Yesterday I shared 5 tips for a successful garage sale. Today I thought I would follow up with another garage sale post. It seems like it’s easy to think of stuff to get rid of when your house is cluttered, but when it comes time to actually host a garage sale, you may have trouble thinking of what exactly to sell. After all, you need a decent amount of stuff to have a garage sale that people want to browse at.
Below is a list of things you can sell at your garage sale.
Clothes – As I wrote in yesterday’s post, I typically don’t throw away or donate my old clothes. I put them in a storage bin or a cardboard box and leave them in my basement until I have an opportunity to sell them. Clothes can be a big seller at garage sales, since people are looking to stock up for cheap. Especially if you recently gained or lost weight and no longer can wear some of your clothes, garage sales can be a great place to sell them. Of course children clothes are great to sell because kids outgrow their clothes so quickly.
Baby Stuff – My wife knows a mom who made $4,000 at a garage sale and a big part of that total came from selling baby-related items that she no longer needed since they were done having children.
Books – While physical books may not be produced at such a high level ten years from now because of widespread use of e-readers, there are still lots of people who are willing to pay for physical books, especially if they are cheap. While I typically only rent books from the library now, I used to be love getting books as gifts. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has 100+ books sitting on their shelves or in boxes that haven’t been touched in years.
DVDs – There are a lot of DVDs that I bought or got as gifts that I haven’t touched in years. I rarely re-watch movies so selling them is a great option. There is a big market for people looking for cheap DVDs to add to their collection, so consider selling some of yours at your garage sale.
Furniture – People are always looking for used furniture at reasonable prices. While Craigslist may be a good option for unloading your old kitchen table, consider first trying to sell it at your garage sale. It has the added benefit of using up a lot of space and making your garage sale seem “bigger” than it is and therefore resulting in more people browsing the rest of the stuff you are selling.
Toys – While I do not have children, I can only imagine how quickly they move from toy-to-toy – I know I did as a kid! It’s interesting to see my two cousins (who are both under the age of 8) go from loving Dora the Explorer to being obsessed with American Girl Dolls. Who knows what they will be into next? And if your kids have cousins/aunts/uncles/grandparents who spoil them like my wife and I do to my cousins, you probably have a large excess of toys to sell.
Sports Equipment – Do you have three sets of golf clubs? Twenty frisbees? Whatever it may be, unused sports equipment can be a great thing to sell at your garage sale. Additionally, camping equipment such as old tents, chairs, etc. can also sell quick if you put them up for sale.
Cooking Equipment – As a newly married couple we realized the past year and a half how much stuff you can use in a kitchen. Last summer found a spritz cookie maker at a garage sale for a few dollars and made use of it this past Christmas. If you have cooking or kitchen equipment that you no longer use, there likely will be someone who wants to buy it.
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You can sell just about anything at a garage sale, but I hope this list will help you think of things to sell at your garage sale. I’ve seen people sell plants, cars, and a whole range of other items, so think creatively about the stuff you have that you really don’t need.
What would you sell if you had a garage sale today? What’s the strangest thing you saw being sold at a garage sale (I once saw used white underwear sitting on a table at a garage sale…)
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I just spent a few days with my grandparents and would sell 80% of the content of their house! so many used books they’ll never touch again and enough chairs to sit 50 people!
RFIndependence Haha wow, we’ll take a few of those chairs if you are willing to ship across the pond? : P
I like the furniture tip of making your garage sale feel bigger. Sometimes it’s all about the marketing.
momanddadmoney Definitely.
We don’t have enough stuff to have a garage sale, but we do have a decent amount of stuff that we need to get rid of. Ugh not looking forward to taking them out of the basement storage!
SenseofCents Any neighbors/friends/family want to go in on it with you guys? Easiest way to have enough stuff. It’s definitely not fun taking all that stuff out of storage…hope it goes quickly for you.
Oh my word…I think we could have something from nearly every category you listed. The baby stuff is a huge one if you’ve had more than one kid or the kid is older. They just seem to accumulate stuff at a crazy rate.
FrugalRules I can’t imagine how quickly kids grow out of stuff…I’ve heard stories, but I probably won’t fully understand until I have children of my own.
I would go with electronics and baby stuff. Those always seem to have the biggest draw and you can sell them to just about anyone.
DebtRoundUp We don’t have kids, otherwise we’d have WAY more stuff to sell, but we definitely have a lot of electronics that can be put out for sale.
These are great items to sell at a garage sale. The bigger items will help bring people in to the sale like furniture or bikes, but electronics sell really well too. When I was growing up my friends and I would sell pop/water/snacks at our parents’ garage sales. This made us some decent money on those hot summer days.
CommonCentsWealth Peter suggested yesterday that we sell some pop/water at our sale. He said his family made an additional $30-$40. Not bad for something that takes little effort.
These posts are so helpful. I actually may do it.
Margee You absolutely should. Let me know if you decide to do it and how it goes!
I will definitely let you know.
You honestly can sell anything at a garage sale. We found a used portable toilet in the shed at our rental house. My husband wanted to toss it, but I said we should put it in the yard sale. We had a bet on if it would sell or not, and it was one of the first things to go!
Eyesonthedollar Haha wow! Great choice not to toss it!
We talked about having a garage sale last year but didn’t. We might this year. The thing is we don’t have a variety of stuff to get rid of so it wouldn’t be very big. I have an oak dining table with 6 chairs that I would love to sell and my husband has a lot of tools that he no longer has the time or need to use, so those would be some of the things we would sell.
TacklingOurDebt Those all sound like good things to sell! I definitely would be interested in buying some tools at garage sales this Summer. Unfortunately I was in the market when it was zero degrees out so I had to buy them all new from stores.
I look for books, computer games, cooking supplies and sporting equipment at garage sales. Usually you can find a pretty good deal. Now that summer is on the horizon, I’m starting to see more and more sales popping up!
OutlierModel I know I’ve been talking about selling things at garage sales but you have a good point: there are some deals to be had! My wife really wants to get into it this Summer so I will have to go with sometimes.
I love how you’re able to be a part of a city-wide garage sale. I imagine it will make a significant difference in the number of people who are willing to check it out, knowing there are lots of sales going on in the area. Good luck and let us know how it goes! And hopefully MN weather will cooperate with you too! :)
TheHeavyPurse I will definitely write a post about how we did! And I’m praying for warm/hot weather and lots of sunshine ;)
Your right, you can sell almost anything at a garage sale. I sold a boat once a number of years ago in a garage sale! My favorite thing to sell is unused sports stuff that sits around in the garage, of course I usually go to other yard sales to buy some back (not really but it feels that way).
Great tips! This post really motivates me to start organizing stuff for a garage sell this June. badly needed at my home!
KyleJames1 Hope your garage sale went well last Summer!
I love a good garage sale–when I moved into my condo, I had one with my second floor neighbor. Our crazy (now ex) first floor neighbor berated us for being trashy, but I’ll never forget the look on her face when she returned home to me counting the hundreds of dollars I made by cleaning out clutter in the process…haha!
Great point on the books: even with all the e-readers today, so many people will buy used books! If I cannot sell them at my local used book store, I put them out at the annual garage sale and they all go!
Thanks for this informative post!! I really shared with my friends…