Michigan - ALL CITIES
Guest Post by: Melissa of FrugalissaFinds.com
I love Consignment sale shopping. I never even knew about it before I moved to Tennessee. Is it is a Southern thing??
Here are some tips I have learned since I started. Just for the record I get most of my kid’s clothing, accessories, shoes and toys through consignment shopping twice a year. I stock up for that season or year. I even get their Christmas and birthday gifts that way too. To say I am addict is an understatement. Since I have 2 kids and most of their stuff is from consignment sales. It is almost like renting it for a year since I resell everything. I am extremely frugal as you know. I am all about dressing my kids as cute as possible. Don’t hold your breath but I pay no more than an average of $2-4 per piece for each article of clothing. This is all name brand clothing too. I will buy stuff up at garage sales for $1 or less then I turnaround and sell it for 4-5 times what I pay depending on the brand.
As a general rule, price your items at approximately 40% of what you originally paid. If you can sale 2 pieces together as an outfit you will get more money than selling by individual pieces. I try and price to what I would pay. So don’t get to outrageous with prices. Items with tags that are new will get more money so don’t snip the tags till you know your child will for sure wear it that season. Same as true for toys don’t open it because if you don’t end up opening it you will get more money.
Price your outdoor playground equipment, strollers, car seats, little tykes items, and any other large items to sell for about 60% of retail.
Allow items that do not sell at full price to be sold at a discount the final day of the sale. For items that may have been overpriced, this provides a second chance to make a sale. If you are going to donate your unsold items, please let it be discounted. You would rather make something than give it away and make nothing!
How to get organized?
I get my hangers together. I now collect them all year and ask friends for any that they will not be using. I prefer wire hangers like the ones from dry cleaners but use whatever you prefer but make sure they are sturdy and the clothes stay on the hanger. I highly recommend you pin everything to the hanger just to insure it stays put. Then get index cards, safety pins, packing tape and Ziploc bags. Don’t buy the safety pins from the Dollar store, from my own experience they are flimsy and break very easily.
I start by hanging and pinning the clothes to the hangers. I even have resorted to asking hubby to help while we watch a movie or TV. He gets extra bonus points for helping….;)
I then sort the items into piles by price after everything is pined and hung. That way you can label all at that price point all at one time. Also if you have to order barcodes it helps doing it this way so you stay organized.
Once I get barcodes I then sticker the cards and pin the card to the clothing.
Then once you have everything hung, pinned and tagged then put the clothing into size piles this will help when you take the clothes to drop off.
For items like shoes I normally put them in quart or gallon size Ziploc bags along with the index card.
For toys, DVD’s and books I will put the index card in a sandwich size Ziploc bag and then tape it to the toy or book.
VERY IMPORTANT
Do a tug test on all hanging items. It is better to overpin an item then underpin. The other thing is when you are taping an item make sure it is taped well. Hundreds of people are going to be looking and/or touching your items so it is important the index card stays with your item.
Melissa, aka Frugalissa, is a wife and mom to 2 kiddos in TN. She’s quite savvy at finding deals and saving money (check out her most recent Consignment Haul, here). Her motto is “Frugal does not mean I have to be cheap.”