It’s time to farewell the jumble
Garage sales used to be common, so why aren’t we still spending a pleasant Saturday selling our stuff, asks Kylie Klein-Nixon.
I’ve been planning a garage sale for ages. I’ve just always loved them and remember them being something of a national summer pastime when Iwas growing up.
They may have fallen out of favour these days, thanks to spots like Trade Me, Neighbourly Market or Facebook Marketplace, but there’s still something charming and ye olde worlde about the idea of sitting in the front yard, surrounded by your nolonger-spark-joys, trying to find them joyful new homes.
Seller beware, however. Fun as they sound, they’re not for everyone and might even be difficult for anyone who struggles to part with old items.
‘‘Some clients Iwork with can’t really give anything away unless they know it’s going to a good home, or to family,’’ says Be Organised’s Natalie Jane, a professional organiser who’s been planning and executing garage and backyard sales for her clients for years.
‘‘Generally, the harder it is for someone to let go of things, the harder a garage sale will be.’’
Seeing a precious dresser going for $20 can be difficult for some folks. Adding to that is the uncomfortable realisation you’re unlikely to get the kind of money sentimentality tells you it’s worth.
‘‘You need to get in the right mindset, that you’re not going to get much money back,’’ Jane says.
‘‘It comes down to what your purpose is: if you want to get rid of a whole lot of stuff and make a little bit of money, I think it’s a great idea.’’
Children especially can struggle to part with things, but Jane says a garage sale can be an opportunity to confront those difficult feelings and do something fun together as a family.
There’s also a lot of work in preparing a garage sale; you can use that time to mentally and emotionally farewell your stuff.
‘‘It’s a really good thing for a child to experience letting things go and to understand that we can’t keep everything that ever comes into our homes, and ‘oh, I can get rid of this toy because I don’t play with it any more, I’ve outgrown it. But this other child can get value out of it’.
‘‘If you’re moving house, or you haven’t de-cluttered in a while, go ‘OK, let’s make this a really fun experience’.
‘‘Get everyone involved, get the kids to make the signs, get the kids to deal with the money, maybe get them to think about how much everything should be and make the tags.’’ It sounds like a blast, actually. All the garage sales I remember, were pleasantly social events that offered a chance to connect with your community in ways Facebook and Trade Me never have.
Have a plan, Stan
So here’s how to do it:
The more you plan, the better your sale will be. Give yourself plenty of time to pull it all together.
What are you going to sell? Where can you get tables and boxes? Will you need paper bags for packing items up? How will you make change? Where will you advertise? What will you do if it rains? Will anyone actually buy this pukeko planter? Really, though?
Have a plan for each of these questions and you’ll be well on your way to a great sale.
Save the date!
In the United States, Fridays are a great day for a ‘‘yard sale’’, but here, Saturdays are the best bet.
First of all, discount all the weekends that have public holidays
attached. Then, check with the council to make sure you won’t clash with any community events.
Then resign yourself to the fact bargain hunters are early risers. Be prepared to get things rolling by 8am.
Most garage sales are done and dusted by 10 or 11am, so you can legitimately go back to bed.
Prepare your wares
Gather everything you’re selling into one place and get it all sorted – all the kitchenware together, all the books, LPs and DVDs together. All the 70s platform boots in one unholy place.
Check them over. Is everything clean and in good repair? Do all the electronics work? Do you need an extension cord and batteries so you can get them going?
Wash all the clothes and textile items – folks will be more likely to buy these items if they smell fresh.
Howmuch is that pukeko in the window?
Look, I know you spent $45 on that pukeko planter but no-one – no-one – else is going to.
Be realistic. Folks come to garage sales for a bargain and they’re far more likely to flick you a couple of gold coins for your pukka puke’, than a fiver.
If in doubt, check how much things sell for online, or ask a friend who isn’t attached to the item how much they reckon it’s worth. Remember, it’s not about making money.
Entice and advertise
Bust out the bunting. You want to create a festive, fun environment, bunting wants to create a festive, fun environment – you’re amatch made in garage sale heaven.
You can buy some from a $2 shop, or better yet, cut old newspapers into large diamonds, fold them in half over a length of cotton string and glue the halves together ... Ta-dah! Bunting! It can go straight in the compost after the sale.
The bigger and bolder the signs, the better – they need to be legible from amoving car, so keep the information simple.
Place signs at your gate, at the top of your road and at the nearest intersection or roundabout – you might need to stake them into the ground, or attach them to lamp posts with cable ties.
Post flyers on notice boards at your local dairy, library and supermarkets.
Whatever you do, don’t put ‘‘this Saturday’’, or you’ll have strangers turning up at your gaff every Saturday for the next three months.
Share the info to your local Facebook community page, Neighbourly, your Instagram stories (there’s a bunting gif!); advertise in your local paper and on Garage sales. co.nz. Spread the word far and wide, and where possible, add a picture of the sorts of things on offer.
Show off
You’ll need trestle tables for brica-brac, boxes for books and DVDs, and bins for odds and ends, and items folks will want to flick through, like records or pictures.
Jane suggests buying a couple, if you don’t have any, and at the end of the day, offer them for sale too. You might not get the full price back, but you’ll get something.
Alternatively, you might be able to borrow tables from your local school or community hub (don’t forget to offer koha).
When setting up, Jane advises keeping most things off the ground, where possible – people don’t want to bend down to look. Some items will be best on the ground, in plastic storage tubs or cartons, such as kids’ toys and large tools.
Think of the best op-shops and second-hand stores you know – style up your table keeping large things to the back. If you have things that people might use together – mixing bowls and spatulas, desk sets and staplers – put them together on the table.
Clothes will sell better hung from a rail, but it doesn’t need to be flash. A bamboo garden stake strung up in a convenient tree is as good a rail as anything.
Label and price everything. If it’s not for sale, make sure it’s well out of the public’s way, or risk Aunty Val accidentally selling your $2000 mountain bike to some kid for a tenner.
Consider doing a little baking and selling it on the day alongside your bric-a-brac for that summery, village fete vibe. Anzac biscuits, chocolate fudge, and that staple of the weekend fair, coconut ice, are all simple and inexpensive to make.
Bummer and goodbye
Make sure everyone who’s taking cash on the day has change in a bumbag they keep on them.
As much as we might like to imagine, aswe set up out trestle tables, that we’re entrepreneurial moguls-in-the-making, building a pre-loved, second-hand empire ... you probably haven’t made much money.
You will have kept stuff out of your home and out of the landfill – and maybe met some new people and had a pleasantly weird Saturday morning drinking coffee and eating coconut ice while trying to convince someone they really do want that pukeko planter or the 53-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica from 1989.
If you make a buck or two back in the process, call it awin.
Make a pact with yourself that everything left over when you call time must go to your nearest op shop. Don’t take it back inside, not even if its little pukeko eyes are pleading with you.