Selling Kid's Stuff

It used to be that I thought a Garage Sale was a great way to get rid of extra stuff around the house, but especially kid's clothes and toys that had been outgrown. For years, we have been having garage sales, even before we had kids. I think that it is a love that I have from my own childhood and helping my mom when she had a garage sale.

I know that I, myself, when I was expecting my son and then in the early years of being a mom, would go to a lot of garage sales to get kids things. Some of my favorite dresses that my daughter wore, her princess umbrella, some favorite toys, and many outfits for my son were all picked up as bargains at local garage sales. As time has passed, I find that I am simply too busy to make it to more than a randomly passed garage sale. But, when I do get to go, I generally am able to find a gem or two.

For some reason, this year, the neighborhood garage sale was a big disappointment. We made a fraction of what we normally do and I felt like I was packing up almost as much as I put out for sale. I had even placed an ad, hoping that calling attention to the things we had would draw in more interested patrons. The only thing that kept it from being a big disappointment was spending the day hanging out with my friend.

The good news is that I seem to have found two alternatives for selling kid's stuff and outlets for household goods too.

Last year, after my garage sale, I stumbled upon an online forum of local moms. There was a group on the forum that was all about buying and selling kid's stuff. I started to watch the boards and when someone posted that they were looking for a specific size, I would respond and send them pictures. I had a good amount of success moving bags of clothes at a time, versus the couple of items here, couple of items there movement at a garage sale. Unfortunately, that group was disbanded and the replacement forum only seemed to last a few months. Since that time, I was introduced to a new forum, that is based on Facebook. Again, it is all about advice, buying and selling kid's stuff. I am once again able to move through good amounts of clothing in quick fashion.

I also discovered Little Red Wagon, which I didn't participate in, but liked the idea. When I saw a sign advertising a community kid's stuff sale, for a much cheaper rate, I decided to join in. Essentially, it was an indoor garage sale, shopped by people that were only looking for kid's stuff. I was able to make more money and move more toys and clothes in those 4 hours than I generally would make at a garage sale. It was such a success that I have already reserved my spot for next year.

I'm likely to continue to participate in the community garage sale, but I'm thinking I might not put as much effort into it going forward. I think that I am getting more bang for my buck with the use of mom's forums and just kid's stuff sales.

This post shared at Works for Me Wednesday.