By Tara Leiker So, my husband hates garage sales, yard sales, any kind of sale that takes some manual labor! But, we have collected so much random and extra stuff since moving out to California, and some of the stuff is good stuff, stuff we could make some money off of! So, since I haven’t been able to do much as far as physical labor, I decided I would try taking pictures and selling our stuff online. |
Each group usually has some guidelines and require you to sign up and commit to them, but it is pretty easy to post a picture and a description, especially in mommy groups with baby gear, etc. Then, often within a few days, someone is at your house to pick up the item(s) or meeting you at whatever agreed upon location. It’s really pretty awesome.
In the Bay Area, there are groups particularly for moms, for your specific city, or for the whole East Bay. There is even a group called “Loving You Back to Life,” and it is a group committing you to only give for free. I actually was flagged when I first joined because I was searching for an item so posted “ISO” along with “hoping to find free or low-cost.” Someone tagged me for the administrator because of my posting of the latter. Not only are you supposed to give without charging, you are to also receive without paying anything at all.
This is also a really cool idea and forum for getting rid of things, being able to be generous, and also receiving things for free. I received ten free toy bins just from posting what I was looking for. I had them within a few days, and the person was generous enough to even bring them to me.
Another thing this particular group does is provide free breads and pastries from the trunks of people’s cars in each city for people on this group. I am not exactly sure where the food comes from, but the pictures always show a huge amount. If there isn’t a group like this near you already, I would suggest creating one yourself on Facebook as it is an easy thing to do and can provide many rewards for many people.
I also have posted to sell items on Craigslist and Amazon, which are also great ways to sell items online. And, another thing I did on Facebook was create my own page for a Virtual Family Garage Sale. I posted all the pictures I had taken to post on other sites, along with the description of each item and price and put them all onto one page.
Then, I was able to share this page as I wished. I’m surprised that even though I haven’t consistently sold too much, and even though I posted it over a month ago, I receive notifications of new views every couple of days. I need to get to being more consistent with posting and updating my items for sale online because it is a great way to bring in a little extra cash!
Recently diagnosed with a chronic condition that has turned her life upside down, Tara Leiker, a mother to 6, has had to learn how to make the best of a difficult situation. Tara, a Professional Counselor by trade, had to let go of her job as a Program Manager helping children with autism a few months ago, losing 60% of the family’s income. She is now on a quest to discover new ways to help her family survive and make ends meet. One of the ways she now spends her time is re-engaging her skills and interests as a curriculum developer, writer, and blogger. |