- @Elle_CM Natalie's raid looked like it was filmed with a strobe light. Lame CGI in reply to Elle_CM #
- I want to get a toto portable bidet and a roomba. Combine them and I'll have outsourced some of the least tasteful parts of my day. #
- RT @freefrombroke: RT @moneybeagle: New Blog Post: Money Hacks Carnival #115 http://goo.gl/fb/AqhWf #
- TED.com: The neurons that shaped civilization. http://su.pr/2Qv4Ay #
- Last night, fell in the driveway: twisted ankle and skinned knee. Today, fell down the stairs: bruise makes sitting hurt. Bad morning. #
- RT @FrugalDad: And to moms, please be more selective about the creeps you let around your child. Takes a special guy to be a dad to another' #
- First Rule of Blogging: Don't let real life get in the way. Epic fail 2 Fridays in a row. But the garage sale is going well. #
Side Hustle: Garage Sale Tips
Garage sale week wasn’t enough. There are so many little things that I did–or meant to do–that I forgot to include them last week.
- Advertise everywhere. I do mean everywhere. Take out an ad in the paper. Put an ad on Craigslist. Have fliers in the grocery store, the laundromat, and any place that has a publicly-accessible bulletin board. Put big, bright signs at every possible turn to get to your sale. Assume the drivers a dense. Don’t give them an opportunity to make a wrong turn or–like I did–put conflicting arrows on different sides of a sign.
- Use bait. Set out tools and furniture where they are visible. Lots of people drive past if they only see knick-knacks. Tools get the men to stop, furniture gets anybody running a household to stop. If you don’t actually have any tools to sell, put your lawnmower out with an insanely high price on it. Heck, if someone wants to pay you 125% of retail for your mower, take it! I had a number of tools and lawn-crafting gear–actually for sale–near the end of the driveway. If I can get the people out of the car, someone will find something worth buying.
- Price it like you’d buy it. People don’t come to garage sales looking for sale prices. They come looking to pay as little as possible. They want the crazy deal. You’ll have to oblige them, at least a bit. Price some things very low, and everything else almost very low. Aim for 25% of retail or less, except for a few special items that you won’t mind keeping.
- Don’t be afraid to say no. Some hagglers are jerks. If the offer is insulting, don’t feel obligated to take it.
- Bag the little stuff. Instead of pricing every toy 10 cents, put a handful of toys is a zip-lock bag for a dollar. Mix some of the bad with the good so the crap goes away, too. Reject every offer to open the bag and sell the stuff separately.
- Put the bags of toys on a table in the driveway. Kids stay out of the confined garage and entertain themselves digging. Kids are clumsy. They can’t break your lamp if the don’t come near it. Parents will welcome something to keep their little brats occupied while they shop. It’s a win for everyone!
- Describe anything that isn’t obvious. Make a lot of signs. To be clear, make a lot of signs. Describe the furniture. Show a current ebay auction for the item. Identify the antiques. You don’t want to be forced to sell everything yourself. Let the signs sell for you.
- Start early. Price and sort your stuff a month in advance. The night before the sale, all you want to have to do is set up tables and unbox your stuff. Don’t try pricing it then.
- Multi-day sales are best. It gives people a chance to tell their friends about it, or to come back and buy the thing they passed up. Don’t lose out on the buzz!
- Save your grocery bags. A few weeks before a sale, I go to the grocery store and ask if they mind if a bundle of plastic bags goes home with me. The manager has always said it’s okay. If that doesn’t work, just double bag your groceries and save the bags for a few weeks.
- Use blankets and tarps to hide anything that isn’t for sale. People will ask about everything they can see. Save yourself the hassle.
- Plan your layout to let people browse and move. You don’t want a traffic jam in the garage. Give it a clear flow, with enough room for people to pass each other comfortably. Three people should be able to pass each other in every row. It’s not always possible, but try. If two people can’t pass, start over.
- Clean your stuff. Clean items sell better. Dirty stuff will have to be sold for at least 25% less than clean stuff.
That’s it for now. More to come, I’m sure.
Note: The entire series is contained in the Garage Sale Manual on the sidebar.
Update: This post has been included in the Money Hacks Carnival.
Becoming a Landlord
Over the weekend, I had some family and friends over to my mother-in-law’s house to price things–thousands of things–for the upcoming garage/estate sale. If you’ve ever felt a need to own 30 identical paring knives, you should stop by.
While we were over there, I had my contractor look at the house (Thanks, Dad!). Shortly after the sale, we want to start working to bring the house up to date.
Here’s the list of repairs so far:
- Replace storm windows all around the house, since all of them have had the screens and screen frames vanish.
- Trim the windows that are missing trim and replace the trim on the windows that have oddly colored trim.
- Put locks on all of the windows.
- Trim the window between the kitchen and the living room that used to be an actual window. Add a shutter.
- Trim the archway between the dining room and living room.
- New linoleum in the kitchen.
- Remove two cabinets in the kitchen to open up counter space.
- New ceiling panels in the kitchen.
- Sheetrock and plaster repair all over the main floor.
- Remove linoleum from the dining room.
