June 17, 2011

Spring Garage Sale!

I mentioned a few days ago that in addition to finishing a quilt on the road I also held a garage sale while visiting my parents. It was our solution to getting rid of everything we cleaned out and making a little extra cash as well.

Isn't that always the dilemma? We are constantly cleaning out in an effort to make our homes more organized. The letting go of our stuff seems to be hard enough for all of us (isn't it just stuff?), but then when you finally get the motivation to say goodbye to the bucket o'plastic kids' meal toys or the funky candle holder from great-aunt Betty, what do you do with it all?

1) As an American family, we just have too much junk.
2) Things simply wear out, stop fitting, out grow their purpose, etc. Things of this world are not permanent.
3) When we become less, He becomes greater - this applies to all aspects of our life, including our home.

So here are the details of the first of many garage sales I'm sure - since we're all sinful, and I'm betting that our household will continue to struggle with the accumulation of worldly goods. I have been slowly going through everything from clothes, to dishes, to baby items we never used or don't want to keep for the next one the past few months. Each time I visited my parents, I would take a load in preparation for the garage sale at the end of May.

The Clean out:


Empty Hangers, now doesn't that feel good? 

I filled the rest of this big old box with DVD's we never watch.

Now I have room for a few picture frames instead of just shelf after shelf of books we've already read.

The Sale:

We were blessed with a beautiful and breezy May day in Texas for the sale.


The Profit:  $182.50

This was my first garage sale, so I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised with our profit. The books and DVD's that were left at the end of the day went on to Half Priced Books. The only part of our clean out that didn't get put in the garage sale was our pile of clothes. Those will be donated to the Boys and Girls Club just down the road here in Missouri.

Anyone else host a garage sale after spring cleaning? Have you found them to be worth your time? Or do you prefer to donate? What are other ways you clean out when your family is drowning in stuff?

5 comments:

  1. Please don't tell me you sold The Brothers McMullen...

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  2. Ha ha ha! Such a fabulous and moral movie - not to mention superb acting. (not so much) Sadly that movie was given the boot.

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  3. David and I are much too lazy to put together a garage sale. We sell a few things on Craigslist, then usually give the rest to the base thrift store or Goodwill.

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  4. You are so inspiring! we have so much junk ... and part of my commitment to a simpler lifestyle is to have a garage sale this spring (in sept/oct here in Australia). i am going to also ask for stuff from our church and the proceeds from the garage sale will go to the orphanage in the Philippines that our kids come from. as far as anything left over? we will donate them to the local op shops or put them on freecycle. thanks for making my day!

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  5. Maggie~

    Glad I could get you excited about garage sales! All the ladies from my parents' Bible study brought items too, and we had a pretty decent sized sale. I think its a great idea to have a Cause that your garage sale profit will go to!

    ~Natalie

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