There is a realtor in my community who organizes a neighborhood-wide garage sale twice a year to promote her business and probably for a little community service. She puts fliers on everyone’s home and asks them to sign up if they’d like to be a part of it. She puts the ad in the newspaper and puts all the signs around the neighborhood pointing to your block (if you signed up) and she prints out a map denoting all streets with participating homes, as well as a one-line listing of what kinds of items that home is selling. It’s very well organized!
This past weekend was the Fall garage sale for my neighborhood and I LOVED seeing everyone getting rid of all their old junk, and all the buyers on their scavenger hunt for their perfect item. My purge-high did wane, however, when I realized that most of the homes would not have a charity truck coming to their house after the sale to take all the items that didn’t sell (like they do on Style Network’s Clean House). No, most of the homes would pull all that dusty old crap back into their home, where it would likely sit, un-adored and taking up much-needed space in a spare bedroom, closet, or garage.
My mom (who has a home a couple miles from me) participated in the garage sale and she asked me to help her (because of my expertise in this area) sort, set up and sell. The night before the sale I thought, “well, let me just take a look around my house and see if there is anything I don’t want or use anymore that I can sell at her table.” I was so proud to find that, as I walked around my home and opened cabinets and drawers, there was little I found that I don’t use often or love. I did end up parting with one salsa dish, one set of margarita glasses I have used once in eight years, and one wicker chair that doesn’t really fit in my daughter’s small bedroom. That was it! Pretty impressive!
My mom ended up making $200 at her sale (once I schooled her on how to price to sell), and I made a whopping $22.75 for my contributions. And I did make my mom load up her Jeep with the rest of her items that didn’t sell and take them to Salvation Army that day. She complied.
You know, everyone always touts “spring cleaning”, but there’s nothing like a brisk, Fall garage sale to clear out the clutter… before all those holiday gifts start rolling in to fill the space again. Consider recruiting even just the neighbors on your block to do a group yard sale. You will generate a LOT of traffic with multiple homes, and you can call out a charity truck to take everything after it’s over (since there are multiple homes). Have the kids sell lemonade and have someone grill and sell hotdogs for $2 each. Make it a fun, family event and price your items to sell! Make a little holiday shopping dough!
Oh, and if you love the garage sale hunt like I do, check out this fun blog: http://www.yardsalebloodbath.com/ which lets you enjoy the search without actually bringing any clutter home or spending any money.
