I donate all extra stuff to either Goodwill or Salvation Army & take the tax deduction.

I have had garage sales in the past - too much work, in my opinion. I know others enjoy having garage sales & no judgement is intended. I go to many garage sales.

I hate the work, but need to have one again this year. The stuff just piles up somehow. My Mom brings boxes of stuff over too for us to store until the next sale.

We'll probably try to have a sale in May. I spend a entire week organizing and pricing stuff... it's not worth the effort monetarily, but I like knowing the things will continue to get used instead of ending up in the landfill.

I would rather get the satisfaction out of donating that stuff. That pricing is so much trouble and it seems to me the worst part is what all's left at the end of the day. You still have to do something w/ it, so I'd rather just donate it. Our church has a benevolent program, so they're glad to get anything.

I do donate whatever is left. I usually make at least $300. in a one day sale and that's nice to have since I don't work outside the home. My earnings from the last sale are buying my Craigslist furniture for my room addition now!

One reason I don't like to donate everything is that the workers sift through it and take all the good stuff - do they even pay for it?? I don't know. That's how the charitable resale shops work around here anyhow.

Yes, at our youngest daughter's home. We have a couple at least a year. We put up 3 big canopies and we have good folding tables and we are organized. We have it sometimes two and sometimes 3 days. This year I think she is going to have one in May and her neighbor is going to join us with some things. We all live in the country, but she gets a lot of business. Anything we want to get rid of, just put it out by the road and put free on it and it is gone in no time. I do all the cooking and it becomes a family affair as my other two daughters come too and help and bring things. We enjoy it even though it is a lot of work.

Sue

I'm not sure if we will have one or not. I took the last big bunch of " stuff " to be donated for a yard sale with proceeds going to the local animal shelter. If they have another one I will probably do that again. If not, Anna and I will probably have a sale for a few hours and make some spending money.

Linda

We own 4 acres and DH wants to start a swapmeet/flea market/farmer's market this summer 2 Saturdays a month. He wants to charge the vendors a minimum fee for set up and the public a minimum fee ($1) to get in. Hopefully I can sell all the stuff in the storage shed and the closets that seems to have piled up in the last year. At least I have somewhere to store it when it's over.

I want to, if I can get it in. I've only done one, the last time we moved. It went very well. A few years have gone by and I'd like to give it another go. My 9 y/o DD asked me about having a yard sale, said she has some toys she wants to sell. ;o) She also asked if she can have a lemonade stand at the yard sale. I sat down and talked to her about this idea. Her gymnastics is expensive; besides the montly coaching fees, there are meet fees and booster club fees (they arrange fundraisers- cookie dough sales, etc- but usually I just pay it out of pocket) and we'll order new leotards and warm-ups this fall. So... I told her she could do that, set her stuff up separate and sell lemonade, but she really has to do the work. She can put up a sign that her sales are a fundraiser for her gymnastics team. We'll put whatever she sells toward the cost of all these things.

So b/c of this rough plan made with DD, I want to follow through. I'm thinking May, that's the soonest we have a free weekend. (Thanks to gymnastics, in part.) She's doing well in gym, but she's not Olympic bound. It's her youth sport, and I love what it does for her physically and emotionally. However, this is a sport that takes a lot of commitment from parents- time and money. So she's not going to be allowed to take it for granted, she will learn to contribute to the gym, her team, and her own expenses.

That was the long answer, sorry. ;o)

Garage sales require me handling the "junk" I want to be rid of too many times. Out to the garage, sort the stuff, price the stuff, move the stuff out onto tables. Then sit in the hot sun and argue with people over the price (and I did price stuff to sell cheaply).

Nope, I take things to Goodwill. They have a drop off next to the grocery store. So as I decide things need to go, I can just put them in the car and drop them off.

We just had one today. Between being on the verge of moving ourselves, and just having moved my aunt from an apartment to an assisted living facility, we had a LOT of stuff to get rid of.

Rained part of the day, but even so, we made a couple of hundred $$$. and because it rained, we can repeat next weekend, so we'll probably add a few more $$$

I enjoy organizing our stuff for a garage sale, and when it's done, we do donate the leftover useable stuff to Goodwill or whoever seems to need it.

One of the things I enjoy is the fact that our garage sales are almost like block parties. Everyone gets together to pick a date, and we all have stuff out to sell. There's more visiting back and forth going on than anything else--but that's the way my neighborhood is whether or not we're having a yard sale. Nice bunch of young people we have for neighbors, and we truly appreciate them.

I won't have a garage sale but I do go to the outdoor flea market regularly, in fact the market starts next Sunday.
Last year I went about once a month and made just over $800 for the season.
As I was telling you all the other day, I will not be caretaking anymore after May 1st. As a caretaker of 4 apartment buildings, there's always stuff left behind I can sell at the market.
My challenge in the next month is to clean out all the storage rooms in the buildings that are chock-a-block with stuff...
I am planning to go more than once a month this year, probably every other Sunday. Last year I averaged $100 a trip, so I considered it well worth it.
Suzan J

I very seldom have garage sales. They are so much work and I don't make much $$$. So I usually just donate all my junk.

