It’s almost August…can you believe it? I am in total shock about that! But with July coming to an end, that just means it is time for a garage sale! This year we are having a multiple family garage sale with a few neighbors from our block. Normally, I would be strategizing and planning for weeks before the garage sale takes place. But this summer, it was a last-minute decision to throw together a garage sale so I had very little time to prep.
Over the course of the week, I went through areas of the house that had accumulated lots of junk. I started with all the bedrooms and bathrooms on the top floor of our house, then went through our front hall closet and everything on our main living area. I tore apart the kitchen to get rid of some junk. And cleaned out our “Monica closet” and attic. Then I went through everything in the garage that we didn’t have any use for.
As the piles got bigger, I started sorting them to keep things organized. Since I was cleaning out specific areas of the house, like the kids bedrooms, I was able to keep all the clothes together and sorted. I took the clothes and put them directly into bins. I used extra storage bins, laundry baskets, and boxes to store clothes and books. Then I slapped a label on the bin with the size of the clothes that were located in that particular bin. By doing all of this as I was cleaning out the house, I made it easy on myself when it came time to setting up for the garage sale.
Seeing as I have two little kiddos, I decided to get the entire garage set up the night before. That way I could just roll out some tables into the driveway in the morning and start selling our stuff! I also decided to set up most of the tables in our garage, so I could just shut the garage door if I have to tend to the kiddos quickly. I also made sure to get change the day before the garage sale. I got lots of quarters, dollar bills, along with a few five and ten dollar bills.
During the sale, I kept all the money in a “trendy” fanny pack I had from my teaching days! This way I didn’t have to worry about someone walking off with my money, and I could make change quickly. I also had some paper out to stick the tags of the items I sold. This will help me figure out how much I made quickly and use as a reference when counting the cash.
After the sale, I always count up the cash and cross-reference that with the tags that I had collected from items that we sold. Then I either donate or dump the remaining items that were left after the garage sale. (And celebrate with a glass or two of wine!)
By collecting items and sorting them into piles, making easy-to-read labels, and setting up as I collected items, I kept our garage sale organized and stress-free. Now what to spend all of this money on…decisions, decisions!
