A Crazy, Draining, and Profitable Weekend
The last few days have been kind of a big blur. As most of you loyal readers know, I’ll be moving in just a few weeks. We are downsizing considerably. I’ve been going through every drawer, dresser, cabinet, box, and space that I can to declutter and purge the things that we don’t need.
Each time we move, we get rid of tons of stuff. But you just don’t realize the magnitude of excess possessions you have until you scour every nook and cranny possible. I guess in previous years we had disposed of the obvious unnecessary things from our lives. This time a painful and time consuming purging was what we needed. I’m talking a Clean House kind of process. There were many times through all of this that I was ready to cry, walk away, give it all away, and/or give up. I’m so thankful I pressed on.
We set the date of the first moving sale for July 12th, with a possibility of another date in a few weeks. The reason for two sales is because we soon discovered we had more things than we could possibly fit into one sale and we didn’t have time to go through all of our belongings. Sad, I know.
We have been working so hard and such late hours into the wee hours of the morning trying to get these things done before the sale so that we could make the money that we wanted for our things.
Saturday morning rolled around and I was up at 5:30 am, dragging along as I tried to unpack and set up before the buyers, scavengers and thieves arrived. I am so incredibly thankful that three friends stopped by to help. And yet, even with the five of us working, we could hardly even manage the crowd. It was so crazy!!!!
Now I sit here somewhat frazzled, relieved, and ready to continue purging as we plan another sale. Of course, we don’t expect to make another $2953, but another $500 or more would be nice. After the sale, we’ll donate all the remains to a worthy charity for their thrift store.
What do you think of our earnings? Have you ever had a profitable yard sale?
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POSTED IN: financial matters, frugal living, odds and ends
16 opinions for A Crazy, Draining, and Profitable Weekend
kellys
Jul 14, 2008 at 12:17 pm
OMG!!!!
Congradulations! I am so proud to say that your hard work paid off very well. DH should be so proud of you.
Karen
Jul 14, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Were you totally floored when you saw the total?
Meredith
Jul 14, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Wow! I’ve been a lurker for a while, but I just had to comment. That is amazing! We made $500 once, and I thought that was great. That’s very, very impressive!
Karen
Jul 14, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Meredith: No need to lurk any longer.
About two years ago I had a big yard sale and made about $580. I was impressed with my earnings, but I was out in the cold from 5 am to 5 pm and I had a ton of stuff. I think the great moving sale signs helped a lot. For some reason people are willing to buy more and pay more when it says moving sale. Glad you stopped by and commented.
mom_of_14
Jul 14, 2008 at 6:20 pm
i am truly impressed!!!!! that’s ALOT of money…and to think you’ll be having a second sale!!!! all your hard work has really paid off…so much less to have to move and try to fit into the apartment and a hefty profit to boot. i wish i had the energy to purge and profit but i just can’t get motivated. kudos to you!!!
kellys
Jul 14, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I was expecting 5 figures! Come on, Karen. Work it on the next one. You have a lot of ground to cover.
happyathome
Jul 14, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Holy cow, that is the most I have heard on a yard sale! Good job! Hope you do the same on the next one.
Karen
Jul 14, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Kelly: I think you were getting my house confused with yours. :P
A Healthy Balance » Yard Sale Madness
Jul 15, 2008 at 12:05 am
[…] day. We made over $2900!!!! Can you believe it? If you’re interested, click over to Thrifty Mommy for more details. I’ll also be posting some yard sale tips this Friday […]
NH Mom of 3
Jul 15, 2008 at 10:16 am
OMG! You are a total inspiration to me. We have a yard sale coming up on Saturday and I do NOT know how I am going to be ready…but we so need to declutter and clean up. We just moved into our new house about 6 weeks ago, and have tons of stuff that had been in storage for nearly a year when we were in a furnished rental. I don’t want this in the new house! I can’t believe I paid to have this stuff stored. Seriously. I need your motivational and practical tips before Friday, LOL. And do you have photos of your layout? Before and after shots of the sorting before the sale, set up and tear down? Did you price everything in advance? This is my first yard sale, so I am a total newbie.
Karen
Jul 15, 2008 at 11:34 am
NH Mom of 3: I was going to take pictures of the yard sale and all the stuff we had. It was truly embarrassing. But things got crazy and as I mentioned, it took 5 of us to run it for a while!!!!
This Friday for Frugal Friday, I was going to post some yard sale tips. I’ll go ahead and give you a few now.
1) Have great signs!!!!! Get the fluorescent poster board. Get a matching color so that people will associate the signs with your sale. Get a thick black marker. Make the letters thick and easy to read. I had planned on taking pics of our signs, but forgot. Put arrows on the signs. Our signs say:
MOVING (really big)
SALE (really big)
——–>
Saturday (smaller)
2) Advertise on Craigslist NOW!!!! It’s free to do! Specify what you will be selling.
3) Put moving sale on your sign instead of yard sale. You’ll get more traffic. And moving sale wouldn’t be a lie for you, since you just moved in.
4) Price the things before the sale. I bought some of those fluorescent premade stickers.
5) Group like items together - kitchen stuff, toys, clothes, etc.
6) If you think it won’t sell, put it in a box with misc stuff and put a price for the whole box. We had a bunch of half empty spray paint cans. We put all of them in a box and sold them for $10.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Karen
Jul 15, 2008 at 11:36 am
Oops, forgot one.
7) Put your signs up the day before the sale so that people see them on their way home from work. Then they’ll think, “I’m going there tomorrow.” Otherwise, they might not be out and about the day of the sale.
C Duran
Jul 15, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Wow! That’s a great total! It’s so much work, but I’m glad it paid off f or you.
Christina @ Northern Cheapskate
Jul 15, 2008 at 9:53 pm
AMAZING! I’m in total awe by how much money you made! I’m putting some stuff in a friend’s sale this weekend. I’ll be thrilled if I make $100. But at least it’s a start!
Top 30 Yard Sale Tips
Jul 18, 2008 at 12:50 am
[…] I shared earlier this week, we made $2953 at our yard sale last weekend. Prior to that, the most we had ever made was $580. I can’t guarantee that […]
We’re Here! (An Update)
Aug 26, 2008 at 12:01 am
[…] I mentioned before, we got rid of a ton of stuff. I can tell it with this move. We still have some things in storage, but it is nothing like it […]
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