Consignment Sale Wrap-Up

Along with my consignment sale check, I received a stack of index cards--the cards I used to price my items. Before I did my pricing, I numbered the cards on the back with my own personal numbering system. This was my experiment to see if this would help me to analyze what sold and what didn't sell well at the sale.

I think it worked! I sorted the cards back into numerical order and this is what I've determined so far:

• Out of 124 books/videos/DVDs, I sold 84.
• Out of 75 kid clothing items, I sold 66.
• Out of 12 Maternity items, I sold 6.
• Out of 9 pairs of kids' shoes, I sold 7.
• Out of 43 baby/toddler toys, I sold 28.
• I also sold 5 items that were left over from a previous year's consignment sale. They weren't included in my new numbering system.

I also had a 10-item category for baby gear, but the numbers are messed up because I forgot to take a few of the items to the sale. I sold only 3 items from that category but I'm not exactly sure how many of the items made it to the sale. Seven?

Now I know what categories to focus on for the next sale this fall! Clearly the kids' clothing and shoes sell well. The toys sell okay, and I should forget about the maternity items and baby gear (which works out well since I don't have much left!)

The other great thing about this list is that I can fill out the form in the bottom center of the picture above, which is a receipt for donated goods. Any of my items that didn't sell were donated, mostly to the Salvation Army. I had the option to pick them up, but decided to let them go. It was hard to do, but I know they are going to a better place. Because I have a clear picture of how many of my items were donated, I can fill out my receipt and keep it with our 2010 tax records, therefore gaining even further financial benefit from participating in the consignment sale.

In conclusion, I sold exactly 200 items at the sale, meaning that a huge pile of stuff we don't need anymore has been united with people who need and want it. In addition, I donated 77 items to charity, and hopefully those items will be connected with people who need and want them soon.

I don't know if this is good news or bad news, but I haven't started running out of items to sell yet! I had no idea we had so much stuff. I'll just keep plugging away at it, and hopefully a cleaner, simplified household will emerge from underneath the clutter at some point. I hope...