out for it. I am trying to rid myself of stuff and make money, not spend it(signs and ads).
    Donating your unsold items to the Goodwill or Salvation Army would rid you of the stuff, or you could try selling it.
    Amazon doesn't charge you to list your items, just like Craigs list. eBay is more hit and you are more likely to sell there.

  10. homebody Says:
    1222579148

    Okay you guys, at age 50, I am ready to get rid of it all. Last year after Christmas, we didn't even bring in the crap we didn't want from people, it went right in the garbage. They never come to our house anyway so who cares. Gosh I sound terrible don't I? I just can't take the crap anymore.

    I am going to be extremely careful about stuff for my new granddaughter. I am going to do college fund instead of spending money on useless crap.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]