We had our garage sale last weekend and I’m sure you all are anxiously to hear the results! ;)
My wife spent a lot of time making sure we had everything organized and ready to go early on so that the day of the garage sale (and the day before) we wouldn’t be stressed out or scrambling. We had everything priced and sorted in advance of the big day. I also borrowed tables from some of our friends so we’d have plenty of space to lay everything out.
Peter from Bible Money Matters gave us the great idea of selling pop and water at the sale, so we had that set up as well. Unfortunately this wasn’t a big money-maker, mainly because it really wasn’t that hot out. It was pretty cold in the morning and it ended up raining in the afternoon. I can see how on a hot day this could be worth your time, though.
We made most of our money between 8am and noon. One thing that really hindered us was that it started raining in the early afternoon. While we did make some money in the afternoon, we would have made a lot more if the weather had cooperated. That’s the thing that sucks about garage and yard sales: you are at the whim of the weather. If it had rained all day we would have made hardly anything.
Without further delay…how much did we make?
The final result: $256.30
I initially made a goal of $500, which was a bit of a stretch since we didn’t have any large furniture items to sell or expensive pieces. Overall, though, I’m very happy with making ~$250 because it was a bunch of stuff we would have otherwise got rid of, and my wife was very close to reaching her $300 goal and I’m pretty sure we would have surpassed that goal if it hadn’t started raining a little after 1 in the afternoon.
A few things I learned and would do differently:
- You can’t have too many tables – You really can’t have too many tables at a garage sale. You can put stuff on the ground, but it’s always easier for people when it’s sitting on a table so they don’t have to bend over and reach down to look at things.
- Selling tip from a customer – I talked to a guy at our sale who makes his full-time income selling on eBay. He said what he really was looking for was old superhero toys. Him and his wife ended up making a deal for six t-shirts and a pair of Silver pants. He was nice enough to give me this tip: you can bundle shirts on eBay and make it worth your while. He told us bundling similar pairs of jeans, t-shirts, etc. can help you maximize how much you make on an eBay sale. We are going to give this a try with some of our leftover clothes/books/etc.
- Have everything laid out the night before – I thought having everything sorted and ready to go the night before was enough, but what you should do is have everything laid out on the tables in your garage the night before. This will save you some time in the morning since all you have to do is carry the tables and other stuff out of your garage versus having to unpack boxes of stuff to sell.
We also had a few garage sale-related posts in the past month or so. Check them out if you are thinking about hosting your own garage sale or participating in a community sale:
- 5 Tips for a Successful Garage Sale
- Things to Sell at a Garage Sale
- How to Prepare for a Garage Sale: Garage Sale To-Do List [With Download]
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What do you think about our results? If you hosted a garage sale this year or in the past, how did you do? Have you ever sold on eBay or Craigslist, and would you recommend this alternative to hosting a garage sale or participating in a community sale?
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Photos by Victoria Carlson. All rights reserved.
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Considering the rain problems I think you did pretty well.
MonsterPiggyBank Thanks!
Sorry you didn’t make your goal, but $250 is no spare change! I hope you can sell more online.
RFIndependenceYeah my goal was a little high, so it’s all good. Maybe if it hadn’t rained. We should get some tax deductions for donating some of the leftovers as well as some more money from selling stuff online.
Great job! I’m going to have one this summer come hell or high water. I have some big ticket items!
Holly at ClubThriftyI hope you do really well! I wish we had more big ticket items, but I think we had plenty to sell as it was and clothes are something I am very happy to get rid of – especially if they don’t even fit!
I think you did pretty well considering it rained. That is a great suggestion on bundling the clothes, we actually do the very same thing when we sell some of the kids’ clothes through Craigslist. It makes it easier to sell and people feel like they’re getting a deal.
FrugalRulesOh nice, I will definitely consider bundling some stuff on Craigslist and eBay. I was extremely excited when I realized I had four Gap sweaters, all same size, all same style, all different colors! Talk about a great bundle. Hopefully will be able to bundle some other clothes/books/etc as well.
Never held a garage sale before. Too bad on the weather but at least you made some money. I hear a few people making some really good money on ebay. May need to add that in the mix and see how it goes.
YourDailyFinYeah if you know the ins and outs of eBay, as well as the right stuff to “flip” on there, I can see how some people are making a decent full- or part-time income on there.
