Author Topic: The super-rich having a garage sale  (Read 20485 times)

JAYSLOL

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The super-rich having a garage sale
« on: August 06, 2017, 10:25:25 AM »
I went around to a few garage sales yesterday, and while it's not uncommon here to go to a garage sale at a ~$1M home, one of the places I went to yesterday was in a whole different league.  This was a brand new 8000sqf home with 7 garage bays and one hell of a view and the last assessment was at ~$3M.  I'm not bashing them for it, or think it's wrong for them to have a garage sale, I just find it odd/funny that they figured the best use of their Saturday was to sell a couple hundred dollars worth of junk. 

dmac680chi

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2017, 10:27:03 AM »
I went around to a few garage sales yesterday, and while it's not uncommon here to go to a garage sale at a ~$1M home, one of the places I went to yesterday was in a whole different league.  This was a brand new 8000sqf home with 7 garage bays and one hell of a view and the last assessment was at ~$3M.  I'm not bashing them for it, or think it's wrong for them to have a garage sale, I just find it odd/funny that they figured the best use of their Saturday was to sell a couple hundred dollars worth of junk.

Sounds like Christmas for Mustacians!


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JAYSLOL

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2017, 10:48:27 AM »
I went around to a few garage sales yesterday, and while it's not uncommon here to go to a garage sale at a ~$1M home, one of the places I went to yesterday was in a whole different league.  This was a brand new 8000sqf home with 7 garage bays and one hell of a view and the last assessment was at ~$3M.  I'm not bashing them for it, or think it's wrong for them to have a garage sale, I just find it odd/funny that they figured the best use of their Saturday was to sell a couple hundred dollars worth of junk.

Sounds like Christmas for Mustacians!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Actually I find that in general the richer the sellers are, the more more money they want for their crap.  This actually wasn't the case with these people, they had fairly reasonable/average prices for things, but in general the richer they are the greedier they are when selling. 

paddedhat

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2017, 10:51:18 AM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best. Any nearly valueless crap of mine is harvested in it's natural state in the attic, garage, or wherever, and dropped at the donation dock at the thrift store. Easy, quick and hassle free.

JAYSLOL

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2017, 11:13:48 AM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best. Any nearly valueless crap of mine is harvested in it's natural state in the attic, garage, or wherever, and dropped at the donation dock at the thrift store. Easy, quick and hassle free.

I totally agree with you, even for the average North American family that lives in the suburbs, having a garage sale to make a couple hundred bucks is hardly worth the time on a purely financial basis.  On the flip side, some people use it as an excuse to meet their neighbors.  I have a garage sale once or twice a year, but I generally make between $500-$1500 in the day (my record is $2300), it's more of a side hustle for me than just getting rid of junk. 

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2017, 05:54:19 PM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best. Any nearly valueless crap of mine is harvested in it's natural state in the attic, garage, or wherever, and dropped at the donation dock at the thrift store. Easy, quick and hassle free.

And, if the thrift store is run by a 501(c)3 charity, then if you get an itemized receipt with the values correctly calculated, you can probably deduct it as a charitable gift on an itemized tax return.

ixtap

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2017, 06:14:27 PM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best. Any nearly valueless crap of mine is harvested in it's natural state in the attic, garage, or wherever, and dropped at the donation dock at the thrift store. Easy, quick and hassle free.

And, if the thrift store is run by a 501(c)3 charity, then if you get an itemized receipt with the values correctly calculated, you can probably deduct it as a charitable gift on an itemized tax return.

SIL just cannot let go of anything she doesn't consider absolutely worthless without getting something for it. Basically, she is only willing to donate rags, everything else goes back in the house for the next garage sale.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2017, 10:10:43 PM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best. Any nearly valueless crap of mine is harvested in it's natural state in the attic, garage, or wherever, and dropped at the donation dock at the thrift store. Easy, quick and hassle free.

And, if the thrift store is run by a 501(c)3 charity, then if you get an itemized receipt with the values correctly calculated, you can probably deduct it as a charitable gift on an itemized tax return.

SIL just cannot let go of anything she doesn't consider absolutely worthless without getting something for it. Basically, she is only willing to donate rags, everything else goes back in the house for the next garage sale.

Yeah, but the market value of rags is diddly-squat. So that's what she ends up getting to deduct. To get the sizable deductions, you have to donate something good: something the right buyer would pay good money to purchase.

Now here's where paddedhat's logic gets really important... it takes time and effort to find the right buyer for the lion's share of what gets put out in the average garage sale that is actually worth something. I once sold a used toilet for $20 at a community garage sale because I was already there hobnobbing with the neighbors, but I didn't make significant money on a per-hour basis. Nor was I trying to sell anything of actual value. My goal was more to get stuff out of my garage (and I succeeded).

If you've got something like tools, rare books, art, an old rug, an old chair, or a coin collection you're simply not going to get fair market value at a garage sale. People come to garage sales expecting to scoop stuff up for next to nothing. So expecting to get one-third of the fair market value for used shoes, DVDs, or whatever is just plain unrealistic. In my opinion the return on invested time is far better donating things that are high value to the right buyer, instead of wasting the time to find that buyer, provided the donor is in a professional caliber tax bracket (pre-FIRE). That individual will have a higher dollar value per hour and the deduction will also be worth more.

zhelud

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2017, 08:51:33 AM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best. Any nearly valueless crap of mine is harvested in it's natural state in the attic, garage, or wherever, and dropped at the donation dock at the thrift store. Easy, quick and hassle free.

Well, I have held yard sales for our old stuff because I find that having people come to my house to take things off my hands is actually more convenient than dropping stuff off at a charity or thrift store.  We have a small car so it can be a problem moving large items like bikes.  And with a yard sale you don't have to pack everything up, it can just all be spread out on a big tablecloth or something.  I keep my prices rock-bottom (and old clothes are always free) so I get rid of everything, and all it takes is me or my kids sitting in a lawn chair reading the newspaper for a few hours on Saturday morning (plus putting a free ad on Craigslist the night before.)

engineermom21

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2017, 09:14:58 AM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best. Any nearly valueless crap of mine is harvested in it's natural state in the attic, garage, or wherever, and dropped at the donation dock at the thrift store. Easy, quick and hassle free.

