Comments on: Saving Pennies or Dollars? Garage and Yard Sales

By: aj

aj — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:34:21 +0000

@Jessica: Oh I know what you mean about Rummage sales! We have one church that does one every year that we will NOT miss! They end it with $1 a bag sale, and we always come away with lots of great stuff! I usually donate extra because we end up with so many great finds it is definitely worth Much more! Good for them, GREAT for our Family of 5 budget!!!

By: aj

aj — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:05:27 +0000

I just finished up my Yard Sale season, lol. I hadn’t had one for a few years, but this year we are fundraising for the high school band trip to Disney in the Spring so I had a sale on 3 Saturdays. I had planned to do FRI & Sat but it turned out that the Fridays ended up being rainy.

We had been collecting all of our sale stuff on our carport for quite some time as we decided to rid it out…so it took some sorting through & organizing the night before the first sale…but I like to group things together & make bright signs with the prices on it for stuff like clothing. I had my dh put up a rope between my carport railing posts to hang all of the nicer clothing, then had the other stuff on tables. Anything bigger, nicer I was sure to put out where it would catch people’s eye as they drove by, using some neon paper that I printed on with big bold black font. These are easily read while driving by.

I made a couple of Yard Sale signs on neon green cardstock, again big bold black font, and laminated them, attatched to pole to put at end of driveway, another set on front of house by carport, and 2 sets with arrows to along the road at other end of property so I get traffic going both ways…we live just out of town & within view of a busy road so I don’t even waste my time paying for an ad in the local paper anymore. We have lots of traffic so I quit advertising.

I made over $525 for the 3 days of sales, but the 2nd & 3rd days were really not much work because I was able to just move stuff over to the side of my carport until next time & took only about 30 minutes to set back up again. When we weren’t busy I would just work on other things I needed to attend to, & we didn’t eat out any, just got stuff out of the freezer.

Now that I am done with it (tired of seeing it on my carport!) I am going to list a few of the bigger things that did not sell on our local Trading post the radio does, & the Traders Guide a free pub in our area. Clothes, especially childrens clothes, sell well if you just sell by the lot. I sold 3 different lots (by size) over the winter for $30 each. Made $90 by just taking a few minutes to sort, and list, email in…not bad!

I have sorted out some really nice lots of women’s/teens name brand clothes to sell on eBay.
They sell better there than locally. Use flat rate USPS mailers that are $5.95 and stuff as much as I can in so buyers get a good deal in the lot without having to pay so much S&H…better deal=better sales.

The rest I am taking to the local mission & Goodwill. Some things Goodwill can’t take, and will just throw away if you drop it off there (look it up on internet…sometimes it is better to just advertise it as free to someone so it doesn’t get trashed!) Sometimes we simply set stuff out at the end of the driveway with FREE sign & it will be gone in minutes!

My goal is to spend the least amount of time handling this stuff to make the most profit…My goal is to make another $200 selling the stuff I am keeping…the rest is getting donated Saturday! Woo Hoo!

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:45:37 +0000

My best suggestion is actually signs on the table. It was touched on to group the items together, but I like to have a big sign on a table Kitchen or Baby or Tools, etc. That way when people are driving by they can see the categories rather quickly instead of just the “junk” that’s on the table. Have everything priced already so people know where to start bargaining or if they want to even bother. Also everything clean and organized is great. Lastly, have a long extension cord ready in case you need to prove an electronic item works.

By: con

con — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 03:04:19 +0000

Maybe Trent is talking about dollars versus pennies in regard to how well you set your garage sale up? Maybe.

My mom usually has one about once or twice a year. She likes to do it, but personally, if it was just about money, I don’t think it’s worth it. Yeah, you can make a few hundred dollars and that’s great if you don’t have anything else to do and need the money. I’d rather just give my stuff to Goodwill, etc. and not hassle with it. There are so many people that try to negotiate with you from day one, it’s tiresome to me.

By: MARY S

MARY S — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:18:31 +0000

I love garage sales but seldom have one due to location (our driveway is 1/8 mile long and on dead end street with few neighbors). I regularly donate to Goodwill or church organizations (taking the tax write-off )or freecycle.
Good point about the signs-it’s aggravating to see a small sign with no arrow or address on it that is hard to read while driving past it. My other pet peeve is that people leave their old signs up 3 days past the sale!

By: Andrea

Andrea — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:05:42 +0000

Location plays a big factor in the success of a sale as well. When we lived in town we were right on a busy corner (part of why we now live rurally–ha). I could put things in the yard and on the drive way so people saw the stuff as they were coming and going.
Another factor is payday. If most of the people in your neighborhood work for the state and get paid once a month then the 1st Saturday was the best day. Consider the ‘bonus’ payday in a month too for the bi-weekly folks, like Sept this year people will be paid 3x so 9/30 and 10/1 would be a great day for a sale.

