The Intentional Home, Week Six: Saturday

For an Introduction and Table of Contents for The Intentional Home, click Here.

Week Six: Saturday

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
Acts 2:45

It is now time take care of your pile of outgoing stuff, if you haven’t already dealt with it. It’s decision time! You can have a garage sale, otherwise known as yard sale or tag sale. It can be donated to a number of different charities or friends. If you have things of value, you can sell those on Ebay or Craigslist. There’s no right answer.

If you decide to donate it to a charity, make sure that what you are donating is something that people would actually want. It’s really not nice to dump damaged or dirty items on them. I know from experience from working at my church’s outreach center that people really can be rude about dumping on us. It’s quite time consuming and frustrating to then have to throw away their junk. Of course, I know none of you would do that!

If you have a lot of inexpensive items to sell, I would recommend a garage sale. Here are some suggestions for a successful and easy garage sale:

-Make clear signs with arrows from a major street to your house

-Advertise in your local paper, post it on Facebook and there may be a local Facebook group to advertise garage sales

-Only label large or pricier items with a price tag

-Make all of the clothes one price like $.50, all the shoes $1.00, all the books $.50 and make a large sign displaying these prices

-Lay clothes or items out on tables or blankets, boxes even work well for clothes

-Start your garage sale early like a 7:00, serious shoppers get started early

-Pick a nice day for your sale

-If you have kids, they might enjoy making a little bit of money selling lemonade

If you have some items that you think are too valuable for a garage sale then Ebay would be a good option. First, research your item’s value, know how much it costs. If you are unfamiliar with listing on Ebay, have a friend help you. But, if you are a little computer savvy, it is really quite easy. I’m guessing you are computer savvy, you are reading an eBook after all! Make sure to take good pictures of your item and give a detailed description. While the item is in the auction phase be sure to answer questions from buyers promptly.

You may want to use Craigslist or another local online “garage” sale sight. I just urge you to not be alone if someone is coming to either buy or look at an item. You can never be too careful these days!

As I am constantly getting rid of clutter, I tend to just donate it right away and not wait for a garage sale. I enjoy blessing friends with hand-me-downs. My husband is great at Ebay and he’ll use it a lot especially with cycling products that he can buy and sell at a discount. 

I hope you have a little fun with this process and maybe even make a buck or two!

Daily Chores: 

One load of laundry from start to finish

Make your bed

Unload the dishwasher in the morning, load and run it at night

Wipe down the kitchen counters and sink 

Wipe down the bathroom counters and sinks 

Straighten the house up in the evening