I used to do a yard sale once a year, and I never made less than $1,000.  Granted, I used to be a bit of an extreme couponer as well, so this was a way for me to clear out all the extra stuff I had gotten for free throughout the year that we didn't really need.  For me, it was more of a way to generate some nice extra income once a year.  Now that I had kids, though, I don't do them anymore.

TartanTallulah

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #10 on: August 07, 2017, 09:34:44 AM »
For some people, the amount of money raised from the yard sale is not the primary consideration and most of the pleasure is in the process of setting up and selling and the interaction with buyers. Like Marie Antoinette playing shopkeeper. Having less stuff and more money at the end is an integral part of the game without having an impact on their real life situation.

paddedhat

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #11 on: August 07, 2017, 01:39:03 PM »

I used to do a yard sale once a year, and I never made less than $1,000.  Granted, I used to be a bit of an extreme couponer as well, so this was a way for me to clear out all the extra stuff I had gotten for free throughout the year that we didn't really need.  For me, it was more of a way to generate some nice extra income once a year.  Now that I had kids, though, I don't do them anymore.

Interesting. I recall glancing at the Extreme Couponing shows and wondering why anybody could be nearly orgasmic, since they had rows of shelving in the cellar, and owned thousands of bottles of shampoo, and other stuff. Makes sense to yard sale it. Oddly enough, here that isn't allowed. The local town limits many things about yard sales, and one is that there can be no new goods offered for sale. It's probably a pretty good idea here, since we live in a very heavy tourist traffic area, and yard sales are nothing but a PITA since they often create traffic jams.. Could be worse though, we used to live in the mountains a few hours from NYC. The city crowd somehow believed that they were the only vehicles on the road, and would just stop in the middle of a lane, shut the car off and get out to shop at a yard sale. I once went absolutely mental on a guy who was stopped at the crest of a blind hill, while shopping. I guess the fact that you could really hurt somebody who slams into the back of your parked car, is less important than finding a good deal on junk?

LiveLean

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #12 on: August 08, 2017, 07:54:59 AM »
We have a gated community of 12 homes down the street. Totally out of scale in the area -- homes between 8K and 10K square feet. About 12 years ago they had a community yard sale and it was free comedy. People lined up at the gate in the dark like Willy Wonka was opening his chocolate factory. The gates opened, people ran in. At the time there was a prominent Major League Baseball player living in there and his wife was right out of Real Housewives central casting. She had nothing but junk laid out but the funny thing was that she had all sorts of Nordstrom and Saks shopping bags to put the purchases into to give the unclean masses. Her husband was making $8 million a year at the time and yet she spent her Saturday making maybe a couple of hundred bucks, mostly from stuff she clearly had gotten as free giveaways at baseball games she attended.

Unfortunately this was before social media. Otherwise......

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #13 on: August 08, 2017, 08:05:00 AM »
I used to participate in yard sales up on Hillbilly Mountain and people actually paid for some of our old crap, but these were the days when people thought baseball cards were valuable. (Selling my collection led to a lot of food purchasing. Score.) Unless you are dirt poor -- and as long as you itemize your tax return -- donating your crap to charity gets you a much, much better return for your money. Plus, it's less time consuming.

The only positive of a yard sale really is that you get to hang out with your friends and drink beers in public if your local law enforcement is lenient.

SeaEhm

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #14 on: August 08, 2017, 09:10:44 AM »
Sometimes I get confused on this forum


People want to brag about who has the oldest and highest mileage car
People want to brag about foraging for food
People want to brag about washing their plastic sandwich bags to reuse them

And then a thread where people say it's a waste to have a garage sale to make some money?

Having a garage sale is a nice motivational tool to declutter.

Steps to a successful garage sale
1) put out an ad as this prevents you from saying "maybe next week"
2) Go through your closets and nooks finding things to get rid of  (hint: play music if you think decluttering is tedious)
3) Brew up a nice batch of tea or coffee the morning of
4) Lay out all of your stuff
5) Sit outside and talk with neighbors who pass by and people who come to look at your stuff
6) Earn some money in the mean time
7) Pack the leftovers in a plastic bag and take to Goodwill to receive tax write off.

Regarding being dirt poor - I would venture to say that there are probably hundreds of houses near me that have a garage sale each year and it would not be far fetched to say that many of their household incomes were over $175k/yr.

prognastat

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #15 on: August 08, 2017, 09:11:03 AM »
I went around to a few garage sales yesterday, and while it's not uncommon here to go to a garage sale at a ~$1M home, one of the places I went to yesterday was in a whole different league.  This was a brand new 8000sqf home with 7 garage bays and one hell of a view and the last assessment was at ~$3M.  I'm not bashing them for it, or think it's wrong for them to have a garage sale, I just find it odd/funny that they figured the best use of their Saturday was to sell a couple hundred dollars worth of junk.

Sounds like Christmas for Mustacians!


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Actually I find that in general the richer the sellers are, the more more money they want for their crap.  This actually wasn't the case with these people, they had fairly reasonable/average prices for things, but in general the richer they are the greedier they are when selling.

Interesting, I've had the opposite experience. In my experience rich off people tend to underestimate the value of things that are small expenses to them. I've often gotten stuff thats in good shape for cheap or even free from rich neighborhoods.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #16 on: August 08, 2017, 09:31:23 AM »
Sometimes I get confused on this forum


People want to brag about who has the oldest and highest mileage car
People want to brag about foraging for food
People want to brag about washing their plastic sandwich bags to reuse them

And then a thread where people say it's a waste to have a garage sale to make some money?

Having a garage sale is a nice motivational tool to declutter.
Yeah, I'm a bit bemused as well.  We participated in our community yard sale this year.  Didn't make a ton of money (we priced everything really low, and didn't have any big-ticket items, and didn't have a whole lot of stuff anyway), but still consider it worthwhile.  Why?
--We made a few bucks
--We got rid of a bunch of stuff (all the leftovers went to the thrift store) and cleared up space where all the junk was stored (square footage isn't free!)
--Our kids got to run a lemonade/cookie stand
--A bunch of people got to save money on stuff
--A bunch of stuff was saved from the landfill

So you could count it as a way to evangelize mustachianism in a small way :)

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #17 on: August 08, 2017, 09:56:19 AM »
Sometimes I get confused on this forum


People want to brag about who has the oldest and highest mileage car
People want to brag about foraging for food
People want to brag about washing their plastic sandwich bags to reuse them

And then a thread where people say it's a waste to have a garage sale to make some money?