We’ve never had a garage sale. However, we are storing a lot of stuff for my mom so we have been thinking about just getting rid of it all. haha
SenseofCentsHaha make sure you get some cash for it or at least a tax deduction ;)
oh that’s too bad about the rain! I’m still hoping to do one this summer with friends so we have a lot of stuff to sell, and I don’t have to do it all myself.
Beachbudget That sounds like it will be so much easier! I know some cities/communities do sales each year where you can just use a table or two to put your stuff out versus having to organize it all yourself. Hopefully you are able to do it!
My friend, her friend, and I had a conjoined rummage sale last year. I made about $300. Didn’t have a lot of stuff to sell, so was pretty happy with the results. As much time and effort as I spent, not including the value of a weekend day, pretty sure I won’t be doing that again. To me, it wasn’t worth all the effort and loss of valuable weekend time. That being said, it was fun to spend time with my friend. But, I’d rather spend time with her doing something that I consider fun – and, rummage sales aren’t fun to me. (I’m not trying to discourage anyone from doing it. I can simply work a little more during the week if I want the extra cash and use my weekend day for R&R.)
RobertaRenstromNyquist That’s a good point, Roberta. There is a trade-off. When you are paying down debt and trying to get ahead, though, sometimes it’s worth sacrificing some weekend time ;)
Sounds like it was a success. The weather part sucks about garage sales. It can either be amazing or a hindrance. I love shopping at garage sales, but I’m not sure we’ll ever have one unless we have some big ticket items to sell. It seems like quite a bit of work for just a few hundred dollars. I’d rather go the amazon/eBay route personally, but that doesn’t always work for all items. At least you learned a few lessons for the next time!
CommonCentsWealth I definitely will be selling some on Amazon and eBay! I might even give flipping on eBay/Craigslist a try now that I know quite a few people who have done it.
Nice job DC! We have a yard sale coming up on Saturday and I will be thrilled if we do as well as you did!
ayoungpro Nice! Best of luck!
Congrats! I think you guys did a wonderful job and that is a nice amount of cash (that you can use at your next casino trip LOL). Garage sales are so reliant on having good weather, but you had the best weather in the morning and that is when the true garage sale hunters are out looking for things anyways. From the pics it looks like you guys had a lot of clothes?? Our community is having a garage sale on June 22nd, but I don’t think we will participate.
TacklingOurDebt Haha! I plan on winning at the next casino trip : P Yes we had a TON of clothes. My sister and her friend give my wife their old clothes, seems like she gets a bagful every time we see my sister! I also haven’t donated or thrown out most of my clothes for the past 6 years (though 3 years ago we had a garage sale with my parents and I made over $100 selling old clothes, so that took care of some of them haha). I would go the community sale route for sure, but I would only have a sale again if we had a LOT more stuff. We are going garage-saling on Saturday so who knows maybe we will buy a bunch of stuff for cheap that we want to try and flip.
I’d say that’s a pretty good take for a yard sale. The way I look at it, it’s stuff you were never going to use again, so if you made $5, that’s a bonus. Probably a lot of work for $5 though!
Eyesonthedollar I agree! It’s nice to get money for things that have little to no value to me since I won’t use them in my life.
Congrats on your sale! It’s a bit of a lost art but it sounds like you made some decent cash off stuff you would have otherwise just donated or thrown out. You have the added benefit of patting yourself on the back for being environmentally friendly and making sure your stuff gets reused by others.
I had forgotten about garage saling but I used to love doing it with my mom. I used to find some pretty great stuff – you have inspired me! I think I might take advantage of a few garage sales this summer – you never know what you’ll find.
Cheers
Lindsey
LindseyatCents We are going garage-saling this Saturday afternoon. I’m on the lookout for some old books or things that I can bundle and sell on eBay ;)
That’s a good amount to make for a garage sale if you don’t have anything big to sell. We usually hold our sales for two days, the second day ending at noon. And definitely have everything laid out and ready to go the night before. Makes the morning of so much easier. So the question is, what fun thing will the money be used for? :)
Congrats on the sale! Were you able to see the clothes? I have lots of clothes (even business clothes) in good condition but I never think they will see at a garage sale. I hoping to plan a moving sale soon with both small and large items so thank you for the tips!
I think you guys did really well considering the rain out. I’ve had good luck selling groups of things in “lots” on e-bay.