Blogging Away Debt

Operation Garage Sale: Successfully Selling Clothes

Whenever I go to garage sales, I rarely look at clothes. To me, the time it takes to sort through folded clothes on a table is enough to make me pass on by. I also am not someone who likes to fold clothes. Now, for those garage sale hosts that hang their clothes on hangers, I usually glance at something, look at the size and if it’s not in my range I keep on going to the nick-nacks. But I do look at them if they are hung up.

Taking from my own garage sale habits, I hope to have the best garage sale ever in terms of selling most of our clothes. Here’s my gameplan:

1.) I am going to hang as much as I can. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough hangers to hang everything so some of them will have to be on a table. As items are sold, I’ll use those hangers to turn around and hang some of the clothes on tables.

2.) I am going to organize the clothes by size. I haven’t figured out the logistics yet, but I’ll probably use a piece of paper to sort of mark where size changes occur. That way, people can see right away what sizes things are.

3.) I am going to mark the size with the price. I’m using masking tape for pricing items since I’ve had horrible experiences trying to get off those pre-made stickers from items. Masking tape always seems to come off with no problems. It takes a bit longer to put the size on there, but thinking as a shopper it would save me time and also make me think, “This person took a lot of care with setting up this sale…they probably also take great care of the stuff they own.” Or, they’ll think I’m crazy. But as long as they buy more clothes…it’s all good!

4.) The clothes will be situated where people have to walk by them for the flow of the sale. If your garage sale set-up is a “U” shape (which mine will likely be at this point), I’m having the clothes at the bottom of the “U” so they have to walk right by them to get to the other side of the “U”.

5.) Related to #4, I am going to place a few stellar articles of clothing on display so you can see the front of the item. Probably bright articles of clothing to catch their eye or something that is so cute that you walk by it and go “awe…” Anything to grab attention to hopefully draw people into looking through all of the clothes.

6.) About an hour or so before I close shop, I am going to offer a paper bag sale on the remaining clothes. I haven’t figured out a price yet (any suggestions?) but it seems like a good way to reduce the remaining items.

7.) I’m going to post a sign saying the children’s hangers are available for purchase after the sale. I have no idea why I purchased so many hangers for my son’s clothes. Since he’s older now, his clothes can be hung fine with adult hangers. When setting up for the sale I’ll get a count and then come up with a price.

8.) All remaining clothes will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul. I do want to make as much money as I can with this garage sale, but I also want to rid our lifes of all of the unnecessary stuff. St. Vinny’s helped us with having their clothing at such a low price (25 cents/each) so it is only fitting to donate the leftover clothes. That way they can help the store and help someone in need of children’s clothing.

Of course, a lot must be said for getting people to visit the sale. I can’t sell anything if I don’t get people to stop by. I still am working on the gameplan for that.

Great articles that may interest you:

An 84 Square Foot House May Be a Little Too Small, But Maybe They Are Onto Something

by Tricia

I’ve been reading lately and learning about a woman named Dee Williams. She’s been attracting attention lately because she lives in an 84 square foot home. That’s about the size of a parking spot!

My first thought was that the woman was out of her mind. But after reading the article on Katu.com, maybe she is onto something.

The obvious question: Why?
The simple answer:
“A simpler life, time, more money. I don’t have a mortgage. I don’t have a big utility bill,” Dee says.
[via Katu.com]

She claims her heating bill in the winter is only $6.00/month. Her electricity is provided by solar panels so her utilities compared to mine are basically non-existant. Just imagine how much more money we could have to pay off our debt if we lived in a home like that.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to fit our family of three in a home like that. I’m also not so keen on a mobile house that someone could drive off with (her home is on a trailer). But it makes me wonder about our next home and what it should be like.

I always thought we needed a little more room since two rooms in our homes are currently being used for offices. After seeing that video, it brought home to me how cluttered our life is with stuff. That’s the only reason why I think we need a bigger home. It’s so we have room for all of our stuff.

There is a company called Tumbleweed Tiny House Company that sells plans for these small homes. They also have some for sale. They will build them and you can have your tiny home delivered right to you.

If you look at the floor plans, they really try to maximize the space that is available. With a smaller home, you can save on maintenance costs as well as utilitiy costs. Perhaps getting a smaller, more efficient home is exactly what our family needs. We’re not planning on moving anytime soon, but it does give me some food for thought.

If interested, there is also a video where you can see more footage of the 84 square foot home. Go to Katu.com and look under the picture and click on “video.”

[Hat tip to Becoming and Staying Debt Free]