Having a garage sale is a nice motivational tool to declutter.

Steps to a successful garage sale
1) put out an ad as this prevents you from saying "maybe next week"
2) Go through your closets and nooks finding things to get rid of  (hint: play music if you think decluttering is tedious)
3) Brew up a nice batch of tea or coffee the morning of
4) Lay out all of your stuff
5) Sit outside and talk with neighbors who pass by and people who come to look at your stuff
6) Earn some money in the mean time
7) Pack the leftovers in a plastic bag and take to Goodwill to receive tax write off.

Regarding being dirt poor - I would venture to say that there are probably hundreds of houses near me that have a garage sale each year and it would not be far fetched to say that many of their household incomes were over $175k/yr.

If your goal is to have a nice time socializing with neighbors, then do as you will. If your goal is to maximize your time and money, then you donate the stuff from your garage sale and receive the tax deduction. A lot of people on this forum work both a regular job and a side hustle which is a much more efficient use of their time for the money than a garage sale. And most people on the forum have other ways that they socialize with neighbors, such as participating in free community events, potluck dinners, going to the park, etc.

I'm not being dismissive of your opinion. I'm just trying to explain our rationale.

acroy

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #18 on: August 08, 2017, 10:00:14 AM »
For some people, the amount of money raised from the yard sale is not the primary consideration and most of the pleasure is in the process of setting up and selling and the interaction with buyers.
Yep - I was only on the selling-side once, and that was a fun day actually :)

Warlord1986

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #19 on: August 08, 2017, 10:46:07 AM »
Sometimes I get confused on this forum


People want to brag about who has the oldest and highest mileage car
People want to brag about foraging for food
People want to brag about washing their plastic sandwich bags to reuse them

And then a thread where people say it's a waste to have a garage sale to make some money?

Having a garage sale is a nice motivational tool to declutter.

Steps to a successful garage sale
1) put out an ad as this prevents you from saying "maybe next week"
2) Go through your closets and nooks finding things to get rid of  (hint: play music if you think decluttering is tedious)
3) Brew up a nice batch of tea or coffee the morning of
4) Lay out all of your stuff
5) Sit outside and talk with neighbors who pass by and people who come to look at your stuff
6) Earn some money in the mean time
7) Pack the leftovers in a plastic bag and take to Goodwill to receive tax write off.

Regarding being dirt poor - I would venture to say that there are probably hundreds of houses near me that have a garage sale each year and it would not be far fetched to say that many of their household incomes were over $175k/yr.

Yeah, I'm scratching my head over this as well. Decluttering and making a few hundred dollars is worthy of ridicule now? I guess when the 'overheard at...' threads are slow, the self-righteousness has to come out somewhere.

For what it's worth, the suburb where I grew up and the apartment complex I live in now had designated yard sale days for the whole community. There were some spendy spenders who could spend, sure, but nobody is 'dirt poor.'

Roboturner

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #20 on: August 08, 2017, 11:07:31 AM »
but in general the richer they are the greedier they are when selling.

Im not sure that's true, I think the richer they are the more likely they are selling items that are intrinsically worth more than your ikea bookshelf for $5

That being said, these types of garage sales are strange, just donate it and write it off your taxes - probably 'worth' more to you that way, and less of a hassle

ysette9

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #21 on: August 08, 2017, 11:20:30 AM »
We moved two months ago and so for the past three+ months we have been going through stuff and decluttering. I didn't even consider a garage sale as part of our strategy for the main reason that it is not an efficient use of time. My time is very limited between working, my toddler, my husband, moving, and pregnancy. Instead of a garage sale (which often times seem from third-hand observation to not be very successful) we donated some stuff to Goodwill, sold some stuff on Craigslist (what a pain!), gave away some free stuff on Craigslist, and just threw other stuff out in front of the house with a "Free" sign on it.

At this point I am totally sick of selling stuff on Craigslist. I love it as a buyer, but so many people flake out and/or want to negotiate a great deal down to something not even worth my time to answer the door, it sours my perspective as a seller.

It gets down to what your goal ultimately is though. Are you out to make extra $ or to rid your house of unwanted items? The strategy you employ will be fairly different for those two differing goals.

sw1tch

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #22 on: August 08, 2017, 11:29:39 AM »
We moved two months ago and so for the past three+ months we have been going through stuff and decluttering. I didn't even consider a garage sale as part of our strategy for the main reason that it is not an efficient use of time. My time is very limited between working, my toddler, my husband, moving, and pregnancy. Instead of a garage sale (which often times seem from third-hand observation to not be very successful) we donated some stuff to Goodwill, sold some stuff on Craigslist (what a pain!), gave away some free stuff on Craigslist, and just threw other stuff out in front of the house with a "Free" sign on it.

At this point I am totally sick of selling stuff on Craigslist. I love it as a buyer, but so many people flake out and/or want to negotiate a great deal down to something not even worth my time to answer the door, it sours my perspective as a seller.

It gets down to what your goal ultimately is though. Are you out to make extra $ or to rid your house of unwanted items? The strategy you employ will be fairly different for those two differing goals.

Yes, Craigslist IS the double-edged sword.  My wife gets really pissed at all the flakers.  I always remind her that when you're using a free service, anyone (and their mother) are using it for free - for some folks that means no motive to actually have manners.  I try my best to see it as an opportunity to make some decent money; it does get really nerve-wracking waiting around for the good buyers but they normally do exist and show up if your price is within reason.  We were thinking about doing a garage sale, but literally after all of our big items sold on Craigslist (to the tune of ~ $2,800), I don't see the point.

