Garage Sales for Dummies...a how-to on making tons of cash!

[Bekah]

I have tooooooo much shit, like several sheds worth and a few large rooms worth of stuff that needs to go (Thankfully, 99% of it is not my stuff, and so there is no emotional attachment to it, which will make it easier.) and I need money...soooo we are having a garage sale.  Well, that's great and all, but I have NO clue how to even get started with this whole setting up, pricing etc. of this plethora of shit that needs to go...so I am looking for help, and Heidi being the amazing woman she is, is going to help me. Feel free to stick around for tips, offer advice, commiserate, learn how to sell your own shit...whatever. Let's make some money!!!!  

[Heidi]

Yay!

Here are my first questions. They might seem strange, but bear with me:

How many people, with ages, are regularly in your household?

What would it take to make an empty shed / room / space?

[Bekah]

People: 4; ages--40,36,14,15

What will it take--An act of God? We play musical junk all the time, like right now, all the stuff from my apartment is in boxes in one kids bedroom because she isout of town, having been moved out of the middle of the living room, I plan to go through them and consolidate boxes as I set up shelves, but thats sloooooooow going....so I don't know what it will take? Cleaning out closets might be a good first step, then I can use one of them? Is that enough space?

[Heidi]

Absolutely enough space. You already have boxes,so that's great (I know they are full already. Don't sweat that yet.)

First thing is to throw away actual trash sitting out and around that you can see. Take a big black trash bag and fill it with trash, then put it outside.

Don't go digging for stuff yet.

Next, think about the groupings of items you have: kid's clothes, games, toys, adult clothing, furniture, books.

Write your list of categories here.

[Heidi]

Oops. Toddler got to my phone.

[KAllen]

I was banned from working our family garage sales by my Mom.  Yup...officially banned.

 

I was forced to work it for awhile, so I wasn't in the best of moods.  I might even have been a touch hung over, but I can't confirm or deny that. 

 

I had a person wanting an item that was unbelievably priced cheap.  Well, they tried to negotiate the price down to an extremely low price. 

 

I told them, "it's already cheap." 

person: "I don't want to pay this (tag)price, I want to pay __  for it."

Me:  "It's alread cheap, either pay that price or don't"

Them:  "I said I don't want to pay that price" (insert arm movements and raised voice to get her way)

Me:  "EITHER PAY THAT FUCKIN' PRICE OR GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY YARD, AND IF YOU SAY ONE MORE FUCKIN' WORD, I'LL BLOW YOUR FUCKIN' HEAD OFF!!!"

(I must say that I was like 21 and full of angst, did I mention hungover?)

 

Enter Mom at the "blow our fuckin' head off!!!" part.

 

They had 4 more while I lived there...I was excused from working them...SCORE!!!  

[Silo]

I usually tell people to pick a goal: get rid of junk or make a lot of money. There's some overlap but usually one has to win out. My choice is always getting rid of stuff. I view garage sales as convincing people to pay me to get to haul my junk away. I will take nearly any offer but most people don't know that so they keep their offers reasonable.

[Bekah]

Ok, so categories: 

Old people clothes

books published before 1980

tools

furniture

lawnmower

dishes

bathroom set (I REALLY dont want to part with this, its like new (used about 6 months by just me) and costs about $250 for everything brand new, but I have no use for it in my icky bathroom here...so it should go right?) 

pots/pans

adult clothes

some middle school age boy clothes

and lots of other shit I probably am not aware of

[Heidi]

I'm with Silo on this one -- the real value here is that you get to have all your stuff taken away. You might be able to buy a pizza with the money, and if so, that's great! Everything else is bonus.

 

SO, for starters:

I'm going to ask that you post some pics of the areas so I can get a handle on the level of sheer stuff volume to space ratio. 

 

What you're after here is clearing enough space to put a category of stuff when you come across it, without thinking about it. NO EXTRA TOUCHING to go through it, to clean it up, etc. Just pick it up, look at it and say "Books before 1980," put it in that stack / box / space and pick up the next thing in whatever box you are dealing with.

 

YES. IT'S OVERWHELMING. So you are going to set time limits. An alarm on your phone. The timer on the stove. Whatever. But you are absolutely not allowed to go over the time. Start with a single box; the smaller the better. If you can turn a larger box into a Category box, that's excellent. But start small. Do a fifteen minute set today. 

 

Yes, like right now.

 

Report back.

[Bekah]

http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/Bekah3912/slideshow/Garage%20Sale%20Photos

pw: garagesale

[Heidi]

Thanks.

This will actually be easier than you thought.

 

Are all the dishes going, wholesale, no thinking about each single solitary dish required?

[Bekah]

there MIGHT be some sentimental shit in there??? Thats part of the issue, I can open a seemingly empty gift box, and its full of birth certificates and shit, so I have to go through EVERYTHING piece by piece and stuff that looks like junk to me is actually family heirlooms (a 100 year old letter opener that I threw out accidentally bc it looked like the thirty other old junky ones she has)

[Heidi]

Ok, when you say "sentimental" sentimental to whom? To you? 

I mean, I get that is not the case with the vacuum and the books.

 

There is definitely a need to get a locksmith in one day, since there are several locks to be opened.

 

Next question: when do you want to have your yard sale?

[Bekah]

the stuff that is sentimental to me, is the aforementioned bathroom set, I mean sentimental to J's family in some way, since 99% of this junk is his grandma's (who is in a nursing home with dementia and we are living in her house with her 40 years of stuff) the entire house looked like that before, and all 3 sheds but 4 dumpsters and a thousand trips to Goodwill and we all mostly have bedrooms that are useable now at least.

[Heidi]

ok, I hereby liberate you of all responsibility for Unknown Items of Sentimentality. Invite his folks to the Yard Sale. If it's such a big deal, they can buy it.

