Our First Garage Sale--Was It Worth the Trouble?

Last weekend, we held our first garage sale and the question that many of my friends and family have asked is,  "Was it worth the trouble?"   At first, my initial, say it right now answer was "heck no!" but now after having had a few days to mull it over, I'm singing a new tune.

Getting ready for the garage sale!

Yes, it was a lot of effort for little return (we made a measly $82) but we got more out of it than money.  The garage sale turned my kids into little entrepreneurs and we finally got rid of some junk!

My kids have always wanted to have a garage sale--they are money hungry little monkeys.  I kept putting off their requests because I thought it wouldn't be worth our time.  But this summer, the kids needed a project, something to get excited about and something to keep them away from the computer (World of Warcraft has a hold on my boys) and a garage sale was the answer.

My son, waiting for customers.

So I finally gave in and said "yes" to having a sale.  The kids were gung ho from the start. They spent hours weeding through their toys, making posters and even preparing snacks to sell (lemonade & fresh picked plums).

The big day came and they were out in our drive-way hawking their goods (and waving signs on the street corner).  It was great to see their excitement.  As every potential buyer perused our goods, they waited with bated breath hoping to make a sale.

Folks came and went.  Not a lot but enough to keep the excitement and our interest going.  We had a few drive bys--people who just cruised by and looked but did not get out of their cards (I guess our stuff wasn't enticing enough).

At the close of the sale, we emptied our fanny pack (which held all our money) and tallied up our sales. There were a lot of quarters! When my husband announced the totals, I thought "thats it?" but my kids were thrilled.  They were each going to receive $20!!  To them it was a big win!

Seeing their excited faces and hearing them say "this was so fun" made me realize that the ending financial results didn't really matter.  And we did get rid of a lot of junk--even if most of it ended up at the Goodwill!