By my best estimates, we would make a grand total of $50-$75 with a garage sale.  I think if you have any "quality" items, a craigslist ad along with some well taken pictures and legible writing go a long way to actually recouping some of your money.  I'd much rather individually list good stuff and sell separate than put everything in the yard and try to sell at once.  Whatever's left (the things not worth listing) will get donated or put outside for free.
« Last Edit: August 08, 2017, 11:48:27 AM by sw1tch »

Feivel2000

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #23 on: August 08, 2017, 11:46:52 AM »
If you give stuff to charity, who decides what you can deduct from the taxes?

aFrugalFather

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #24 on: August 08, 2017, 11:52:59 AM »
If you give stuff to charity, who decides what you can deduct from the taxes?

Usually I see them hand out a blank donation sheet for you to fill out on your own on the honor system.

Roboturner

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #25 on: August 08, 2017, 11:54:24 AM »
If you give stuff to charity, who decides what you can deduct from the taxes?

Usually I see them hand out a blank donation sheet for you to fill out on your own on the honor system.

yup we keep a ledger of items with FMV (based on donation charts) for audit purposes

Laura33

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #26 on: August 08, 2017, 12:06:34 PM »
On the flip side, we've encouraged our kids to do garage sales and bake sales and such as ways to earn money for things they want.  We didn't need the money, and boy was it a PITA, but it was a way for a 4-12 yr old kid to earn some money (and, umm, be persuaded to part with things that they were loath to just toss or give away).

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #27 on: August 08, 2017, 12:08:59 PM »
If you give stuff to charity, who decides what you can deduct from the taxes?

Usually I see them hand out a blank donation sheet for you to fill out on your own on the honor system.

yup we keep a ledger of items with FMV (based on donation charts) for audit purposes

Here's a handy guide from Goodwill for calculating donation values: https://sfgoodwill.org/donate/donate-goods/estimate-donation-calculator/

I just record every item I donate in a ledger and then fill out the blank form with the items and values when I get it from the places I donate to, so it's all copacetic at tax time.


SeaEhm

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #28 on: August 08, 2017, 02:15:01 PM »
Sometimes I get confused on this forum


People want to brag about who has the oldest and highest mileage car
People want to brag about foraging for food
People want to brag about washing their plastic sandwich bags to reuse them

And then a thread where people say it's a waste to have a garage sale to make some money?

Having a garage sale is a nice motivational tool to declutter.

Steps to a successful garage sale
1) put out an ad as this prevents you from saying "maybe next week"
2) Go through your closets and nooks finding things to get rid of  (hint: play music if you think decluttering is tedious)
3) Brew up a nice batch of tea or coffee the morning of
4) Lay out all of your stuff
5) Sit outside and talk with neighbors who pass by and people who come to look at your stuff
6) Earn some money in the mean time
7) Pack the leftovers in a plastic bag and take to Goodwill to receive tax write off.

Regarding being dirt poor - I would venture to say that there are probably hundreds of houses near me that have a garage sale each year and it would not be far fetched to say that many of their household incomes were over $175k/yr.

If your goal is to have a nice time socializing with neighbors, then do as you will. If your goal is to maximize your time and money, then you donate the stuff from your garage sale and receive the tax deduction. A lot of people on this forum work both a regular job and a side hustle which is a much more efficient use of their time for the money than a garage sale. And most people on the forum have other ways that they socialize with neighbors, such as participating in free community events, potluck dinners, going to the park, etc.

I'm not being dismissive of your opinion. I'm just trying to explain our rationale.

So you tell me people don't have time because of their side hustles and then tell me that those same people have community events, potlucks and go to the park? 

What if the community event is a garage sale
Bring toys to play on the lawn/park
Potluck is cookies and lemonade from previous posters children

Roboturner

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #29 on: August 08, 2017, 02:19:07 PM »
Potluck is cookies and lemonade from previous posters children

definitely read "poser" children

Chesleygirl

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #30 on: August 08, 2017, 09:40:26 PM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best.

I agree. And after doing all that hard work to get items ready for the sale, people show up and ask if they can have stuff for free. We get too many people around here, coming to all the sales, to see what people will give away to them. They refuse to spend even one dime. They even drive through the alley in trucks and yell out "we'll take all that off your hands for free".

Total waste of time.

Dicey

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #31 on: August 08, 2017, 10:54:22 PM »
I live in a HCOLA. Some friends sold their home of 35 years for nearly $1M. They are moving out of state where they can more easily afford care for both of them, as she has Alzheimer's. They packed up what they wanted to take, their kids took what they wanted and their DIL and I held an Estate Sale to sell off the rest. We made $2500 in two days and the most expensive thing we sold was a dining set for $175.00.

$2500 in cash is nothing to sneer at!

I agree with SeaEhm completely.

I also disagree with the snarky comments about "rich" people.

I love Estate Sales. I'm happy giving old stuff a new life. Further, I avoid any sale that advertises kid's stuff. I find people with small children spend all their money on their kids and not much else. YMMV.

paddedhat

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #32 on: August 09, 2017, 06:34:59 AM »
I'm sure there are many here who will vigorously disagree, but I find it hard that anybody, who isn't dirt poor, or places zero value on their time, would waste their time holding a garage sale. I have watched too many friends and relatives drop ridiculous amounts of prep time, dragging all manners of crap out of attics, basements, etc. cleaning and pricing the junk, advertising, setting up their wares in the driveway, and dealing with the public, to end up with a few hundred bucks, at best.



I agree. And after doing all that hard work to get items ready for the sale, people show up and ask if they can have stuff for free. We get too many people around here, coming to all the sales, to see what people will give away to them. They refuse to spend even one dime. They even drive through the alley in trucks and yell out "we'll take all that off your hands for free".

Total waste of time.

Absolutely. I find it hard to believe that some folks are surprised by this concept appearing on MMM.  I guess being frugal with time, and time being your most valuable asset, doesn't add up for some people. 

When it was time to downsize, as our kids left for universities, we were faced with the question of "do we hold a yard  sale to get rid of this shit?".  First, we tend to be minimalist, so there are no closets full of shoes, baseball card collections,   or similar volumes of stuff in my life. Second we had watched friends go through this process. Some were real collectors who put a huge effort into it, and regretted the fact that it was a huge waste of time. One family spent a month of weekends to get ready, then had a two car garage and a four car driveway full of tables piled high in sale goods. In the end they made about $700. They then spent time breaking the whole circus down, and more time donating and disposing of the crap that nobody would pay for. In the end it was  well over 100 hours of time, for less than minimum wage.

