Hi there, Mrs. 1500 again.
Last week, I asked about moving. Do you do it yourselves, pay someone else to do it, or use a hybrid approach? Not surprisingly, most readers are DIYers. Pack it themselves, load up the truck, and drive to their new destination. People after my own heart… But I would have been surprised if you all had hired movers.
Savvy Financial Latina had a really good point, “The important thing is to try to be a minimalist, so you have less stuff to move.” Oh, how I wish I had taken this advice about 3 months ago. We have too much stuff*. Or rather, I have too much stuff. I am a pre-hoarder, finding interesting things that I just know “I can do something with.” Of course, that is the official “hoarders motto.”
We are moving into a home roughly 1/3 the size of our last house, and I have to purge. In the past, I have made about $7 hosting garage sales. Maybe I price my stuff too high? I think I just get rid of stuff that no one else wants, too.
I don’t want to waste an entire Saturday sitting there trying to sell stuff no one wants. I don’t want to waste time putting price tags on things no one will buy. But I don’t want to throw away money, either. Donating to a thrift store sounds like a great way to go. You get to write it off on your taxes, and you are helping a worthy cause. But maybe you could make more money by having a garage sale?
What do you suggest? If I go the garage sale route, I will have general prices, like all clothes and toys $.50 unless marked. Everything on this table is $.25 in order to diminish the amount of time spent pricing things. If I go the thrift store route, I don’t have to do any of that.
So, Garage Sale or Thrift Store? What do you recommend?
*Mr. 1500 chips in: This is an understatement. We have two storage lockers (10×20 and 10×25 that are filled). Bah! My dream is to live a minimalist existence where everything fits into one moving truck easily. Stay tuned…
**I loved this car! The quirky, door stop/wedge styling is great! This was also a great garage sale find. We bought it for $1400, drove it for 3 years and then sold it for $3000. These things have collectors value these days. You never know what you’ll stumble across at someone’s sale.
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If you go the donation route, you only get the write-off if you itemize your taxes. Don’t know if you do or not, but I stopped getting the receipts when we donate because we don’t itemize. Doesn’t stop me from donating though, I don’t keep enough stuff to warrant having a garage sale. Maybe it will help having the sale in your new neighborhood, since it’s probably less wasteful than the old one? Make sure to put up flyers or let people know it’s happening somehow!
We do itemize our taxes, so that isn’t an issue. I am more concerned with throwing away money. While I would never be the person who donated the suit with $20,000 in the pockets (I ALWAYS check the pockets before it goes into the donate bag, thanks to those stories – never find $20,000 though.) I hate to think of all the money I could make at a garage sale instead of just donating it.
And unfortunately, I have more than enough to have the biggest garage sale you ever saw…
thrift shop all the way – we can use the deductions way more than the paltry cash I’d earn from a garage sale. The thing that sucks is you have to make a detailed list for the donation to keep with the receipt in case of an audit (and also so you know how much each item is ‘worth’ for the deduction). I know I’m time ahead on the donation vs sale though.
Did you guys ever say which city in CO you moved to?
Thanks for your thoughts, Stephanie.
I just spoke with a friend who hosted a garage sale this weekend. She spent days preparing, all day sitting there waiting for people to buy her stuff, and made less than $200. I think I have delusions of grandeur, that people will stop at my sale and throw money at me for my precious crap. I need to get over that.
And no, we didn’t name a specific city in Colorado, we would like to remain anonymous because we provide financial details. Do you live in CO?
My partner and I moved in together over two years ago. He had a 1600 sq ft home and a “shop” filled to the brim with toys, tools, etc…man stuff. This year we made the decision to try to get everything into (and around) the home we are living in (1,123 sq feet of living space, garage and yard). So that meant having to part with stuff, a lot of stuff.
We’ve hosted five garage sales over the last 2 months. Here are three tips based on our experience:
– Don’t price anything. We did that the first time and it seemed to scare people off. They wouldn’t even negotiate. When there are no prices, they will ask the price. If you say a number that’s too high, ask them what they would pay.
– We priced too high that first round. One shopper told me that the rule of thumb was to ask 10% of what it would cost new. That proved to be good advice.
– If you have a bunch of toys, like stuffed toys or DVDs, put them out where the kids can get to them and offer to let them pick one out for free when the parent buys something. That worked great!
Besides selling on average $460/day, we:
– Met people we really enjoyed from around the neighborhood. (We’re not out front much so we don’t know most of our neighbors.)
– Had fun with each other seeing who could get the first sale, most money, etc.
– We learned something about each other in the process – we’re both pretty good at sales!
– We made some kids happy (you should have seen them hugging those stuffed animals!).
I used to hate the idea of a garage sale. It seemed like a horrid job that would take too much time and effort. Turns out, it can be quite enjoyable!
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Agreed on the 10% of new price. Do not price items above this price because they will not sell.
