Saturday, September 26, 2009

Stuff and more stuff

I am into the last day of my first garage sale. It is MUCH quieter today. Yesterday morning there was a steady stream of people until about 11:30. This morning there has been a slow trickle of people. But maybe as the sky clears up and it gets warmer, more people will come out.
The first thing that sold this morning was our Little Tykes Swing and Slide combo, which we sold at our asking price.
A lot of small stuff has sold, even some of the cassette and VHS tapes I pulled out late yesterday afternoon. I figured people going up to their cabin up north might get some use out of VHS tapes. One gentleman commented that the TV selection up north isn't great and he's not going to pay for a dish.
A lot more baby clothing has sold, although some outfits that I think are super cute are still around.
We still have the Carter's John Lennon collection stuff. I had an older gentleman come in looking for the John Lennon collection but he meant music. He was surprised to see our collection was baby stuff. And even more surprised when I explained the characters used in the collection were drawn by John Lennon.
The bigger baby items, like the swing, bouncy seat and walker, are also still around. And we put out an old entertainment center, which I hope will sell because I don't want to bring it back in the house. I guess it could get stored in the basement.
Last night I decided to add a few more things, like women's clothing and winter gear. Some of the clothing has sold. Still have a lot of the maternity clothing. I was told that is sometimes harder to sell so perhaps I'll just donate it to a local organization.
C asked if I'd do a sale again and I think I would. It really hasn't been bad. The pricing part was a little tedious but I got some sound advice from garage sale loving friends. And it helps to have someone else watch the girls. My friend A was a super help yesterday. And my folks are visiting for the weekend so the girls are having loads of fun. My mom even took the girls for a walk to check out all the other sales in the neighborhood. She says our sale is, by far, the biggest one. Probably because it's our first and we have a lot of baby stuff to get rid of.
The pricing part of a garage sale is not fun but, as I clean out closets and drawers each season, I can see trying to get into the habit of putting them into totes specifically marked for the garage sale. Maybe even pricing them before storing them away. It's all in my head but it would be nice that should another time come, I can pull them out and go.
I plan to even pack up the stuff from today, even still priced, to make the next time a little easier.

1 comment:

Jessica-MomForHim said...

Some of the cheaper stuff I don't sell I donate or freecycle, but a lot of the other stuff that I think someone might buy, I just pack up in boxes or totes and leave in the garage for next year's sale. Then all through the year when I come across something to sell, I just add it to the box. I also have a freecycle box that I add stuff to until it gets full and then I post it.

Another idea, take your baby stuff and clothes to Once Upon a Child to see if they will buy some of it. You never know, you might make a little bit more money! :-)