We took a different route. First it's a 52 mile round trip to the local Salvation Army for us, so we had little interest in long expensive trips to give our low value stuff away. Second, screw craigslist. I won't waste time waiting for some chucklenut to maybe show up to offer me half price on a $10 cardboard IKEA dresser. We just slowly dribbled everything away with a  FREE sign at the end of the driveway.  The sign was a piece of high-vis pink posterboard with FREE in big black letter, taped to an old real estate sign. I would drag an old set of particle board shelves, some left over construction scraps (short 2x4s, scrap Romex wire, short pieces of plumbing pipe) an ugly lamp, and a used toaster to the edge of the road, pop the sign up, and forget about it. Unless something was truly useless crap, it was ALWAYS gone in a few hours.  Not only was it easy and effective, but people will grab garbage that they absolutely wouldn't think of paying a dime for. In the end I saved at least $100 and half a day of my life, buy not having to haul a big load of useless crap to the landfill, and pay the dump fee.

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #33 on: August 09, 2017, 07:01:55 AM »
Sometimes I get confused on this forum


People want to brag about who has the oldest and highest mileage car
People want to brag about foraging for food
People want to brag about washing their plastic sandwich bags to reuse them

And then a thread where people say it's a waste to have a garage sale to make some money?

Having a garage sale is a nice motivational tool to declutter.

Steps to a successful garage sale
1) put out an ad as this prevents you from saying "maybe next week"
2) Go through your closets and nooks finding things to get rid of  (hint: play music if you think decluttering is tedious)
3) Brew up a nice batch of tea or coffee the morning of
4) Lay out all of your stuff
5) Sit outside and talk with neighbors who pass by and people who come to look at your stuff
6) Earn some money in the mean time
7) Pack the leftovers in a plastic bag and take to Goodwill to receive tax write off.

Regarding being dirt poor - I would venture to say that there are probably hundreds of houses near me that have a garage sale each year and it would not be far fetched to say that many of their household incomes were over $175k/yr.

If your goal is to have a nice time socializing with neighbors, then do as you will. If your goal is to maximize your time and money, then you donate the stuff from your garage sale and receive the tax deduction. A lot of people on this forum work both a regular job and a side hustle which is a much more efficient use of their time for the money than a garage sale. And most people on the forum have other ways that they socialize with neighbors, such as participating in free community events, potluck dinners, going to the park, etc.

I'm not being dismissive of your opinion. I'm just trying to explain our rationale.

So you tell me people don't have time because of their side hustles and then tell me that those same people have community events, potlucks and go to the park? 

What if the community event is a garage sale
Bring toys to play on the lawn/park
Potluck is cookies and lemonade from previous posters children

*sigh*

None of those community activities involve work or having to stay in one place for the entire day after setting up lots of tables and pricing and labeling goods for sale. I don't see why this is such a difficult concept.

JAYSLOL

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #34 on: August 09, 2017, 08:10:42 AM »
but in general the richer they are the greedier they are when selling.

Im not sure that's true, I think the richer they are the more likely they are selling items that are intrinsically worth more than your ikea bookshelf for $5

That being said, these types of garage sales are strange, just donate it and write it off your taxes - probably 'worth' more to you that way, and less of a hassle

I've sold a $4200 set of reclining sofas at a garage sale, Royal Doulton china, a brand new solid wood bedroom set, professional audio equipment and vast amounts of brand name tools and power equipment etc.  Just because some rich lady that lives in a giant house paid $89.99 for a tablecloth from a high end shop, when you can buy the same tablecloth for $24.99 on amazon, and then asks $50 for it at a garage sale doesn't make it worth "intrinsically more".  I go to A LOT of garage sales, and see the same thing every week, usually mundane items like a tape measure - .25 to .50 cents at an average persons garage sale, but I've been to a sale at a very expensive house and they want $4!  Hell, even the kids selling lemonade, I went to a sale in a fancy neighbourhood where the kids were selling lemonade at $2 a cup!  No, this was not the kids screwing up the pricing, they asked their mom when I asked them how much.  This is extremely common around here for wealthier people to want as close to retail as possible for their stuff. 

SeaEhm

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #35 on: August 09, 2017, 08:44:04 AM »
Sometimes I get confused on this forum


People want to brag about who has the oldest and highest mileage car
People want to brag about foraging for food
People want to brag about washing their plastic sandwich bags to reuse them

And then a thread where people say it's a waste to have a garage sale to make some money?

Having a garage sale is a nice motivational tool to declutter.

Steps to a successful garage sale
1) put out an ad as this prevents you from saying "maybe next week"
2) Go through your closets and nooks finding things to get rid of  (hint: play music if you think decluttering is tedious)
3) Brew up a nice batch of tea or coffee the morning of
4) Lay out all of your stuff
5) Sit outside and talk with neighbors who pass by and people who come to look at your stuff
6) Earn some money in the mean time
7) Pack the leftovers in a plastic bag and take to Goodwill to receive tax write off.

Regarding being dirt poor - I would venture to say that there are probably hundreds of houses near me that have a garage sale each year and it would not be far fetched to say that many of their household incomes were over $175k/yr.

If your goal is to have a nice time socializing with neighbors, then do as you will. If your goal is to maximize your time and money, then you donate the stuff from your garage sale and receive the tax deduction. A lot of people on this forum work both a regular job and a side hustle which is a much more efficient use of their time for the money than a garage sale. And most people on the forum have other ways that they socialize with neighbors, such as participating in free community events, potluck dinners, going to the park, etc.

I'm not being dismissive of your opinion. I'm just trying to explain our rationale.

So you tell me people don't have time because of their side hustles and then tell me that those same people have community events, potlucks and go to the park? 

What if the community event is a garage sale
Bring toys to play on the lawn/park
Potluck is cookies and lemonade from previous posters children

*sigh*

None of those community activities involve work or having to stay in one place for the entire day after setting up lots of tables and pricing and labeling goods for sale. I don't see why this is such a difficult concept.

Regarding the bolded part -  *sigh* I feel the same way as you.

