Whether you want to clear out the attic or find a specific item without buying it new, there are so many ways now to search, swap and share right from your computer or smart phone.
Don’t get me wrong, going garage sale-ing isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. For folks like my ex-mother-in-law, it is a competitive sport, which requires the right tennis shoes, a strategic plan and a VERY early start.
I never liked having garage sales (or in some areas, they are referred to as ‘yard sales’ – whatever) because I’m not fond of blue-haired ladies peering in my windows (or banging on the door) at 6am, or as it happened the last time I did it, the night before!!!
While there is something lost in not spontaneously screeching to an awkward parking position on the side of the road to see what dusty and unknown treasure awaits your discovery, I’m rather fond of this new way of getting rid of or procuring specific items. Way back before eBay, I had been on the garage sale hunt for book shelves. It was definitely an entertaining challenge that took years. I’m sure I met interesting people and no doubt bought a lot of other crap to sell in my own future garage sales, but today, I would engage in some digital scavenging first. Here are a couple of ways to share stuff that doesn’t involve buying new:
Swapping
I love the idea of swapping stuff. There used to be a Saturday radio show in a small town I lived in back in the olden days (1990s) that had a swap call-in show every week. It was brilliant. Seems to me that we all have too much stuff and that if we purchased less NEW stuff, we could make good use of what we already have and save some natural resources in the process. Here are a couple of sites or apps I think are worth checking out:
SwapZ – for our friends in the UK, here’s a website for swapping
Swap.com – geared towards kids and babies. Very hipster.
yerdle – a smart-phone-only app. I learned about this one from our friends at Green is Universal.
Digital Classifieds
If you are looking to sell something specific of buy something specific, you don’t need a local newspaper anymore . . .
CraigsList – huge, international, everywhere, everything — literally, everything. Beware.
FreeCycle – free stuff. Oh boy! Be careful. You get what you pay for sometimes!
QuickSales – for our friends down under. A great site by Australians for Australians.
Cool Clothing Consignment
Thrift shopping can be fun or tedious combing through racks of things that don’t fit or just aren’t what you are looking for. I love going thrift shopping with my girls. There are some great consignment shops in our area (actually the one in my town is awesome — Quality Consignments), but here are a couple of chic sites for selling or buying clothes:
ThredUp – for quality kids and women’s clothes.
ThreadFlip – saw lots of nice purses here, but generally same as ThredUp.
Donate
Personally, I usually give away my clothes. I like donating stuff — whether it is clothes, shoes, or old furniture — I think the satisfaction that these things might be of use to someone else or bring some much-needed funds to a worthy organization, is more valuable to me than the small amount of cash I would probably get for the hassle of trying to sell it. Now, with all these cool swapping and consigning sites and apps, maybe it would be different, but I still like donating to places like the good old Salvation Army or Good Will. I would encourage folks to find some good local organizations that could use some help.
This post supported by QuickSales.com.au
Yard Sale illustration via Shutterstock
