Inside Yard Sale - Not a Bad Idea

For the past two weeks, my darling Princess number two has been having an "inside yard sale" using facebook yard sale groups in order to make money for Princess number three to go on a service mission to Thailand. 

Many times, people may not be willing to donate money (or have any to donate) to a good cause but will donate items they have laying around the house they aren't sure what to do with. Once you collect their unwanted items, you can have yourself and "Inside" yard sale.

Princess 2 has been going through the house with the other princesses and is helping us get organized and remove things that we aren't using. 

Even though I have been in bed for the better part of two weeks now, she has been shaking down the house. She has gotten all the boxes of "get rid of" donation out of the garage and gone through all the girls clothes, shoes and has tried to help me do the same. 

With me not feeling well, she has been a trooper as some days, I can handle it and others, not so much. We got through all the prom dresses, evening gowns and lots of our books, video's, cd's and electronic stuff. Some things I bought for prizes at our Bunko family reunion and they weren't chosen as prizes so she has gone through those.

Listed here are four posts about how we do our family reunions and play bunko. 

Part one here
Part two here
Part three here
Summer version here

I have some left over prizes that I purchased when I could find a good deal on new items. Princess has been listing them for twice what I payed for them and then if they don't sell, she lowers the price down a few dollars and only sells them if they are selling for more than I paid for them. Otherwise, we will keep them for a prize or gift.

It seems to be a good thing to keep her busy and as we are fund raising to help Princess number four go to Thailand on her service mission, it is better than a yard sale as we don't have to drag it outside, we have hundreds of shoppers and if it doesn't sell on the first round, (which many of them do) she can lower the price and try again. Some of the shoes didn't sell in the past few days so she just marked them all $1 a pair and sold three pair today. Not much for one item but when we were going to get rid of them anyway, it all adds up. 

The little "Troll" piggy bank at the top sold for $10 within 2 minutes of being posted. The "Stetson" hat sold for $45 within an hour of being posted. Both have been sitting in my home for some time. I bought them thinking I would try selling on ebay again but as a busy mom (as you know from reading this blog) I don't have time right now for that. So, thanks for doing the yard sale for Princess four, Princess number 2. 

It has worked out nicely and since I have been sick and not able to do much, going through things is a good option as it doesn't take much effort on my part to decide what to keep and what to sell. It was helpful that over the holidays, I had the girls go through and choose items they would want later for their kids, such as toys and books so if there isn't any interest in the rest, I can get rid of them. It is nice for them to know what they each get to take with them when they leave, it keep them from having any arguments over "things" and makes it nice for me to be able to clean out my house of unwanted items. 


Try it yourself, there are all sorts of online yard sale places, free posts in the paper and on the radio websites to list items and try the larger cities newspaper classified section to list items. Like I said before, people may not have extra money to donate but want to help and will donate items they have laying around the house they aren't sure what to do with. Once you collect their unwanted items, you can have yourself and "Inside" yard sale. Just a thought for those looking to raise money for a good cause.