Garage Sale Advice

We have a lot of stuff!

So much, in fact that the storage unit industry has gone gangbusters. Many people no longer have enough room in their homes and need to rent a storage unit, or more, for storing the overflow. A Wikipedia post in January 2018 estimated that there are 44,000-52,000 storage facilities throughout the US. This was reported by Sparefoot.com in U.S. SelfStorage Industry statistics.

Some people use the units as a temporary storage solution when moving, but for the most part the units are holding cells for our overflow “stuff.” Comedian George Carlin had a great routine supporting our stuff problem which can be seen at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac The routine is hilarious, but true!

A time does come when the decision to downsize our stuff must be made. This decision may be made for any number of reasons. For example, you may need to sell your home and move into an apartment— just can’t take all the stuff or maybe you are just tired of all the stuff!

Whatever your reason for downsizing, you will need to make a decision on what to do with it all. You could give it away. There are many organizations such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, Savers, etc., that will be happy to accept your stuff. Some cases, they will come and pick it up.

Perhaps you will decide on a yard sale, garage sale, rummage sale, estate sale or whatever you want to call it. If you have never had a sale – no problem. There are many informational sources to get you started.

A couple of good online resources are “15 Tips for a Super-Profitable Yard Sale” at https://www.moneytalksnews.com/10-toptips-successful-yard-sale/ or “Garage Sales 101: 10 Steps for Selling Out” at https://herviewfromhome/garage-sale-101-10-stepsfor-selling-out/ Book suggestions include: Garage Sale Superstar by Eric Michael; The Great Garage Sale Book by Sylvia Simmons or The Guide to Garage Sale Greatness by Kelli Davidson. Or, if you don’t want to give it away or be a do-it-yourselfer there are a number of businesses in the Twin Ports area willing to help your sell your stuff. There will be a fee, but depending on how much needs to be downsized, outsourcing might be the way to go.