Are You Sitting on a Gold Mine?

Part 2 of 3 - Sorting Sal
Jul 18, 2018
2 min read

Like so many of the people that I spend time with I have many of one item. And that's okay. When I pulled all my pens, pencils and 'textas' together from all over the house years ago I found that I had soooooooo many pens and pencils - I am one of the creative creatures so it was natural that I would have collected lots along the way, but it was the process of putting them all together in one place that was really the clincher. No matter where they were hiding I found them. I couldn't believe at first how many there were; truly I had enough to start several schools...but then again; maybe I did know I had that many. I've come a long way on that journey with stuff and now it doesn't have the same pull as it did. I do still have lots of many things but that's okay as even now when the 'back to school' or 'mid year stocktake sale' bargains come around or when ever there's a batch of pencils awaiting a new owner for free I feel that familiar tug towards them - a trigger for the words - "I can use them" to come out to justify them walking their way into another big pile. If you've ever struggled with stuff then you'll understand this pull.

There's no rush for most of us but when we do realise we can (or just have to) let go of some stuff, then some times you might be surprised at the nice little pocket money amounts you can make from all those multiples. In our homes we sometimes sit at the doorway to gold mines. Do you have things that you are ready to sell? The box with all the pens picture above and the article below from Sherry Howard shows some of the many things in just the average house - not even a household where people know that they are struggling with the tidal wave of stuff that can arrive in our homes every week but average everyday households that just have 'enough' and 'can buy what ever we need.' http://myauctionfinds.com/2013/05/22/too-much-of-a-not-so-good-thing/

Some clever folk take part in the National Garage Sale Trail or do their own version every year (see link below from the Batemans Bay where this picture was taken by the Moyura Post and the Ballarat Courier articles below) but loads of people here in Ballarat have a garage sale every year and so I thought I'd ask some of them about how they do it? Stay tuned over the next few posts as we gleen wisdom from their experience of just how to bring in the pennies. Of course we've held a few garage and clearing sales before of our own and for others so if you've never actually done it before we can help. We can help to identify things that are likely to raise some funds for you and help with how to get the best value from them on the day. If you'd like to have a go yourself then sites like this are useful:

Useful general tools and resources... http://www.egaragesales.com.au/index.asp Things to watch out for with signage... http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/553735/ballarat-council-fines-couple-over-garage-sale-sign/ Free downloadable signage: https://gsalr.com/blog/garage-sale-sign-kit-free-download/ Some of the success people have doing the same thing... http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/4222979/creswick-garage-sale-blossoming/