Consignment and Yard Sale Plans

I am starting to focus on some other Decluttering strategies because if you caught a glimpse of my basement, you'll notice that selling a handful on items on Ebay each month is not going to make much of a dent in our mountain of stuff! At least it's a bit more under control now, and I have a space to work.

I have had a lot of success in the past selling baby items at a local consignment sale held in our area twice annually. I also had success selling our unneeded stuff at a yard sale we held a few years ago. Our stuff has built up again since that time, which is why I've found it necessary to set myself a personal Declutter Challenge for this year; to minimize and organize our possessions while taking the responsibility to find good homes for the items we no longer need.

The problem is, preparing items for consigment or yard sales can be a lot of work for not a lot of profit. I have to prepare index cards for each item I'm planning to sell at the consignment sale, and the sale organizers keep a portion of the sale (in the case of the sale I participate with, the amount is 50%). A yard sale will require pricing, advertising, coordinating with neighbors, etc.

I think that we have enough stuff to consider taking on the work. To make the most of our time commitment, I've decided to do something I haven't done before: I'm going to hold a Yard Sale the week before the Consignment Sale.

I have a number of items that I can't sell at the consignment sale, because the sale is particularly for children and baby items. Whatever remains of the children and baby items after the Yard Sale (where I keep 100% of the earnings) can be taken to the Consigment Sale (where I keep 50% of the earnings), and if I don't pick my unsold items up at the end of the sale, the items will be donated for me!

Both of these events will be held in April. Planning for them now will give me time to thoroughly search my house for saleable items. I'm looking forward to a significantly decluttered house by the end of April!