Okay, so hopefully you’ve created your Garage Sale Tool Box (step #1) – because we are now going to be tackling the house. Room by room, cleaning it up and cleaning it out in preparation for a garage sale. Getting ready for a garage sale is just as much cleaning as it is getting rid of clutter – because how can you get rid of items if you don’t know what you have?!
The kitchen is a fabulous place to start for your garage sale. The items you might find will be worth a bit more more money than other areas of the house and because it’s such a central part of most dwellings it’s a place for clutter to grow and collect.
1.) Place three empty boxes in the middle of the room. Sell, relocate (for items that belong in another room), or donate/give away. The fourth “box” will be your garbage can. If you don’t need it – it belongs in one of these four places.
2.) Start on one end of kitchen and work your way around. Go through all the cabinets, pull everything out and wipe down. Sort through items and ask yourself if you really need 14 travel mugs or if five might do. If you haven’t used a non-holiday item in more than three months – that’s probably a sign you won’t be using it anytime soon.
3.) Package similar items together to sell. For example, if you have three trivets you want to sell – throw them all in one resealable bag. Sell them as a set. I did this with wooden bamboo spoons I had a bunch of – they’ll be easier to manage and will be more likely to sell as a “lot”
4.) Be sure it’s clean. Make sure dishes are washed, appliances wiped down, no food stuck to the utensils – you get the idea.
5.) Evaluate your space, rearrange, reorganize. As you’re going through the stuff you’re keeping, put similar items together. I found my kitchen utensil drawers were officially OUT OF CONTROL. I used an old photo box and cut the tops off a couple other boxes to use as dividers in my drawers.
I also found that my plates/bowls cabinet was overly cluttered with kids plates and bowls (see pictures below), which won’t stack or store neatly due to the varying sizes – so I moved those to a basket and shoved them into the cabinet below! It was a much better use of that cabinet space below, which is in a prime location in my kitchen (next to my sink), and was holding a deep fryer that we literally used once a year, an apple corer/peeler (also used sparingly) and a few other random appliances. I relocated those to less prime real estate and I love how simple it is to throw the kids plates and bowls in the basket – and I can get “adult” plates out without an entire pile of kids plates falling out.
You’re probably wondering how this is related to having a garage sale – but it’s so much easier to go through it all and put it back “cleaner” and more organized than it is to come back at a later time to clean and organize. AND I find I get rid of more items as I’m rearranging and cleaning. It’s a good process and I think worth the extra time.
GOOD MONEY MAKERS
- Small appliances – Working and clean. Include manual if you still have it.
- Brand name kitchen ware – Pampered Chef, Caphalon, Kitchen Aid. The more expensive the brand, the higher you price it. Don’t be shy, people can spot brand name items and they’ll easily pay a % of the new price for it, as long as it’s in working, decent shape.
- Bowls, dishes – Eclectic dishes, whole dish sets (not chipped or stained)
- Cookbooks – People LOVE cookbooks!
- Linens – Clean napkins, tablecloths, new dish towels. Put sets together in gallon resealable bags or tie together with twine.
- Under the sink – This one is weird, I admit. But maybe you have a cleaning solution you bought and you don’t like the smell. Or you have stainless steal cleaner but you got rid of your stainless fridge long ago. As long as these types of items aren’t expire, there is no reason you can’t put $0.50 – $1 on them and sell ’em.
NOT GOOD MONEY MAKERS
- Coffee Mugs – Unless it’s extra, extra special don’t expect more than a quarter. If it’s stained and/or chipped toss it in a FREE pile.
- Plastic cups, water bottles – Again, not popular – toss in FREE pile.
- Anything broken, stained or chipped – This goes without saying, but you’d be shocked the stuff people put out for sale.
- Food. Clean out unopened, non-perishable foods you won’t eat (not expired or damaged) and donate to the food bank.
Here’s a little pictorial of what I did, hope it’s inspiration to get you cleaning out and organizing!
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Did I miss anything?
Beware – you might find a renewed sense of energy to cook or bake when your kitchen is all clean and organized. . . if so, you can check out my recipes.
Tomorrow – we tackle the hall closets.
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