GARAGE SALE ARTICLES

After your garage sale

Phew! What a day it was. You had dozens of people around, sold most of the old gear that was cluttering your home, and earned a little cash on the side.

You’d been thinking about the big day for a couple of weeks, and as it approached, you even got a little excited. But now your yard sale’s done, what now?

Well, the first thing of course if the cleanup. I’ve found from bitter experience that it doesn’t pay to delay this job for long. But first take some time out over a coffee to relax and take stock of what just went on.

Once you feel adequately wound down, put your hard-earned proceeds in a safe place, it’s time to clean up! This rarely takes as long as you think it will, especially if you get the whole family to pitch in. Not only will this help get your house shipshape before the working week starts again, but you’ll also comply easily with local government regulations that may require you to take advertising down as soon as your yard sale is finished.

Once your place is ship-shape again, you’ll have time to reflect deeper on what to do with your earnings. If you view a garage sale as a great way to find more space in your home, then the earnings are a bonus, right! So why not squirrel them away in the bank for a rainy day. Or better still, plonk the proceeds onto your mortgage or onto any other large loan you have! You’ll be surprised how much one-off contributions like this can reduce your loan repayment.

Next, you should make sure all your commitments are met - return that ladder you borrowed from the next door neighbor, call your brother-in-law to thank him for looking after the sausage sizzle for you, return any equipment you hired for the day.

Then, you should think about reclaiming your house and your garage. Are there rooms you couldn’t use before your garage sale, because they were piled high with old stuff you never used? Did you keep your car outside, because the garage was filled with stuff you’d never even seen in close to a decade? Well, reclaim these spaces for what they were originally intended - this can be very liberating!

And finally, start thinking about when and how you’ll hold your next garage sale - think about what worked and what didn’t last time around, and stash this knowledge away for next time. But make a commitment never to stash your old belongings away so long again. Your garage sale has made your house yours again, and you want to keep it that way!