Did you know that spring cleaning your home, and paying down some of your debt can all be combined into one? That’s right! Spring time is really one of the best times of year to consider having a garage sale. You can go through your basement, attic, and the rest of the home where you store items. The money you get from the garage sale, can be used to pay off credit card debt , or at least pay it down a little. One thing you want to avoid is using the money that you make from the garage sale to purchase more items that you will not use. Below are a few tips that may prove to be helpful in planning out your garage sale.
1. Take a look at your budget
Before you get started with the yard sale, sit down and take a look at your budget. Come up with a total number to see how much debt you have to pay off. Make that amount your goal for your garage sale. Sometimes it is best to pay off one bill completely at a time instead of paying a little bit to each. This will help you to avoid making high interest payments like with credit cards.
2. Sift through the junk
The next step is to start sifting through all of the junk that you have stored up. A good rule of thumb to go by is to see what items have collected dust on them. These items are usually the ones that you can focus on getting rid of. If you are not using it then you probably don’t really need it.
3. Organize the sell
Once you have gathered all of the items you want to sell, you will want to focus on organizing them. Most yard or garage sell items are split up into categories. On each table you can have a group of different items. If your price is not flexible than you can place price tags on your items. If the price is flexible then you don’t have to put price tags on them.
4. Organize the profit with the envelope system
If you have chosen to divide up the money and pay a little bit to all of your debt, you can use the envelope system. Mark on the envelope the bill that will be paid and the amount owed. If you are going to be having the sale for more than one day, you can separate the money evenly at the end of each day. Keep track of the balance left by writing it on the front of the envelope. This is a nice way to make sure you put your money where you want it.
5. Use a main road
If you don’t have a house on a main road that get’s a lot of traffic, you may want to ask a friend or family member if you can use their home. People are more prone to stop at your garage sale, if they are driving by and notice something that they like. Or you also have the option of posting signs on the main road near your home. Just make sure that you check with local laws to ensure that it is legal to place the flyers where you want.