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Monday, April 19, 2010

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I hope you caught my post last week on how to get the best deals at yard sales - if not check out Yard Sailing: A Crash Course!  This week, I wanted to focus on how to pull-off a great yard sale of your own  - and I asked a new friend of mine to guest post for the occasion.  Her name is Nony, and she writes the immensely entertaining & inspiring blog: A Slob Comes Clean.   Be sure to check it out!
 *********************************************************************************************

First of all, let me give you my resume here. What exactly qualifies me to give advice about garage sales?

I've been to many garage sales. Many many garage sales. Too many.

I've plotted out my course the night before, mapquesting directions and marking the newspaper with order of priority. I've awakened at 3 a.m., disappointed that it was too early to get up and get going.

I've clothed my 3 kids almost completely from garage sales, and for several years I earned our spending money by buying things at garage sales and selling them on ebay. Or at least selling most of them. The rest of them cluttered up my home.

And now that I no longer sell on ebay, I'm experienced on the other end of things. I'm about to have my 4th garage sale in about 3 years. And I have PLENTY of stuff for it.

So what's my first piece of advice?

Adjust your expectations.

You're not setting up a re-sale boutique in your garage. You're having a garage sale.

When I had my first garage sale, before I had become an addict myself, my mother gently warned me that I was pricing my items too high. She said that I had to make it my goal to get rid of stuff, not to make money.

She was very very right. Decide, before you start, that your goal is to get rid of EVERYTHING. You don't want to bring it back into your house, and you don't want to have to make 60 trips to the dump, either.

Your garage sale should be your last resort. If you go through your house looking for things to get rid of, and your head starts to fill with dollar signs, check yourself. If something has real value, like your Dept 56 Christmas Village, put it on ebay or Craigslist.

I don't have statistics or anything, but let's just be logical. Not everyone collects Christmas Villages. And those who do, don't necessarily look for them at garage sales. And those who do look for them at garage sales may or may not live in your town. And those who live in your town may or may not go to garage sales on the day that you have yours.

Your chances of selling them for what they are actually worth are much higher when you have a bigger buyer's pool, like on ebay. At your garage sale, it is possible that someone will stop by who has always wanted to buy a complete collection at 50 dollars apiece, but it isn't probable.

The same goes for everything, even your kids' clothing. Don't tell yourself that if it doesn't sell for 5.00 apiece at your garage sale, you'll take it to a consignment store. Take it to the consignment store first, and see what they'll give you. I've talked to many people who thought they would make a lot of money by consigning their clothes, only to find that the store accepted 5 items out of their 100.

If you truly see your garage sale as a last resort, you'll be much more willing to take less for an item, and therefore will greatly increase your chance of that item leaving your home. And you'd be shocked at how quickly quarters and one-dollar-bills add up.

Don't reject any buyers.

It may be tempting to be rude about people arriving at your sale an hour early, but it's better if you just accept it. These are generally the people who are serious about buying. They're the ones who are looking for specific categories of items, and if they see that you have something they're interested in, they could very well buy everything you have in that category. You also want them to come to your sale first, when they have all of their money.

Don't reject "dealers." By dealers, I mean those people who are buying things at garage sales to sell in their own store or online. While it might irritate you that they are going to buy something from you for .50 and sell it for 5.00, the reality is that you are just opening your garage and spending one day getting rid of your stuff. They either rent a booth somewhere or pay fees to put it on ebay, and they have to make sure it is perfectly clean and in correct working condition before selling it. For ebay, they take pictures and write out a description. Then, if it sells, they package it carefully and mail it. They have spent time researching when to start an auction, how to properly list the item, etc. You just put it on a table. You may miss out on the big profit, but you are also missing out on the big hassle. The reality is that the same dish is not worth as much at a garage sale as it is in a cute little antique booth somewhere. If you're not willing to take 50 cents, that's fine. But if the only reason you don't want to take 50 cents is a feeling of irritation that he's going to sell it somewhere for 5.00, get over it.

Don't be offended when people ask if you'll take less. It really is okay to say no. Remember, your goal is to get it out of your house, and if you're going to donate it anyway, why not? You'll still have plenty leftover to donate, and you'll be a dollar richer.

Know your area.

You may have heard a story about a friend (or a friend of a friend of a friend) who made 2,000 dollars at their garage sale. Before you get too excited, ask a few questions.

Where do they live? Different areas have different garage-sale success stories. If they live on a golf-course in an exclusive part of town, people may drive from miles around just to see what they're selling. Would people drive from miles around to your house?