Which brings me to the next item and that is in our neck of the woods, Friday morning and afternoon sales were great, cathcing people going to work later and coming home earlier that day. Followed up by Saturday until noon-1pm. After that traffic fell off to nothing and you were wasting your time. If it was a nice day people had other stuff to do and on Sunday’s people were at church not out looking for the sales. So I stopped even trying.
I had good success and depending on what I had I could make several hundred dollars. It was the clean garage and fatter pocket that was the best at the end.

By: Bridget

Bridget — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:06:54 +0000

Most of what I had to sell was baby and kids clothes. Most recently, I have decided to go with a consignment sale (not consignment shop) for a one-time hit. We have “Just Between Friends” locally, but there are other similar businesses.

I was able to clear $130 between clothes and a few pieces of baby equipment.

One of my challenges is having someone to watch the kids while having a garage sale. This way, I was able to prep my clothes at night, when the kids had gone to sleep. I had to take about an hour to drop off the clothes and an hour to pick up the clothes. The prices I got were probably better than what I would have received at a garage sale.

And I am using the leftover clothes for hand-me-downs and clothing swaps. Another option I have is to sell these same clothes (already prepped and priced) at another local sale in this chain.

Now, this doesn’t work for the grownup’s stuff, but it has helped me clear out the baby stuff while making a few bucks. (The proceeds are going into my HVAC fund.)

By: Tanya

Tanya — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:03:16 +0000

I don’t really enjoy garage sales – either going to them or hosting them. However, last summer in our neighborhood, people having a garage sale put up brightly colored poster board signs that said “Awesome crap!” with an arrow. I drove by the garage sale – but didn’t see anything I wanted or needed – simply because they were humorous about the way they promoted their sale. And their signs were well-placed, big and easy to read.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:10:09 +0000

converse* not contrapositive ( I always mess that up)

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:03:46 +0000

I save loads of money by buying secondhand at rummage sales and yard sales. I prefer rummage sales due to the increased likelihood of finding what I’m looking for- stuff from 100 families is more likely to contain what I need compared to stuff from 1 family. I usually go on bag sale day. Some rummage sales I shop at charge as little as $.25 per bag of clothes on bag sale day. The vast majority of my and my kids’ wardrobe comes from these sales and I AM choosy. I wear Ann Taylor / Loft, GAP, and other quality brands. I just don’t pay high prices for them.

I also buy books, puzzles, housewares and craft items.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:52:43 +0000

David your implied contrapositive isn’t necessarily true, but it made me smile.

By: Adam P

Adam P — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:32:52 +0000

Usually in this series you are comparing things, like buying something versus making it yourself. I don’t really understand what you are comparing here? Having a garage sale versus not having one? That’s comparing an action versus doing nothing, which isn’t really what the series is. I agree with Tom, this isn’t fitting with the series.

But all good tips none the less, sorry for the nitpick.

By: David

David — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:05:40 +0000

A dollar saved, my grandmother would have told me if she had been American, is a dollar earned.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:39:11 +0000

I'm going to nitpick here; isn't this really about earning pennies or dollars, and not saving? I saw the title and thought that you were going to dive into whether buying things at yard sales were worth it. Good tips, but again, this topic fits awkwardly into your series.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 09:36:36 +0000

1. The ability to pick a good day weather wise is crucial to success. If you have the flexability to make your decision final a few days before the sale, you can pick great weather. 2. Graphic directional signs are the most important element of all. I don’t mean 8″ by 10″ copy paper with minute (1″ tall) letters saying “Garage sale 5 oak street something for everyone baby clothes, dresser, old photos, men’s suits, comic books…” etc.) Use 2′ by 2′ free standing signs or signs on a stick. The signs should have “SALE, the street address” and directional arrow in 6″ tall or taller letters, posterboard and black poster paint are the best for this. Ask property owners if you can put a sign on their corner during the sale and remove as soon as sale is done. The number of people who stop because of signs is much greater than those from newspaper ad and internet ads combined. That said, get a good ad on Craigslist with photos the afternoon before the sale, so your ad is near the top. Email everyone you know about sale in advance, list on facebook. 3. Before all else, get the permit from the town. 4. You can prep food before the sale, or if it is a sale where you’ve invited a few friends to participate, there’s nothing wrong with splitting the cost to buy pizza. 5. You generally get out of a garage sale what you put in in the way of effort, advertising, energy, unwanted stuff. 6. At the end of the sale, don’t toss what you don’t want, put a quick ad on Craigslist in the “Free” column, and watch the dregs go away, Freecycle is good too. Remove the ad when the things are gone, or a day later you really can throw away what is left with a clear conscience. Yard sales are hard work but they are rewarding financially, with the newly clutter free space, meeting friends and neighbors at your sale for a quick chat (you are really there to sell, not to get embroiled in long conversations where you ignore potential buyers!) good for the environment because things are recycled, and you know the folks want the things because they give you money in exchange. Just giving the items away often menas they are tossed for you by people more hard hearted than you are. Yard sales are also good because every item purchased resale means one more item we don’t send money to the Chinese Communists to buy, yard sales are good for America’s balance of trade.