Recently the Caughran family has been doing a little spring cleaning. We have not done much, but it is a start. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. First, we watch hoarders (or other similar shows) and we want to get rid of stuff so that we are never on the show. Second, I want to get rid of the stuff. And lastly, Lisa has probably started (I mean definitely started) the nesting phase for the next baby.
A few weeks back we had a garage sale. We sold some of our stuff, but I wouldn't call it a money making endeavor. The remainder of our stuff that Lisa thought was not sell-able we donated.
The past weekend we found more stuff to get rid of and I talked Lisa into donating more of our leftover garage sale items (still cant get her to get rid of the old radio with a cassette player). We dropped the stuff off to an appreciative Good Will guy so that they could sell it and then took some books to Half-Price books.
We brought a recycling bin filled with books to half price books to sell. Some were text books and some VHS tapes. After 45 minutes they had an offer for me. $12 bucks. A couple of the books in the basket were for sale for 8 bucks in the store and the text book was on sale for 50 (albeit ours was probably out of date). To make things worse there was a book I was going to buy for $12 but there was no way I was going to trade a crate of books for one book.
Half Price books has a great system. They knew I would take the 12 dollars. All the cards were in their favor. For one, I already lugged the books to the store. They know that people are willing to take less to avoid taking the books back home. Secondly they know that we have no where else to go with the books. I don't have the market that they have to sell books or the patience to wait for the right buyer. I mean we had a garage sale and garage sale buyers have 0 interest in books. I could sell on amazon or another online site, but if I was willing to put in that effort, I would not have gone to Half Price books to begin with.
Good Will also has a great system. They take the stuff that other people don't want and give some away and sell the rest. Just like half-price books, they have the clientele to sell the junk. What makes GW better is that they don't pay for it (or in my case insult me with a low ball offer) and the donater gets a tax deduction (along with that warm feeling of giving back).
What I have learned is that Lisa and I should not be in the junk/resale market and we should rely on companies that specialize in it. Now if you want to sell my junk let me know and it is all yours.
Editor's Note: Lisa did a good job at selling our big ticket items at the garage sale.
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