What did they sell? You might find out that they sold a car for 1750 and included that in their total. Did they have furniture? Was it newish, or was it of the scratchy plaid variety? Did they sell electronic equipment? Were the clothes they sold of the same name brands/quality/condition as the ones you plan to sell?

If you don't find someone who lives near you and sold the same types of things you plan to sell, go check out a few garage sales in your neighborhood. Don't go early. Go around noon, and do some research. If you drive up and it seems like they don't have much stuff, that may be a good one. Ask them some questions like: Have you been busy today? Did you have any furniture (or whatever you are planning to sell)? How much did you sell it for? Did you have to come down on the price?

Likewise, if you see a garage sale that has TONS of stuff in the afternoon, you can try to find out what they did wrong. See what their prices are. Be nice, but ask some of the same questions as above. Remember that if they are discouraged and think that nobody buys stuff at garage sales "around here" it's probably that their prices are too high.

It's possible to have a good and profitable garage sale. But more than anything, your goal should be to clear things out of your home. If you make some money at it, all the better.

Nony has posted two more fantastic articles all about pricing, and advertising your yard sale that you NEED to read if you're serious about hosting a successful yardsale!

Special Cellfire Coupon for Earth Day


Woo-Hoo!  New Cellfire Coupons are loading up tomorrow!  You'll be able to load up all the ones below - so go ahead and take this last chance to load up all the ones you can today before the change over!


New Cellfire Coupons (LOAD HERE):
Green Giant® Frozen Boxed Vegetables Save $.50/2
Hamburger Helper® Save $.75/3
Cheerios® Cereal Save $.55/1
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Save $.55/1
Betty Crocker Potatoes Save $.40/1
Yoplait® Yogurt 32oz Save $.55/1
Betty Crocker Warm Delights Save $.50/1
Wanchai Ferry® Save $1/1
Yoplait® Fiber One® Yogurt Save $1/1
Yoplait® Delights(tm) Yogurt Save $1/1
Pillsbury Sweet Rolls OR Grands Save $.40/2

Earth Day is Thursday, and to celebrate Cellfire has loaded up some extra-special savings just for Safeway Shoppers!  All of these special coupons promote products that Reduce, Reuse, Recycle or are Natural/Organics - and there are some GOOD ones!
This promotion is good only for Safeway & it's subsidiaries (Vons, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Pavillions, Genuardi’s, Dominick’s, and Carrs)

If you shop at Safeway or any of it's subsidiary stores - load these specials onto your card HERE and then go check out the week's best Safeway deals HERE.

Kroger Deals- 4/18 - 4/24


Here are the Highlights for Kroger this week:

Kroger ecoupons --
Before heading to the store, don't forget to load your Kroger Card with ecoupons from the
Kroger website HERE and from CellFire HERE.

Here are a few Catalina's that appear to still be running this week:

Totino's Crisp Crust Party Pizza Products
Buy 4-5 - Get $1; Buy 6-7 - Get $2; Buy 8 or more - Get $3 on your next order

General Mills
Save $4 when you buy 4 participating products in one transaction between 4/19 and 6/13.

**Participating Products include: Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks, Sunkist Fruit Snacks, Nature Valley Granola Bars, Nut Clusters, Fiber One Chewy Bars, Chex Mix Bars, Milk n Cereal Bars

California Pizza Kitchen
Buy 2 - Get $1; Buy 3 - Get $2; Buy 4+ - Get $3 on your next order.


Meat/Produce:

**Kroger is having a 4 Day Meat Sale - Sun-Wed - Hightlight include:

--Fresh Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - $1.79/lb
--Choice Boneless Ribeye - $4.99/lb
--Boneless Pork Loin - $1.89/lb
--Fresh Whole Picnic - .89/lb
--Johnsonville Sausage Links - B1G1 FREE
--Honeysuckle Fresh Ground Turkey Breast - B1G1 FREE  (use two $1/1 PRINT)

Rotisserie Chicken - $3.99
Be sure to load $2 ecoupon from here
(makes it $1.99)

Oscar Mayer Bologna - B1G1 FREE
Use $1/2 from 3/7 SS
(makes it a great deal)

Oscar Mayer Fun Pack Lunchables - $2.34
Use $1/1 from 3/21 SS
(makes it $1.34)

Del Monte Fruit Naturals Fruit Cups - $1
Use $1/3 PRINT
(makes it .67 cents each)

Fresh Sweet Corn - 20/$10

Grocery:

