Want to move to smaller house, what's a good way to run a garage sale? (moving, dump)

[NYLooking]

Wife and I continue to try to move things out of our house in plans of eventually moving into a smaller house. We are concentrating on smaller items, not couches, TVs, etc.

We have been getting ready to hold a garage sale, but it seems to be overwhelming. I know we have a lot of small stuff, stuff that is good to sell but may not be desirable by many, and few big ticket items.

So, this whole endeavor could result in a lot of labor, little profit, and still a lot of things that did not sell.

I could easily make a few runs to the transfer station (e.g., landfill) with my pickup and toss everything but guilt feelings prevent that, at least so far.

We could use some concrete ideas re how to make the most of this situation.

Thanks.

[flyonpa]

There is FreeCycle in most areas, Its a Email list hosted by Yahoo! you post what you want to give away to the list, then if anyone in the area want it they email you (You might want to set up a (Yahoo/Gmail Email account) to send the mail to/from for it. another Option is to have a FREE grarage sale, Post it on Craigslist, put it all out, what does not get taken, take to the landfill and/or maybe give to goodwill or Thrift Stores.

[Snippet2]

We have been putting off a yard sale for approximately 2 years and finally had it. We had at least 30 Rubbermaid totes and tons of other stuff with not a heck of a lot of great value. What we did was to place a newspaper ad and said "most items under $1.00". Then we had a color-code system. Instead of pricing items under $1.00, we put yellow stickers for 25 cents, pink stickers for 50 cents and green stickers for $1.00 items. Anything above $1.00 was written on the price sticker on the item. I was hoping to get about $200. People went absolutely crazy and we took in over $600! It was a lot of work but it was worth it. Fortunately, we had a man buy all the left-overs for a small amount and all the work was done!

I know how intimidating it can be, and it really is a lot of work. Best of luck!

[Laura707]

My daughter and her husband had a garage sale several months ago and I didn't understand why, but she asked me to come help to watch the people. When I arrived, I was stunned! People were there in droves! They had everything priced to sell and get rid of and that is exactly what they did.. sold and got rid of it! They made about $800 on that garage sale and got rid of a whole lot of unwanted stuff. Just remember as you price it that you want to get rid of it and price it to sell. They had someone come buy at a flat fee everything that was left but it wasn't much left..

The most expensive thing they had at that sale was a all wood, very expensive set of bunk beds, the kind with built in drawers and desk, they priced it to sell at $100, sold it fast. The next most expensive thing was 2 old TV's for $35 with wall mounts that sold before the bunk beds did. Everything else was from under $1 to $1.50. It all added up to about $800!

[Gandalara]

I would make a paper list of everything, load it into my truck, take a picture of the back of my truck for proof, and then drive to Goodwill or Salvation Army.

And at the end of the year, use TurboTax's It's Deductible.

I do this annually anyway, so when I downsize I'll do the same. Just more than one truckload, probably

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Gandalara

...

And at the end of the year, use TurboTax's It's Deductible.

...

With the high Std deduction IRS offers, as well as no / limited income seems to not favor this route.

$600 would feed me for over 6 months. or buy me (20) $30 cars (I get me cars at scrap auction where those 'donors' get sold (as well as those towed for illegal parking).

[NYLooking]

Good responses, thanks.

[corgiloveTN]

Good Luck

[NorthmeetsSouth]

If you want to donate your stuff, or the remaining stuff after the garage sale, you can donate it to an organization that helps military families. There are lots of young soldiers, both single and married, who want to live off-base but can't afford to furnish a place on a soldier's salary.
I donated a bunch of my son's furniture to the Airman's Attic since he was in the Air Force. I also donated all of my business clothes (that must have shrunk while hanging in my closet because they didn't fit me anymore) to an organization called Operation Homefront. They help the families of deployed military people.

[StealthRabbit]

Have you talked with some 'estate sale' companies? It might be worth a 'Quote', but they usually take 30%.

I really like the multi-colored-tag route. (For a couple processes)

Start with tags / sticky notes that you know the qty of each color

Get some totes or use a room exclusively for SELL. (I never want to see this again stuff)

1) tag / set aside the stuff you would likely keep (antiques / heirlooms) Bright ' UGLY color

2) identify the bigger stuff that you would rather sell than move, or that which is easily replaceable.

3) Mark the stuff you will definately sell. (different colors for different prices)

Count the # tags you used (hopefully you used ALL the 'sell' tags). This should give you a rough estimate of your potential sale proceeds

After a few weeks of looking at the UGLY stickers you may decide you don't want to keep that much STUFF
Add more stuff to the 'SELL' pile till you will really be rich

Have a WELL advertised sale with an early presale (1st two hours) at full price and a post-sale with LOW prices (last 2 hrs)

Then, give remaining valuable stuff to a homeless / battered women and children center. lessor value to Goodwill, other stuff to freecycle or dump.

There are companies that do this specifically for seniors who are downsizing. DO NOT wait that long ( I moved seniors last month and will again the end of July, probably my mom before the yr is over). No garage sales possible, too far in the boonies. It is brutal

"You can't Take it with You"... is relevant in more ways than ONE. I wish I would have thought about that BEFORE I hauled home so much STUFF.
My next move will be largely done by 'Dump Truck', a very LARGE dump truck.