I'm glad to hear that you too Azzalea enjoy the fun of a yard sale with neighbors and friends. Sometimes we have breakfast, lunch and supper there and I fix just about everything for us to eat. If it is on a Saturday, son in law likes to fix a breakfast and I help him. He also likes to cook hotdogs on the grill and sell and a can of pop to go with them. So it is a lot of work but a great time to get together and get rid of stuff. I usually make $100 a day and the others do very well too, it just depends what you have to put into it. Sometimes I have cookies baked that I sell and those do really well. Of course everyone eats on those as they want.

Sue

I've just been donating, but I know that sometimes the thrift store workers high grade. They were really bad at it where I used to live.

My kids (5,7, and 9) are begging for a garage sale. They want a lemonade stand. Just tonight we wer discussing that their plants are having babies and we could sell those. We'll see if we do the garage sale. I don't really have anything of value to put in it.

I just came up from the basement where I am slowly getting stuff ready for a yard sale. There is a community yard sale every year starting on the next block. I'm not sure why we aren't included in the planning since it's a small neighborhood but when I see them put out their sign, I'll be ready. No advertising cost and lots of potential customers. Last time I made over $100 on junk just for just sitting there for a couple of hours and then we took everything left to Goodwill. I'm not sure where all this other stuff came.

No, I started freecycling and donating to a goodwill type organization. They now have "clothing" bins near the glass recycling bins at Albertsons parking lot. I love that I can take a small bag of clothes and shove it in there. Instead of keeping it for months and months until the next pick up.

I am torn.. i live at the lake on a major highway and so am in a great location.. last one i had i made over $700.00 and had a bake sale as well...so very successful but i put ALOT of work into it.. all the years after we donated everything and took the tax deduction and they let you deduct ALOT..like for a woman's shirt you can claim like $10-20.00 so a van load of stuff add's up to $5,000 in tax deductions.. don't even need to itemize in my state.. can claim anything over $500.00 on state taxes... this year i have alot of stuff i want to get rid of, and want to do a bake sale again so thinking of doing one just for the fun,, but we will see.. like i said..just so much easier to donate...and i think much more money in the long run..

I thought they changed the tax laws regarding donations? Is it still as lucrative as it used to be to donate?

Our whole street had a garage sale one year, that was lots of fun. One of the ladies that live on our street went door to door and talked to us, and wanted to know if we would like to join in, I think 90% of all the houses had a garage sale out in front, We advertised it in the paper as a 2 day sale, we all had lots of fun visiting each others garage sale merchandise.

I've had two, too muxh work,people stole from us, ended up with too much left over. Wouldn't do one again. Easier to donate stuff up front and get a receipt for taxes.

Had two here and made nothing. Yes donating to places like the Goodwill and Salvation Army are conerning because much of the stuff just gets tossed. Here many of the churches do sales and even if you are not a member you can either get a booth or donate and the money goes to the churche's programs. Also one of HS does a once a year sale, and you can take all the stuff to the gym and pay so much for an area, and either take the money or donate it to the school for their programs. I willl not do garage sales any more but look around for people who either need it or local thrift shops.

Had two or three last year. Don't plan on having one this year, but am opening up a booth in the local flea market again. As a matter of fact, I need to be in there right now getting stuff out and pricing it.

I've had three already in the past 6 weeks and I've done very well.
I'm a plantlady (interiors, businesses, residences etc) and with this economy we have lost a few accounts and some plants were coming back to the office from the leases (most accounts own their plants)and we don't have any room for them there. My boss asked me if I wanted them as he was going to throw them out. I jumped at it and took them home. I had already been giving plants to all of my neighbors and freecycle as I get them all the time when we replace plants but here I had a few dozen 5-8 foot plants so I had my roommate make up a sandwich board type sign with signs and arrows on both sides so peeps could see it coming or going down our main street which is just a few houses down the block. WOW! We had people coming by all day and I sold almost every plant. My roomate was amazed at the traffic. I told him to look for tools he didn't want (he had tons of stuff as he's a special effects guy in the studios) and we'd add another sign to our "plants for sale" sign on the sandwich board and see what happens. Guys like tools and Holy Camoly! We were sooooo busy. I had more plants to sell and we did really well that weekend. The third time it was a mix of stuff, plants and tools. I made close to $1000.00 and Bill made in the area of $2500.00. Not too bad for three days work and we got rid of a lot of stuff just sitting in the garage too.
The second time we had the sale I had a big pot of chicken and rice soup on the stove and quite a few peeps were shopping while holding a hot mug of soup :-) It was chilly and damp that day. We had some fun, met some neighbors and city council members and made a few bucks.

Patti2

I think Indiana has a law you can only have 3 a year and no longer than five days at a time. I know they used to have a law, not sure if that has changed or not. I know in some towns you had to get a permit, but not in all towns. Just another way for someone to take your hard earned money.

Sue