Are Garage Sales Worth It? (Probably not.)
This is part of my Swift Decluttering For Clothes.
One reader asked:
Are garage sales worth it?
The short answer is: No. They’re not worth it.
Here’s how I think about it: A successful garage sale will gobble 15 hours of your time. Think about how long it takes to make signs, put signs up, price everything, put everything outside, have the actual sale, bring unsold items inside, take signs down and dispose of them.
Will you earn at least $225 ($15/hr x 15 hours) from a garage sale? Or will this be a low-wage gig on top of everything else you have to do?
Do you enjoy haggling with strangers who think 50¢ is way too much for a favorite shirt? (I don’t!)
Do you want to wait for hours for buyers who promise to “come back with money”? (When I was 11, some guy promised to come back “in a few minutes” to buy a double bed we were selling. We never saw him again.)
Worse yet, do you really want to hoard bins and bags and boxes of unwelcome crap for months beforehand? (This is the opposite of swift decluttering!) Furthermore, do you want to be stuck with all the stuff that never sells? (You shouldn’t.)
Your home is not a storage unit for junk that other people might not even want!
More Decluttering Questions:
I need a plan
- Which clothes I should get rid of? Where do I start? (Here's a plan.)
- I have way too many jeans and T-shirts. How many do I actually need? (2 week’s worth.)
- None of my clothing sparks joy—so what do I get rid of? (Focus on what to keep.)
- How do I create a capsule wardrobe? (Here are 5 perspectives.)
- What's in Stewie's Wardobe? (Here's a list.)
Dealing with guilt
- How do you deal with the guilt of getting rid of perfectly good clothes? (Here are 2 suggestions.)
- Is it OK to declutter nice clothes that still fit me? (Yes, absolutely!)
Which clothes to keep
- Should you keep clothes that don’t fit? (It depends.)
- Is it OK to keep maternity wear? (Of course!)
- Should you keep clothes that still have tags on them? (Maybe.)
Selling clothes
- Is it worth selling clothes online? (No way.)
- Should you sell clothes at consignment stores? (Maybe.)
- Are garage sales worth it? (Probably not.)
- How do I know which clothes are worth selling? (The $15/hr rule.)