Tag sales

Tis the season, of tag sales. I feel like everywhere you look there are signs of neighborhood tag sales, church tag sales, etc.  It comes at the perfect time, as people have cleaned out their closets, basements, attics or garages and are looking to get rid of some of their things.

I don't usually shop around at tag sales, because I'm lazy or I forget.  I think it depends on if I'm on the search of something in particular too. Last year, I popped into our church's annual tag sale and came home with this great accent chair.  It was definitely an impulse buy, and never really meshed with our design in our house, but for $50 I'm still OK with the purchase. 

In addition to physical tag sales, something I've recently stumbled on is local online tag sales.  A group of women in our area have started these Facebook Tag Sale groups where people are selling everything from dinnerware, to childrens clothes and furniture! You have to be invited and approved to join the group, so you can be pretty sure it's safe, and my FB feed lately is constantly being updated with posts of things for sale.  What a great idea though for people who don't have enough stuff to host their own tag sale, but still have things they are looking to sell. And, if you are like me and check FB frequently, you have the opportunity to get some awesome things at great prices. Tory Burch shoes, Pottery Barn couches, area rugs - almost everything people are selling is nice, and less than $200 - score!

Right after we came home with Anna, I learned about these Facebook Tag Sale groups and joined each one.  I decided one day to post the curtains in our bedroom for sale.  I'd purchased them from West Elm less than a year ago.  They were on clearance and non-refundable, but I convinced myself for the price, they'd work in our house somehow.  Unfortunately, I never really liked them. They were too dark for our bedroom, and so I tried them in our dining room, and they were so-so there.  Sure enough, less than 2 minutes after posting them to the FB group, I had 8 people interested in them! They were a hit.  The first person to respond, came to our house later than morning and handed me $160 in cash for the curtains. I took a little loss on them, mostly because I just guessed at how much to post them for, and I never thought they'd sell. But that was the start... since then, I've sold Brian's guitar, a kitchen bar table, a pair of Uggs, and a Patagonia jacket. I have someone coming tomorrow to buy a chair and ottoman that's been in our bedroom, and possibly someone else coming later today to buy a mirror and old duvet.  On the flip side, I'm keeping a close eye on the groups for things we need, like a new dining room rug, dining chairs and an outdoor patio set!

The extra cash has come in handy on my (unpaid) leave, and it certainly feels good to say goodbye to some of these things that are just sitting around unused. One thing, always leads to another though and the sale of my curtains sparked a complete master bedroom update - money always burns a quick hole in my pocket :) More on that update next!