Good job!

I had a tag sale today, too--it was supposed to be part of a 5-family tag sale but one canceled at the last minute and another bugged out early. But so did I--too few people. Can't figure it out -- the weather was nice, we had ads out and signs. Wasn't just that people came but didn't buy (that I could understand). Just stumped!

But I did get rid of a few things.

This is what I was thinking all morning: You have to put rockbottom prices if you want to sell, because people really think that today, tag sales=deep discounts. And really, I was good with that.

Yes, I paid a lot for the stuff, compared with the tag sale pricing. But this stuff was just taking up space in my basement, and like you, I was thrilled to get rid of even a little bit!

Can't wait to take my boxes to the thrift store, too!!!
Clears my basement, clears my mind of guilt and hopefully they'll find usefulness elsewhere!

(But no more tag sales for me! I'm exhausted! LOL!)

I've held three garage/tag sales. Never again. Too much work, people only want perfect stuff in perfect condition. They sometimes come to steal. At one of my sales, someone walked off with my cash box. Yeah my bad for turning my back for a minute. The money I made didn't come near paying me as much as my regular job. People argued over the slightest thing. A woman haggled over a glass candy dish marked thirty five cents. Will you take a quarter? Sure, then she was back 5 minutes later saying it had a chip on the bottom. I gave her back her lousy quarter. Never again. I'd be better off giving everything to charity. Get rid of your "good" junk. And get a receipt for taxes, too.

Hi, Pammyfay and Jannie

Sorry that you didn't have good luck. We only tried to sell the stuff that was too heavy to take to the thrift store. DH is good at setting really LOW prices, like less than 5% of what we paid.

Jannie, sounds like you need a helper. Stealing your cash box is really nervy!

Yeah, you need at least 2 people at a garage sale. Besides stealing my cash at one sale, several of my husband's record albums "walked off" the table. My neighbor had a garage sale and asked me to join, she was so sweet she made coffee and gave some to everyone who stopped by. I don't remember if I made any money, but I had fun drinking coffee and chatting with neighbors. But I will not be having any more garage sales myself.

I have had a few garage sales but to me it is more trouble then it is worth. I will only have another one when I get ready to move. I did real good on the one before I moved and after I moved in last time but others wasn't worth all the work.

I have had better luck selling big items on Craigs List.

If I have good items in great shape, I try and sell on CL or Kijiji. I've had good luck with that. Some of my kids' expensive toys (ie. Playmobil) I kept boxes for them so it's easy to resell them for a good price.

I've always taken very good care of my things so reselling them has been pretty easy (ie. baby items).

I had one garage sale 2 summers ago and it was rockin'! I had accumulated so much stuff!! I priced it all to go. My mom (who was helping) was shocked at how cheap I priced things. None of it meant anything to me and it was just weighing me down. We made $1,000 that day (and lightened our load significantly).

Funny ... I could have another one this year again (although I'm sure not as big).

Some people were annoying and cheap but a lot were great.

It was me, my husband and my mom. We were BUSY but I don't think anything got stolen.

The last time I had a yard sale I only made $65. I was so desperate to get rid of stuff I almost gave it away! Then I took three van loads of left overs to the thrift store.

Now I just give it all to my sons' boy scouts troop's mega garage sale. I love this fundraiser - every August the troop has a GIANT garage sale. They make about $9K to fund the troop for the whole year. It's also really fun to put on and really fun for the shoppers. We have about 2,000 people come through ever year.

My mom had a garage sale a few weeks ago. She was shocked at how people wanted to haggle. I told her that's the garage sale culture. Hard core "salers" always offer 1/2 of what's on the sticker. I told her to double her prices next time and she'll get what she really wants from items.

Habitual yard sale shoppers don't think about what you might have paid for an item. It's all about the thrill of getting a bargin.

After my garage sale, I was left with a portable washing machine I had priced at only $20. I advertized it in my local Pennysaver for $40 and it sold! that was in the days before Craigslist. I have since used CL to give big items away, never to sell anything. I gave away a desk and a mini-fridge on CL. I was also very lucky last winter. I had an electrician in to hook up a range exhaust fan. He went in our garage to check the circuit-box and saw our old snowblower. Nobody in my house is capable of using a snowblower-DH and I both have physical disabilities. The electrician offered me $200 for the snow blower. Since the fan job cost $75, I told him give me $100 and call it even. Deal!

Wow, Jannie, you got lucky on that one! I'm glad; you deserve some good luck. It is interesting how well it works out when people speak up about what they want in a polite way. My DH doesn't haggle, but I once traded a working PC for the labor to install a kitchen sink and counter top.