Wake up, take like 10-15 minutes to place items on the ground or on a blanket on the ground.  When someone asks how much you just make up a price.   When you are done, you put it in a bag and haul it to Goodwill or you call one of those collection agencies to come pick it up.

You know you can set the hours for your own garage sale, right?  Typically garage sales are most popular during the mornings and are finished before 11. 

Potluck dinners isn't work? 


*sigh*


WhiteTrashCash

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #36 on: August 09, 2017, 09:50:45 AM »
Sometimes I get confused on this forum


People want to brag about who has the oldest and highest mileage car
People want to brag about foraging for food
People want to brag about washing their plastic sandwich bags to reuse them

And then a thread where people say it's a waste to have a garage sale to make some money?

Having a garage sale is a nice motivational tool to declutter.

Steps to a successful garage sale
1) put out an ad as this prevents you from saying "maybe next week"
2) Go through your closets and nooks finding things to get rid of  (hint: play music if you think decluttering is tedious)
3) Brew up a nice batch of tea or coffee the morning of
4) Lay out all of your stuff
5) Sit outside and talk with neighbors who pass by and people who come to look at your stuff
6) Earn some money in the mean time
7) Pack the leftovers in a plastic bag and take to Goodwill to receive tax write off.

Regarding being dirt poor - I would venture to say that there are probably hundreds of houses near me that have a garage sale each year and it would not be far fetched to say that many of their household incomes were over $175k/yr.

If your goal is to have a nice time socializing with neighbors, then do as you will. If your goal is to maximize your time and money, then you donate the stuff from your garage sale and receive the tax deduction. A lot of people on this forum work both a regular job and a side hustle which is a much more efficient use of their time for the money than a garage sale. And most people on the forum have other ways that they socialize with neighbors, such as participating in free community events, potluck dinners, going to the park, etc.

I'm not being dismissive of your opinion. I'm just trying to explain our rationale.

So you tell me people don't have time because of their side hustles and then tell me that those same people have community events, potlucks and go to the park? 

What if the community event is a garage sale
Bring toys to play on the lawn/park
Potluck is cookies and lemonade from previous posters children

*sigh*

None of those community activities involve work or having to stay in one place for the entire day after setting up lots of tables and pricing and labeling goods for sale. I don't see why this is such a difficult concept.

Regarding the bolded part -  *sigh* I feel the same way as you.

Wake up, take like 10-15 minutes to place items on the ground or on a blanket on the ground.  When someone asks how much you just make up a price.   When you are done, you put it in a bag and haul it to Goodwill or you call one of those collection agencies to come pick it up.

You know you can set the hours for your own garage sale, right?  Typically garage sales are most popular during the mornings and are finished before 11. 

Potluck dinners isn't work? 


*sigh*

It's your right to waste your time. That kind of freedom is what America is all about. However, when you waste your time, that's time you could have spent on a real side hustle. You'll also make less money on selling your stuff at a garage sale than you would have gotten by writing it off on your taxes (assuming that you itemize your taxes.) It's your choice.

Time is the most valuable commodity in anybody's life.

A reminder to the lurkers and newbies: You cannot become successful without modifying your behavior. That's just how it is.

SeaEhm

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #37 on: August 09, 2017, 10:07:21 AM »
It's your right to waste your time. That kind of freedom is what America is all about. However, when you waste your time, that's time you could have spent on a real side hustle.

#SideHustleAllDayEveryDayNoSleep


zolotiyeruki

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #38 on: August 09, 2017, 10:15:51 AM »
I wonder if some of the yard sale hate comes because most mustachians are pretty good about not acquiring stuff they don't need, so they don't have the need to hold a yard sale to get rid of said stuff.

paddedhat

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #39 on: August 09, 2017, 10:16:59 AM »


Wake up, take like 10-15 minutes to place items on the ground or on a blanket on the ground.  When someone asks how much you just make up a price.   When you are done, you put it in a bag and haul it to Goodwill or you call one of those collection agencies to come pick it up.

You know you can set the hours for your own garage sale, right?  Typically garage sales are most popular during the mornings and are finished before 11. 

Potluck dinners isn't work? 


*sigh*

Things must be different where you are. Around here, dropping your blankie on the ground an putting a few items on it, is something a toddler does, while mom is holding a sale. Most sales in this area involve hundreds of items, a half dozen or more folding tables. Advertising, road signs, a town permit,  and happen over a two day period. If you advertise, "8 AM start, no early birds, you can count on a few idiots poking around at seven AM.  After two days of sales, and you are right, there is little interest after noon, you need to deal with the garbage that nobody will buy, get the tables back to their owners, and remove all your signs. There is simply no way a typical sales as I describe is just a "10-15 minute affair" more like 20-30 hours worth of work.

Whitetrashcan  has it all figured out, and it's the most important few sentences on this thread

Time is the most valuable commodity in anybody's life.

A reminder to the lurkers and newbies: You cannot become successful without modifying your behavior. That's just how it is.


Fact is, with little exception, the vast majority of the possessions that surround us are essentially worth little to nothing. Schlepping them to stangers, at pennies on the dollar, is generally a VERY poor use of your time. The problem is that few of us actually measure that time. We put a huge input of time into the transaction and give it no value, since we end up with a few twenty dollar bills in hand.

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #40 on: August 09, 2017, 10:18:15 AM »
It's your right to waste your time. That kind of freedom is what America is all about. However, when you waste your time, that's time you could have spent on a real side hustle.

#SideHustleAllDayEveryDayNoSleep

#YouCanLeadAHorseToWater

Have a nice day.

Cowardly Toaster

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #41 on: August 09, 2017, 10:19:54 AM »
I went around to a few garage sales yesterday, and while it's not uncommon here to go to a garage sale at a ~$1M home, one of the places I went to yesterday was in a whole different league.  This was a brand new 8000sqf home with 7 garage bays and one hell of a view and the last assessment was at ~$3M.  I'm not bashing them for it, or think it's wrong for them to have a garage sale, I just find it odd/funny that they figured the best use of their Saturday was to sell a couple hundred dollars worth of junk.

Sounds like Christmas for Mustacians!