- Sand/buff/varnish hardwood floors under the dining room’s linoleum.
- Replace attic access panel.
- Seal bathtub surround.
- Replace front screen door.
- Replace back door
- Install ceiling tiles in basement.
- Finish basement bathroom.
- Finish basement walls. They are sheetrocked, but not mudded, taped, or painted.
- Paint basement floor.
- Paint basement steps.
- Paint the entire main floor.
- Install spare cabinets in the basement for a utility area near the washer and dryer.
While that’s happening, we’re having the outside landscaped. We also need to take the city-mandated landlord class and file for the business license that will allow us to rent a property that we aren’t inhabiting.
The good news is that we have potential renters already. Assuming they are still ready to shack up when her lease is up in February, we won’t have a tenant hunt. My wife has known the couple for years and is positive they’ll be responsible people. If not, that’s what a security deposit is for.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-02
- RT @kristinbrianne: You won't believe it… I just entered to win the #KodakSweeps on http://tweetphoto.com/contest Pls RT #
- RT @wilw The single most insulting thing you can tell a creative person is, upon viewing their creation, "you have too much free time." #
- Hmm. I share a birthday with Linus Torvalds. #
- @freefrombroke I'm following you and would love to be followed back. in reply to freefrombroke #
- RT: @SuburbanDollar: New Post: : The Art of Delayed Gratification http://bit.ly/5gsKXy #
- RT @FrugalYankee: #NEWYear's #QUOTE: All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal or fattening. ~ Alexander Woollcott #
- Crackberry is certainly accurate. I may be too connected. #
- MIL thinks a Kitchenaid stand mixer will make it easier to remove the snow in the driveway. Bad logic, but she's buying one for us, anyway. #
- What magic is in a saw-palmetto capsule and why does my prostate need the power of 1000 of them? #
- RT: @SuburbanDollar: Sounds like he's asking you to rent him a date. #
- RT @hughdeburgh: "I'd rather die fighting for freedom than live as a slave." ~ Judge Andrew Napolitano #Iran #in2010 #USA #
- Happy New Year, 3 minutes early. #
- Billy Jack vs Chuck Norris. Winner? #
- Getting my hair brushed by an 18 month old while watching Married With Children. It's a good evening. #
- RT @FrugalYankee: #NEWYEARS #QUOTE: The most important political office is that of private citizen. ~ Louis Brandeis #
- RT @ScottATaylor: 40,697 Laws Take Effect Today http://ff.im/-dFXNR #
- 5AM. It'd be so easy to go right back to sleep. #
Optimized to Go, Part 1
Last weekend, we held a garage sale at my mother-in-law’s house. It was technically an estate sale, but we treated it exactly as a garage sale.
A week before we started, a friend’s mother came to buy all of the blankets and most of the dishes, pots, and non-sharp utensils so she could donate them all to a shelter she works with. She took at least 3 dozen comforters and blankets away.
Even after that truckload, we started with two double rows of tables through the living room and dining room. The tops of the tables were as absolutely full as we could get them, and the floor under the tables was also used for displaying merchandise.
Have you ever had to display 75 brand-new pairs of shoes in a minimal about of space? They claimed about 16 feet of under-table space all by themselves. Thankfully, the blankets weren’t there anymore.
We also had half of the driveway full of furniture, toys, and tools.
We had a lot of stuff.
Now, most people hold a sale to make some money. Not us. We held a sale to let other people pay us for the privilege of hauling away our crap. As such, it was all priced to move. The most expensive thing we sold was about $20, but I can’t remember what that was. Most things went for somewhere between 25 cents and $1.
At those prices, we sold at least 2000 items. That isn’t a typo. We ended the day with $1325. After taking out the initial seed cash, lunches we bought for the people helping us, and dinner we bought one night, we had a profit of $975.
At 25 cents per item.
We optimized to sell instead of optimizing for profit. At the end of a long summer of cleaning out a hoarding house, it all needed to go.
In the next part, I’ll explain exactly how we made it work.
Mortgage Race
I spent last week at the Financial Blogger Conference. Saturday night was the big debauch, a 90s themed hip-hop dance party.
Yeah.
Instead, Crystal, Suba, and I hosted a super-secret pizza party to let some of the less “dance party” inclined attendees discuss things like the sanitary concerns of group body shots, sex toys, and horror movies.
During the course of the party, Crystal and I decided to race to pay off our mortgages.
Her balance is just under $25,000.
My balance is $26,266.40.
We both technically have the cash to pay off the balances right now, but we are both dealing with secondary housing issues. She’s building a new one, and I’m updating an inherited house. Neither of us is willing to use our cash reserves to pay off the balance right this moment.
Now that my credit card is paid off, I’ve moved that money to an extra interest-only payment on my mortgage, effectively doubling my mortgage payment, which puts my projected payoff date as about the end of next year. Crystal’s aiming for June, so I’ll have to hurry.
We do have tenants lined up for February, and all of the non-expense related rent will go to the mortgage.
I think I can win.
Update:
I forgot to mention the terms of the bet. The loser has to go visit the winner. When I win, Crystal’s going to fly to Minnesota to experience snow.