 

Get a box of wrapping paper from the local UHaul store and a few boxes if  you need them. Set the timer and start wrapping that crap up, putting it in a box, and labeling the box GLASSWARE. do not, i repeat, do not overthink this.

 

Also, I think the major priority is to keep the stuff in Abby's room, while making her room available and then cleaning up the areas you want to use. We will revisit this stuff, but let's get some stuff boxed up and thrown out (was that lighter fluid? WD40? pitch it.)

[Bekah]

I dont have a definitive date in mind, some Saturday? I Have 2 weeks to get the stuff out of Abbys room and get that closet and bookshelf cleaned out (next weekend is booked for that) but thats the only time crunch. I am overwhelmed just thinking about it, so slower is better, but the clutter makes me looney. I want to just take it and throw it all in the dumpster, but any money we can make is necessary and someone will want this junk and some of it isnt junk at all like the vacuum cleaner and the lawnmower and such

[Bekah]

ok, I hereby liberate you of all responsibility for Unknown Items of Sentimentality. Invite his folks to the Yard Sale. If it's such a big deal, they can buy it.

 

Get a box of wrapping paper from the local UHaul store and a few boxes if  you need them. Set the timer and start wrapping that crap up, putting it in a box, and labeling the box GLASSWARE. do not, i repeat, do not overthink this.

 

Also, I think the major priority is to keep the stuff in Abby's room, while making her room available and then cleaning up the areas you want to use. We will revisit this stuff, but let's get some stuff boxed up and thrown out (was that lighter fluid? WD40? pitch it.)

you do realize I am married to a man with OCD and the emotions of a 14 year old girl right?? I started out liberated from sentimentality and got the wrath of ungodly proportions and 5 years of torment for the letter opener incident....if I didnt have to live with the aftermath, it would have all been in the dumpster, money be damned.

[Bekah]

ok, step one...box up the dishes in the half wall thing? Whats that actually called???

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b640/Bekah3912/Garage%20Sale%20Photos/imagejpg14_zpseb41eea5.jpg

[Heidi]

Seriously? Five years over a letter opener?

Ok, this highlights the real issue you are dealing with:

No one who knows what is what will deal with it

And

They are horrible to the point of aversion about anyone who does want to touch it.

So, the question is how pissed is he going to be if you box up stuff, let alone sell it?

This is an emotional time bomb, my dear, and I have your back. But you deserve to think this through before you plunge in.

I have some thoughts on how to go forward, but I want to hear back from you first about the family situation. It seems that you are going ape with the unused / unuseful stuff, but are on eggshells, understandably, about touching it.

[Heidi]

Also, random question:

Where in Fla do you guys live?

[Bekah]

Seriously? Five years over a letter opener?

Ok, this highlights the real issue you are dealing with:

No one who knows what is what will deal with it

And

They are horrible to the point of aversion about anyone who does want to touch it.

So, the question is how pissed is he going to be if you box up stuff, let alone sell it?

This is an emotional time bomb, my dear, and I have your back. But you deserve to think this through before you plunge in.

I have some thoughts on how to go forward, but I want to hear back from you first about the family situation. It seems that you are going ape with the unused / unuseful stuff, but are on eggshells, understandably, about touching it.

He is 100% okay with it IF he gets go to through it first, but since he is going to be part of the garage sale most likely...I can do it, and just "invite him" to a preview of the yard sale, so he can grab anything he wants to keep?? The other nutso thing, is that its not even that its sentimental to him so much (he says) but that someone in the family might want it, and god forbid, but have they done SHIT to help us with grandma in the last 5 years, no...they don't even show up for birthdays and shit. grrrr. His family are a bunch of douchecanoes in that respect. but you hit the nail on the head....you should see how he gets when I clean off his dresser, move his socks etc. He never has the time or the energy to go through his own shit, but gets pissy when I do it because it makes me nuts! grrrrrrr! 

 

Also, random question:

Where in Fla do you guys live?

We live in Bradenton (between Tampa and Sarasota on the Southwest side)

[Heidi]

Fla: I know Bradenton. I used to live in Port Charlotte and then in Venice after that (back when it was a sandy wasteland of hippies).

 

Onto the Stuff.

Here's the thing: This sort of behavior and attitude is actually quite common and it's a mental illness. I'm not condoning it, mind you, but trying to give us some perspective here. The part that concerns me is the abject lack of decency -- it's simply not partnership behavior to berate someone for something she did five years ago. Period. Mature people either decide that the relationship is more important and get over it, or decide that the offense was unforgivable and leave the relationship. The fact that he is using your past offenses as part of ongoing and persistent emotional warfare is worrisome to me.

 

Add to that concern my other concern that, as is usually the case with this sort of attitude matrix, anything you do will be fraught with layer upon layer of failure given the scope of the endeavor. I've been through this with some of my own people and watched as others have tried to deal with this and it is beyond difficult.

 

Essentially the space is being held hostage by a combination of avoidance behaviors and deep-seated inability to make decisions. Safety note: people can truly feel attacked when there are changes made to their home environments, and OCD folks more than most. This can result in extreme defense responses. Please think this through carefully before you decide to go further, and consider the history of the OCD partner's tendency toward physical violence or verbal abuse before going through and sacking it all into the trash bin.

 

Yes, there are still ways to proceed, and no, all is not lost, but write some real stuff here so I can get a handle on the emotional playing field, please. I would hate to throw  you into a mine field without a safety net.

[Heidi]

Oooops. 

Did my safety warning scare you off?

[Bekah]

nope, just a really really bad few days and no time to respond, but I will...hopefully tomorrow <3 thank you for being here and helping me, it means a lot <3 

[Heidi]

My pleasure, dear.

Take your time and breathe.