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I don’t have any delusions about price. I love garage sales and walk away from the higher priced ones. I wouldn’t price much, just general prices on like items such as clothes and toys.
Thanks for your comments.
There’s nothing stopping you from both! Garage sale and whatever doesn’t sell within a specified time frame gets picked up by the DAV or your thrift store of choice. =).
That said, if it were us, we’d probably pull out anything we could list on Craigslist and sell hassle-free, then donate the rest. Or give it to someone with a flea market stall.
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That was the original plan, host a garage sale then thrift store the rest. The more responses I read, the more I am just leaning toward thrift store all the way. Pick through anything that may have value and Craigslist that.
We tend to be of the thrift store variety. We actually will try selling things on Craigslist several times a year and if we just can’t unload it through that channel we’ll take it to a thrift store. I know there is the possibility of making more money on a garage sale, but we save time by just taking it to the thrift store which is generally of a little more importance to us.
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I don’t have a good track record with Craigslist, even giving it away for free. I am going to try and see if there is anything of particular value – probably not, though.
Thrift stores, I think, completely rip you off because they know how hesitant you are to spend the time to sell stuff. Maybe pricing lower is a better option?
Mrs 1500!!! I have to say that the thrift store inveigles the minimalist in me because it is seems so very simple, no hassle. Also, our townhouse association does not allow garage sales, so we haven’t a choice. I can also well imagine all the inane small talk you’d have to make with less than desirable neighbors to sell your stuff. I think that would make me puke and die, but that’s just me.
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HA! I would actually look forward to meeting the new neighbors, but would probably also be embarrassed by the stuff on my driveway. I am leaning towards the thrift store, with Mr. 1500 pushing me heavily to NOT host a garage sale.
Have you considered consignment shops instead? They take a hefty commission, but you can still earn some money in the deal without the hassle of selling online or a garage sale. I don’t know if there are any in your area, but where I live there are shops for clothing, kids stuff, furniture, etc.
It does take a little research to find the places and figure out their policies, but it might be a good way to go.
I would consider consignment shops if I had anything they would sell. I have the stuff you find in thrift stores, general junk.
I have made considerable money at kids consignment sales in the past, even with the 30% commission they charge. Almost no work.
Thanks for the mention. Which reminds me that I need to purge. I have 4 cardboard boxes in our closet that really need to go. I have a filing cabinet I thought we needed, but also needs to go. I bet I have a bunch of stuff in our closets that we don’t even use. For example, I have an entire box of xmas decorations my mom gave me despite the fact I told her I don’t want any Christmas decorations because I won’t decorate. I don’t know how to get rid of it without hurting my mom’s feelings. I have a coffee maker and a metal wine holder, my in-laws gave us. We don’t drink coffee or wine. I just want to be a minimalist! It’s a never ending battle!
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I would tell your mom, point blank, I cannot use these Christmas decorations. I can give them back to you, or I can donate them to the thrift store. Give her the opportunity to take them back before you donate. I had boxes of Christmas Decorations from Mr. 1500’s grandmother. We finally had Christmas at our house a few years back, and we had his mother go through the boxes, knowing that we would donate anything she did not take. She kept some things, we kept some things, and got rid of a lot. It is nice to have things from his grandmother, but also nice to not have to keep it all.
Personally, I don’t like having garage sales. There is just too much to deal with. Luckily though, my brothers girlfriends *loves* having garage sales and has invited me to put my stuff in with hers so that is the route I am going. I do think in terms of money you’d be better off having a garage sale.
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That is the only thing keeping me from just donating everything, is the possibility of cash in hand, rather than deductions next April. But with all the work our new house will need, I don’t think I have the time to devote to a garage sale.
I think having a garage sale is too much of a hassle. I regularly donate clothes and such to thrift shops, any larger or more valuable items I may be looking to get rid of I usually post on Craigslist.
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If we had a ton of stuff, I’d hold a sale, advertise well and price cheap. Then everything that didn’t go would be taken to the thrift store. If you’ve got great prices and good stuff, and advertise well, lots should go. Sounds like you’ve got a large selection of stuff available to sell. 🙂
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Oh, if I had anything worth anything, I wouldn’t hesitate. I think I may post a few things on Craigslist, and dump the rest at the thrift store.
Recently my neighbors invited us to a full-neighborhood yard sale. It was a pretty exciting concept for me, because we wouldn’t have to do any of the work of advertising or anything like that. My wife wasn’t feeling well, so we decided to not participate in the yard sale ourselves, but we watched the progress of the day out the front window. There may have been 5 customers total throughout the entire day. It would have been such a waste of time for us to try to make $10 or $15. There are people who would love to have the stuff that we consider to be garbage, so that’s why I prefer thrift store donations. Plus, it’s a tax write-off. 🙂
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That is good advice. Real handy to implement.
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