Saturday came and went, along with our Compassion Garage Sale! I teamed up with a friend and fellow sponsor, Sarah, and her family to host a garage sale to raise money for Compassion. First, let me say that I'm horrible about taking photos so, sadly, I have none to show for our hard work. And second, garage sales really ARE hard work!! I started getting items ready for the sale several weeks ago, hauling things out of the attic, cleaning them off, going through drawers and toy boxes and closets and those dusty spots under the bed looking for all the trash-to-treasure items I could find.
What resulted was a driveway packed full of everything from baby clothes to bouncers and swings to household cleaning tools (unfortunately they requre operators, so they don't get used much in my house, hahaha). Sarah's family contributed a load of great stuff, too.
One thing I've noticed--if you advertise your sale to begin at 9, prepare for folks to show up at 8. We were still desperately gulping coffee and hanging signs and Compassion banners when the first buyers made an appearance at ten minutes to 8, and I thought we still had a hour before it started...silly me! Also, though the sale was set to end at 1, we had some folks shopping until 1:45, which was fine by me, because none of that stuff was coming back through the door to my house!!
In the end we ended up making about $330 for Compassion, which I thought was amazing considering my last yard sale barely netted $80! If you'd like to host a yard sale for Compassion, I do have a few simple tips to make things a bit more fun/easier...
1. Team up with another family--it was awesome to have fun company, and our kids were able to entertain each other--I was worried my toddler would get bored and whiney but he had so much fun he cried when it was over!
2. Set up as much as you can the night before, then just move the whole set-up table out to your driveway the next morning.
3. Advertise-ALOT. I wish I had advertised more.
4. Set up a Goodwill truck to pick up stuff when your sale is over. We did not and I desperately wish we had. Now I have to do drop offs today!
5. Serve snacks. I picked up some donut holes and cookies on sale at the grocery store and had water available for people. This made a big impression and people were really grateful-it was a very hot day.
I'm so thrilled we were able to clear out some items we don't use any more and help Compassion at the same time!! The money will go to the at-risk children fun and the child survival programs fund.
What resulted was a driveway packed full of everything from baby clothes to bouncers and swings to household cleaning tools (unfortunately they requre operators, so they don't get used much in my house, hahaha). Sarah's family contributed a load of great stuff, too.
One thing I've noticed--if you advertise your sale to begin at 9, prepare for folks to show up at 8. We were still desperately gulping coffee and hanging signs and Compassion banners when the first buyers made an appearance at ten minutes to 8, and I thought we still had a hour before it started...silly me! Also, though the sale was set to end at 1, we had some folks shopping until 1:45, which was fine by me, because none of that stuff was coming back through the door to my house!!
In the end we ended up making about $330 for Compassion, which I thought was amazing considering my last yard sale barely netted $80! If you'd like to host a yard sale for Compassion, I do have a few simple tips to make things a bit more fun/easier...
1. Team up with another family--it was awesome to have fun company, and our kids were able to entertain each other--I was worried my toddler would get bored and whiney but he had so much fun he cried when it was over!
2. Set up as much as you can the night before, then just move the whole set-up table out to your driveway the next morning.
3. Advertise-ALOT. I wish I had advertised more.
4. Set up a Goodwill truck to pick up stuff when your sale is over. We did not and I desperately wish we had. Now I have to do drop offs today!
5. Serve snacks. I picked up some donut holes and cookies on sale at the grocery store and had water available for people. This made a big impression and people were really grateful-it was a very hot day.
I'm so thrilled we were able to clear out some items we don't use any more and help Compassion at the same time!! The money will go to the at-risk children fun and the child survival programs fund.
Wow! You could almost sponsor a child for a year with that! Congrats :) That is sooo awesome.
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