An important consideration for the day of your garage sale is thinking about how much change you should have with you. How much change should I have on hand? While there really is not a right or wrong answer to this question, there are some things you might wish to really look at first.
How Much Change Do You Need for a Garage Sale?
First, I recommend not accepting checks unless they are from someone you know really well. A friend of mine accepted checks at a garage sale several years ago and she had one forty dollar check that bounced, her bank also charged her fifteen dollars. She never did recover the money, because in order to process a claim, it costs additional money. More than what she would have gotten back in the long run, and it just was not worth it.
I do have a piece of advice for prior to the sale. About two weeks before the sale, start saving all of your change. Mostly you are looking for quarters, nickels and dimes, since most people don’t sell one cent items at a garage sale, you should not need pennies for anything.
Okay, now onto how much is practical to have on hand the say of the sale:
The interesting things I have noticed is that in every magazine, every book I have read, and any websites I have visited looking for their advice on how much money to have on hand at a garage sale, I see a trend of between $20-$40’s mentioned. And usually they tell you to have that distributed in quarters, nickels, dimes and one dollar bills and sometimes five dollar bills. However, I have had a different experience. Often people will pay for $5.00 worth of items or less with a $20 bill, and although I think that’s a bit rude, it happens. Therefore, I think having a couple of $10.00 bills is important as well. Remember that this money is yours no matter what. So if you have it on hand, you can just put it back in the bank at the end of the sale. In my experience, I usually save my change before the garage sale and I do not count that amount into the day of the sale (I do, but that comes later.) When going to the bank I ask for one roll of quarters = $10.00, one roll of dimes = $5.00, one roll of nickels = $2.00, 20 one dollar bills = $20.00, between 4-8 five dollar bills = $20-$40, and 2-4 ten dollar bills = $20-$40. It is better to be safe than sorry, or have to send someone out to get more change the day of the sale, though it can happen.
Related Articles:
Garage Sale Season Has Arrived
Garage Sales: How And Where To Find Them
Why Should I Have A Garage Sale?
Collecting Items For a Garage Sale
Organizing Items For a Garage Sale
Pricing Items At A Garage Sale