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Actually I find that in general the richer the sellers are, the more more money they want for their crap.  This actually wasn't the case with these people, they had fairly reasonable/average prices for things, but in general the richer they are the greedier they are when selling.

I'm an avid garage saler, and I am always befuddled by high prices. You'll probably just haul the stuff to the thrift store after so it's in your interest to sell it all. Unless an item is valuable enough to sell on craigslist.

ketchup

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #42 on: August 09, 2017, 10:23:56 AM »
I'm definitely on team Anti-Yard-Sale.

Growing up, my parents ran one yard sale when I was in fourth grade.  It was a shitload of planning and setup and I don't know how much they made (probably the oft-mentioned "a few hundred"), but more than half the stuff didn't sell and ended up cluttering the basement or going to Goodwill.  It was a very inefficient use of time and stress for them.

We had neighbors that would have one every summer.  My parents were shocked that these people bought so much stupid shit that they had enough lying around to do that once a year.

If I have something worth more than $50 I want to dump, it goes on eBay.  If it's hard to ship/move, it goes on Craigslist.  If it's very small/light/easy to ship, maybe lower the eBay threshold to $20.  Anything less than that, and it just goes in the Goodwill pile.

Of course, the real trick is simply not being in a situation where you have a bunch of extra junk.  I personally cannot fathom having enough stuff (especially things worth anything) that I want to go away that a yard sale makes sense. 

If I'm getting rid of something, the value tends to be pretty close to $0 (worn out, broken, or worthless in the first place).  Or it's valuable but specialized (nobody is going to buy a 2011-era Core i5 2500K CPU for $50 or electronic medical record tablets for $100 at a yard sale even though those are good prices).

I wonder if some of the yard sale hate comes because most mustachians are pretty good about not acquiring stuff they don't need, so they don't have the need to hold a yard sale to get rid of said stuff.
DING DING DING!

LiveLean

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #43 on: August 09, 2017, 10:47:13 AM »
There's a big difference between a garage sale and an estate sale.

If you live a Mustachian, minimalist lifestyle, you don't accumulate. You follow some sort of one-in, one-out philosophy. If I have something I know I can sell for $50 on Craigslist, I'll try to do so. Otherwise it's a lot of little trips to Goodwill -- probably six or eight a year. Here in Florida, we don't have basements or attics and we put two cars in our two-car garage. Thus, no accumulation. We had a yardsale once, spent the whole day sitting in the front yard while people went through stuff, made about $200. And the bulk of that was for a dinette set that -- were this not pre-Internet -- would have sold on Craigslist. Vowed never again and we haven't.

An estate sale, however, is another matter. Seven years after my mom died (at 51) my then-58-year-old dad had an estate sale. My now-wife and I helped out. He put a pricetag on everything in the house and made around $20K. This was pre-Internet and an ad in The Washington Post attracted the masses. He had a high-end grandfather's clock that went, along with a collection of Hummel figurines (thankfully he dumped those when they still had value), an antique piano, etc. At one point, he gave me a paper bag full of money and a deposit slip and told me to count it out and go to the bank.

When you're 27 like I was at the time -- this was 20 years ago -- that has a lasting impact. I've put little value on anything that's not mobile, high-quality, and functional ever since. Everything else is unnecessary.

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #44 on: August 09, 2017, 10:57:34 AM »
I'm definitely on team Anti-Yard-Sale.

Growing up, my parents ran one yard sale when I was in fourth grade.  It was a shitload of planning and setup and I don't know how much they made (probably the oft-mentioned "a few hundred"), but more than half the stuff didn't sell and ended up cluttering the basement or going to Goodwill.  It was a very inefficient use of time and stress for them.

We had neighbors that would have one every summer.  My parents were shocked that these people bought so much stupid shit that they had enough lying around to do that once a year.

If I have something worth more than $50 I want to dump, it goes on eBay.  If it's hard to ship/move, it goes on Craigslist.  If it's very small/light/easy to ship, maybe lower the eBay threshold to $20.  Anything less than that, and it just goes in the Goodwill pile.

Of course, the real trick is simply not being in a situation where you have a bunch of extra junk.  I personally cannot fathom having enough stuff (especially things worth anything) that I want to go away that a yard sale makes sense. 

If I'm getting rid of something, the value tends to be pretty close to $0 (worn out, broken, or worthless in the first place).  Or it's valuable but specialized (nobody is going to buy a 2011-era Core i5 2500K CPU for $50 or electronic medical record tablets for $100 at a yard sale even though those are good prices).

I wonder if some of the yard sale hate comes because most mustachians are pretty good about not acquiring stuff they don't need, so they don't have the need to hold a yard sale to get rid of said stuff.
DING DING DING!

My dad needs to implement your eBay rule...he's selling and listing books for sale that he might only make $1 on. It's not worth the time and effort.


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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #45 on: August 09, 2017, 10:59:07 AM »
I'm definitely on team Anti-Yard-Sale.

Growing up, my parents ran one yard sale when I was in fourth grade.  It was a shitload of planning and setup and I don't know how much they made (probably the oft-mentioned "a few hundred"), but more than half the stuff didn't sell and ended up cluttering the basement or going to Goodwill.  It was a very inefficient use of time and stress for them.

We had neighbors that would have one every summer.  My parents were shocked that these people bought so much stupid shit that they had enough lying around to do that once a year.

If I have something worth more than $50 I want to dump, it goes on eBay.  If it's hard to ship/move, it goes on Craigslist.  If it's very small/light/easy to ship, maybe lower the eBay threshold to $20.  Anything less than that, and it just goes in the Goodwill pile.

Of course, the real trick is simply not being in a situation where you have a bunch of extra junk.  I personally cannot fathom having enough stuff (especially things worth anything) that I want to go away that a yard sale makes sense. 

If I'm getting rid of something, the value tends to be pretty close to $0 (worn out, broken, or worthless in the first place).  Or it's valuable but specialized (nobody is going to buy a 2011-era Core i5 2500K CPU for $50 or electronic medical record tablets for $100 at a yard sale even though those are good prices).

I wonder if some of the yard sale hate comes because most mustachians are pretty good about not acquiring stuff they don't need, so they don't have the need to hold a yard sale to get rid of said stuff.
DING DING DING!
Baby Stuff?
Estate Sale? (happens when you die, even to minimalists)
Moving Cities?
No truck to haul to Goodwill?