Kellogg's Cereal (select varieties) - $1.97
Buy 2 and use $1/2 from 3/7 RP or Buy 3 and Use $1/3 from 4/11 RP
Use $1.50/2 PRINT
(makes it as low as $1.22 each)

Kellogg's Pop-Tarts - 3/$5
Use $1.25/3 from 3/28 RP
(makes it $1.25 each)

Healthy Choice or Marie Callendar's Entrees - 5/$10
**PLUS wyb 5 you will receive $2 off your next purchase.
Buy 5 and use two $1/2 PRINT or $1/2 from 3/28 SS
(makes it $1.20 each) -  considering the $2 catalina
Country Crock Spread (15 oz) - $1
Use .55/1 PRINT or .30/1 from 3/7 RP
(makes it as low as .40 cents)


Knorr Rice or Pasta Sides - $1
Buy 3 and Use $1/3 PRINT
(makes it .67 cents each)

V-8 Fusion or V-8 Vegetable Juice - $2.49
Use $1/1 Fusion PRINT or PRINT or from 3/14 SS
(makes it $1.49)

Stouffer's Family Size Entree's - $3.99
Use $2.50/1 PRINT (Facebook coupon) or $1/1 from April All You Magazine
(makes it as low as $1.49)

CoffeeMate Creamer - $2.39
Use .75/1 PRINT or from 2/7 RP
(makes it $1.64)

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Milk - $2.50
Use $1/1 from 2/28 SS
(makes it $1.50)


Campbell's Condensed Soup - $1
Use $1/2 cooking soups PRINT or $1/5 from 3/28 SS
(makes it  as low as .50 cents)

Green Giant Frozen Boxed Vegetables - $1
Use .50/2 PRINT and stack with .50/2 Cellfire ecoupon
(makes it .50 cents)

Pillsbury Grands, Crescents or Cinnamon Rolls - $1
Use .75/2 PRINT and stack with .40/2 Cellfire ecoupon
(makes it .43 cents)
You can also use .30/2 PRINT and .40/3 from 3/28 SS

Yoplait Greek Yogurt - $1
Use .30/1 PRINT, .45/1 PRINT or
Use B1G1 Free from 2/28, 3/28 SS
(makes it as low as .50 cents)


Household/Baby/Pet

SoftSoap Hand Soap - $1
Use .35/1 PRINT
(makes it 65 cents)

Purina One Dry Cat Food - $4.99
Use $2/1 from 4/18 RP
(makes it $2.99)

Huggies Jumbo Diapers, Pullups or Training Pants - $8.99
Use $3/1 PRINT (use zipcode 30318)
Use $1.50/1 from 4/18 SS or $2/1 Training Pants from 3/28 SS
(makes it as low as $6.99)

HOT New Glade Coupon!!


I spy with my little eye - a sweet new coupon on coupons.com!  Go HERE to print a $2/3 Coupon good on any Glade Relaxing Moments items.  Publix has the Glade Candles on sale BOGO through Tuesday - so print this coupon out, get over there, and make some money on candles!!

Glade Candles 4 oz Jar: BOGO $3.49 ($1.74)
Buy *3* = $5.22
Use $2/3 PRINT = $3.22
Stack WITH $1/2 from Publix coupon One Stop. One Store. Booklet = $2.22
Submit $5 SCJohnson Rebate wyb *3* Glade Products =
Total = $2.78 Profit!! ($1.78 Profit without the Publix Coupon)
*You could do this up to 3X per household!

Staples: Make PROFIT on *2* Cases of CopyPaper! (UPDATED COUPON CODE)


Staples is none too shabby either - follow the plan below to score 2 cases of printer paper for FREE!  That will last you a long, long time.....  If the original out of pocket is a bit too high on this - you might consider going in on it with a coupon-buddy!

Ordering:
  • Sign-up or Log-in to Ebates or ShopAtHome.  Doing this will earn you $1.54 - $6.54 Cashback + a $5 BONUS if you're a new member!
  • Now click on Staples while on Ebates or ShopatHome
  • Once redirected to Staples, search for these cases of paper: Item # 122374-QJ and add (2) of them to your cart (Total = $49.98)
  • Add (1) of Item #358046 (a pack of 12 pencils) to get your total to $50 for free home shipping  (Total = $51.59 + Tax)
Checking Out:
  • You can now use coupon code 47617 to deduct $10 from your total! (New Total = $41.59 + FREE Shipping)
  • Submit for a $32 Easy Saver Rebate on the paper (New Total =  $9. 41)
  • Your Ebates or ShopatHome will give you $1.54 - $6.54 Cash Back (Plus $5 Rebate for new customers)
  • New Total = FREE up to $7.93 for 2 Cases!
You DON'T have to be a Staples Rewards Member to do the above deal, but if you sign up for that as well (Apply immediately using the # in your email order confirmation) - you'll get an additional $3.75 in Staples Rewards per case!  That means....  YES.  You'll actually make money buying paper!


