It is unbelievable to me that there is only one month left of summer vacation! I am sitting here thinking about how I want to proceed with my blog and what new features that I want to add because my school semester starts in just a few weeks and when it does, I may not be able to post articles as often as I would like too. I have already found it difficult to get on some days to write (and this is my passion) with four kids and a lot on my plate already! But don't worry, I will try to work harder to post, even if I have to do it after the kids go to bed.
This week I have been incredibly busy working on preparations for our garage sale. It is so freeing to get rid of all of the extra clutter and clothes that have sort of, well, overtaken our life and home. Yesterday, I went down into the basement and pulled out all of the boys old clothes looking for clothes for Adam and realized that I had two full, extra large totes of clothing that he just recently outgrew...that was a waste of storage space because I never needed them and didn't even know they were down there! So I washed them all and took them out for the garage sale and now a whole wall in the basement is cleared out and empty.
Toys are another problem area in our house. With my father recently moving into his own house, we now have a new play room in our basement. I have to admit that once it is out of sight, it is out of mind...but when I was down there yesterday and looked around at the mess, I decided that there was an opportunity to get rid of more stuff. Today we will be going through the toys and getting rid of some of those too. When they don't play with them, it is time to get rid of them!
So why take the time to have a garage sale? I know a lot of people who think that hosting a garage sale is too much work and effort, but I really love seeing our things go to people who need it or want it more than we do. I also like having the extra cash in my pocket so that our family can go out to a movie, dinner, or whatever other fun thing the kids are interested in doing. I could donate everything to Goodwill, and believe me, they get a lot of donations from us every year, but I like having a garage sale. I love seeing people and generally just being out of the house for a day!
Some tips for a successful garage sale (just in case you want to host one too)
1.) Make sure your items are clean and in good repair. There is nothing worse that having a pile of dirty items (especially clothes) to look through. Everything should smell relatively good and there shouldn't be a lot of dust or dirt on any items.
2.) Everything should be clearly priced. People don't like to try and guess what you want for an item, make sure you have a price on everything and if you don't, have a sign posted with prices on it (I do this for clothes because it is impossible to price everything.)
3.) Try not to over price your items. This is a garage sale, which means that people don't want to pay what you paid for it, even if it still has its tag on it and you never used it. I usually don't price anything more than a third of what I paid for it, so if I paid $10 for something than I won't charge more than $3 for it. If it is a high end item, than I will price it accordingly, but remember, it's used no matter what so it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
4.) If you are trying to make money and you are hosting a garage sale with other people, try not to shop through their items (if you can help it). The purpose is to get rid of clutter, not to add it back with items that were on you're friends tables. (I already bought something that I didn't really need, but loved, so I know how hard this is to do!)
Do you have any garage sale tips or ideas to share?
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