But more on point, did your parents have motivation to get rid of junk? That's the primary reason for sales, to remove stuff from your house. Most of the angst is from people parting with possessions, it has nothing to do with the sale itself. The clues are all there; weeks of time is resistance to parting. Cluttering the basement means they didn't really want to part with it. "Shitload of Planning" is a procrastination technique.

All the stress and angst was from pre-sale activities, not the sale itself. Donating to goodwill would have resulted in the same angst, which is why the stuff ended back in your basement...

SeaEhm

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #46 on: August 09, 2017, 11:07:21 AM »


Wake up, take like 10-15 minutes to place items on the ground or on a blanket on the ground.  When someone asks how much you just make up a price.   When you are done, you put it in a bag and haul it to Goodwill or you call one of those collection agencies to come pick it up.

You know you can set the hours for your own garage sale, right?  Typically garage sales are most popular during the mornings and are finished before 11. 

Potluck dinners isn't work? 


*sigh*

Things must be different where you are. Around here, dropping your blankie on the ground an putting a few items on it, is something a toddler does, while mom is holding a sale. Most sales in this area involve hundreds of items, a half dozen or more folding tables. Advertising, road signs, a town permit,  and happen over a two day period. If you advertise, "8 AM start, no early birds, you can count on a few idiots poking around at seven AM.  After two days of sales, and you are right, there is little interest after noon, you need to deal with the garbage that nobody will buy, get the tables back to their owners, and remove all your signs. There is simply no way a typical sales as I describe is just a "10-15 minute affair" more like 20-30 hours worth of work.

Whitetrashcan  has it all figured out, and it's the most important few sentences on this thread

Time is the most valuable commodity in anybody's life.

A reminder to the lurkers and newbies: You cannot become successful without modifying your behavior. That's just how it is.


Fact is, with little exception, the vast majority of the possessions that surround us are essentially worth little to nothing. Schlepping them to stangers, at pennies on the dollar, is generally a VERY poor use of your time. The problem is that few of us actually measure that time. We put a huge input of time into the transaction and give it no value, since we end up with a few twenty dollar bills in hand.


Yea - garage sales are a little different here.  It's not nearly the extravaganza that happens in your area.  The last two neighborhoods I have lived in hold an annual community garage sale.  Maybe I am spoiled because I can get away with the 15 minute garage sale prep.   25-30 hours of preparation and selling? Pass.  Not worth my time.  Would rather spend 5 hours reading a thread about how spending time doing a garage sale is a waste of time, the most precious commodity (not sarcasm)


golden1

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #47 on: August 09, 2017, 11:14:53 AM »
Yep, garage sales are a waste of time unless you have an entire day to sit around outside and haggle.  Plus putting up signs, lugging stuff to the curb etc.   Like others on this thread, I craigslist or eBay stuff that is valuable, donate or give away the rest. 

trollwithamustache

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #48 on: August 09, 2017, 11:27:36 AM »
its interesting that all of you guys think the big house means the owner is in fact actually wealthy.

Also note, if the owner is indeed high income wealthy, you can divide by 0.55 or so to calculate the tax reported dollars they'd have to earn to get an equivalent amount net  to them.

ketchup

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Re: The super-rich having a garage sale
« Reply #49 on: August 09, 2017, 12:10:44 PM »
I'm definitely on team Anti-Yard-Sale.

Growing up, my parents ran one yard sale when I was in fourth grade.  It was a shitload of planning and setup and I don't know how much they made (probably the oft-mentioned "a few hundred"), but more than half the stuff didn't sell and ended up cluttering the basement or going to Goodwill.  It was a very inefficient use of time and stress for them.

We had neighbors that would have one every summer.  My parents were shocked that these people bought so much stupid shit that they had enough lying around to do that once a year.

If I have something worth more than $50 I want to dump, it goes on eBay.  If it's hard to ship/move, it goes on Craigslist.  If it's very small/light/easy to ship, maybe lower the eBay threshold to $20.  Anything less than that, and it just goes in the Goodwill pile.

Of course, the real trick is simply not being in a situation where you have a bunch of extra junk.  I personally cannot fathom having enough stuff (especially things worth anything) that I want to go away that a yard sale makes sense. 

If I'm getting rid of something, the value tends to be pretty close to $0 (worn out, broken, or worthless in the first place).  Or it's valuable but specialized (nobody is going to buy a 2011-era Core i5 2500K CPU for $50 or electronic medical record tablets for $100 at a yard sale even though those are good prices).

I wonder if some of the yard sale hate comes because most mustachians are pretty good about not acquiring stuff they don't need, so they don't have the need to hold a yard sale to get rid of said stuff.
DING DING DING!
Baby Stuff?
Estate Sale? (happens when you die, even to minimalists)
Moving Cities?
No truck to haul to Goodwill?


But more on point, did your parents have motivation to get rid of junk? That's the primary reason for sales, to remove stuff from your house. Most of the angst is from people parting with possessions, it has nothing to do with the sale itself. The clues are all there; weeks of time is resistance to parting. Cluttering the basement means they didn't really want to part with it. "Shitload of Planning" is a procrastination technique.

All the stress and angst was from pre-sale activities, not the sale itself. Donating to goodwill would have resulted in the same angst, which is why the stuff ended back in your basement...
I haven't had kids, but I don't see what's so special about "baby stuff."  That can be sold on eBay/Craigslist, donated to Goodwill, or given away like anything else no longer needed.  Estate sales I get, I don't think that's what's being talked about here.  I did mention moving as one potential scenario where it might make sense (though for me personally it probably still wouldn't).  If it would take a truck to get it to Goodwill, it's unlikely to get sold at a yard sale.  That's probably more of a "leave on the curb the day before trash night and watch it magically disappear by morning" item (which I have done a handful of times, always successful), or maybe a Craigslist item.

I was in fourth grade when my parents did the yard sale, so I of course don't know/remember all the details.  Most of the nonsense planning seemed to be stuff like "oh which table with this on it should go where?" or other silliness.  I don't specifically know how long any of it took.