$49.98 2 Cases Paper
$1.61 1 Dozen Pencils
- $10.00 Coupon Code
- $1.54 ShopAtHome or $6.54 Ebates Rebate
- 5.00 ShopAtHome first time purchase rebate
- 32.00 Easy Rebates (Prepaid Visa)
- $7.50 Staples Rewards Rebate
Total: $4.45 Profit - $9.45 Profit (+ tax)

- Thanks to Penny Pinchin' Mama & MoneySaving Madness for working up this huge deal for all of us!

Office Depot Freebies!


Last week Office Depot had TONS of freebies - and they're giving us more goodies this week too!  You'll need to sign up for the Worklife Rewards Program to get these "Free After Rewards Items" - and your rewards will come in the mail in 6-8 weeks on an Office Depot Store Card.

Energizer Rechargeable Batteries  4-Pk : $12.99
61 Quart Storage Totes : $7.99
Fiskars Scissors : $6.99
PaperPro eco Stapler : $15.99
Avery Shipping Labels : $39.99
250 Recycled Envelopes (Legal Size) : $9.99
....and more!!!

Free not good enough for you?  Make some profit on money at Staples this week!  Check out this post HERE.

12¢ Gummies at Walgreens!


I love gummy worms - and what's more, I love them for 12¢ even more!  Walgreens has their Bloack Forest Gummy Bears/Worms on sale for 33¢ with the In-Ad Coupon.  Use the 55¢/1 Printable HERE to make them only 12¢!!  *I've heard these don't scan even though they are legit, so your cashier might have to key it in.


The gummy worms would be great to make dirt cups or to go with a "Bugs" themed cake for a boy's birthday party!

Don't Miss This!

 
Just wanted to make sure you didn't miss the following in yesterday's newspaper:
  • Coupon in Parade insert (could vary by region, mine was a Zantac Q)
  • Prescription Q (new or transfered) for KMart...can be used at CVS
  • Target - in the center of the ad was a deal about recycling plastic bags.  If you send in 5 Target plastic bags, they'll email you a $1 off Q for a Target reuseable bag.  The great thing is the mail-in envelope is a part of the ad and the postage is pre-paid!
  • There have also been reports of prescription Rite-Aid Qs and possibly a $5 off $25 Q. Mine didn't have it, but hope yours did!

Did anyone notice that my ESPN Magazine post did have the rather misleading title - "Rite-Aid Highlights: 4/18 - 4/24"?  You have just witnessed Distraction In Action!  I am so easily distracted....  I started last night to post the Rite-Aid deals for you guys, and then got all excited about the ESPN deal!  You all are sweet to put up with such an absent-minded blogger - and I'll have your Rite-Aid deals up very soon!

-Jamie

ESPN Magazine - $3.65 for 24 Issues!

This is an AWESOME idea for Father's Day - get one for you hubby AND your dad!


ESPN: Only $4.29 for 26 Issues  (Reg. $129.74!!)

My husband LOVES his ESPN magazine - yet he says the reason he really wanted a subscription was because when you subscribe to ESPN magazine - you automatically get a FREE subscription to ESPN Insider Online! (Reg. $6.95/month!)  So you'll save $83.40 off Insider & $125 off the subscription = $213.40 savings!!!


He says, and I quote "Insider allows you access to some of the best articles, best writers, and best blogs that you can't get with just the magazine."  Is your husband a big baseball fan?  He's going to LOVE this!   

Make your magazine only $3.65 by entering the 15% Off code - or get a nice discount when you order a few magazines with the $5 off $30 codes below!

$5 off $30 Code: MNDCJ411 
15% Off Any Order Code: PXSS425

Great New Redplum Printables!


If you haven't been on RedPlum much lately - you should go check out all the new coupons they have available for print!  Redplum coupons go pretty fast - they have smaller limits than some of the other printable sites. If you see any you like - go ahead and get them now so you don't regret it later!   Here are a couple with nice potential:


$1/1 Loreal Vive Shampoo or Conditioner
$1.50/1 Breathe Right Product
$1/1 Quaker True Delights
$1/2 Voskos Greek Yogurt
$1/1 NYC Color Cosmetic Product
$1/1 Rimmell Product
..... and MORE!
 

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