May 1, 2010

garage sale: the end of chapter 1

Posted in mousie at 7:38 pm by Anonymouse

This will probably be my last post about the garage sale for awhile.

You: breathing a sigh of relief.

The grand total profit was $229.50.

I’m happy with that.

I had told Mr. Mouse that I would count the sale a success if we sold our old microwave (totally works, we just have a built-in microwave at this house, so we have a leftover from the old house).

It didn’t sell and didn’t sell and didn’t sell.

Then we packed everything up.

I let the microwave linger on the makeshift table on the driveway while I put every last other thing away.

Finally, a man drove by, rolled down his window and asked about it.

That’s right.  Microwave?  Sold.

The sale was a success.

Since this was my first sale, I have a few notes for future sales:

  • Combining with a friend is a great idea.  You have more stuff to attract shoppers and you have a friend to hang with while your sale is open.  (This also equals someone to guard the junk while you change your kid’s diaper.)
  • Participating in the neighborhood sale is the way to go.  Free advertising and lots of traffic.
  • It’s best to have big items and/or lots and lots of tables so that it looks like you have junk substantial enough to make people stop.
  • Clothing – even when hanging by size and with individual price stickers, does not sell well.  At least not in my neighborhood.
  • Your neighbors – who previously chose to not acknowledge you other than using your yard as a toilet for their dogs, will act like you are old friends.
  • Getting that roll of quarters was a waste.  You won’t use it.  Just save up $2-3 of quarters in the weeks ahead of time.  You probably won’t use any of it anyway.
  • It is a good idea to start with lots of $1s & $5s.  I had $25 is $1s and $15 in $5s and this was sufficient for my sale.
  • The actual sale is the fun part – hanging with a friend!  talking to strangers!  The prep day is the not fun part.  Pack things away thoughtfully to make prep easier in the future.

I have two boxes of things that I’m giving to a friend to sell at her garage sale and I have three small boxes of things I’m going to try to sell at another friend’s sale (goal: make my lunch money and hang out with friends).

Those boxes are in my garage. Other items went in the garbage.   None of the stuff came back in my house.

Me: $229.50 richer and lots of boxes of junk poorer.

Garage Sale Win.

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