We had a garage sale last week.  That on top of a public speaking gig and choir contest kept me offline most of the time.  I didn’t get rid of any big ticket items at our sale but still made $450 on bric-brac.

I talk to a lot of people who would rather just donate their stuff instead of going through the hassle a garage sale.  I don’t have a problem with that at all.  The thrift stores do a good work for charity and need good quality donations, and if you itemize for taxes you get a monetary benefit without all the work.  Here’s why I choose to do a garage sale anyway:

1.  It’s immediate cash.  We are gathering an envelope fund for our family vacation this summer, camping in Colorado.  We won’t see the tax benefit from a donation until next January which won’t help us take that trip.  We rarely take a vacation, so most of my garage sale proceeds go for home repairs/remodeling projects or to cover clothing needs for our big brood of kids that our regular budget can’t handle.

2.  I can sell things for a cheaper price at my garage sale than the thrift stores can.  I like giving families who need it a chance to get it cheap.  It saves their pride to be able to pay for things themselves verses taking a donation from a charity facility.

3.  I still donate to thrift stores.  When our yard sale is over, I take everything that’s left to a donation site so I get both the cash in hand and a tax benefit.

4.  I love talking to the people who come to shop.  I’ve met my neighbors in the new neighborhood this way, and even connected with some blog reading fans :).

5.  My garage gets clean twice a year.  We have a sale in April before it gets hot and in October after things have cooled down a bit.  I am motivated to organize and tidy my garage before each sale :).

My mom comes and helps me with all my sales, she’s the garage sale Diva! Plus I invited several friends to bring stuff which gave us a super huge sale that wasn’t all my stuff.  All combined our sale brought in nearly $2,000. Tomorrow, I’ll give you my tips for a low-work/high-profit garage sales.

P.S.  I recommend this.