Garage Sales don’t work for me. While I myself shop garage sales, I just do not have the patience to have one myself. Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer is of the same opinion. Besides, where I live, city workers routinely drive around on Friday and Saturday mornings confiscating all the garage sale signs. Advertising in the paper and on craigslist helps, but the lack of impulse shoppers is a serious hit to the bottom line when it comes to garage sales.
For us, it works out better to give our stuff away. (It feels good too!) Since we itemize our taxes, we itemize our charitable contributions.
I recently discovered I was UNDERESTIMATING the value of the items we give away. I stumbled upon a handy little program called “It’s Deductible” on the http://www.intuit.com website. (It’s Deductible is included with the purchase of Turbo Tax, but it is FREE online!)
It is GREAT! It values items based on common ebay pricing. Check out these screen shots (click to see larger images). I select a category, in this case, I picked “Books, Movies & Music.”
Then, I click the exact item I’m giving away, in this case, I selected “Books.”
The choices are clear and the prices are pretty good. For example, if you give away a “high quality” hardback book, the estimated value is $4.00. It’s Deductible automatically calculates your tax savings according to the tax bracket you entered in. When you are finished, you can view and print summaries in PDF. Really a wonderful tool!
And did I mention? It’s FREE!
Find more great tips at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!
This is such a helpful tip. I give a lot to charity and I get scared some auditor is going to think I overpriced my items.
I love to think about the person that will find my treasures. It helps me to give away some of the good stuff too, I think about how happy I would be to discover some of the stuff and it makes it easier and much more fulfilling.
For the last 10 years I have lived in places where you couldn’t have a garage sale. Gated community for awhile and now I live in a gated condo community. Oh the rules!
I used to love to go to garage sales, but I just don’t anymore. I’ve got too much stuff LOL I usually load up the car and go to the Drive Thru Drop Off at the Salvation Army and I usually take a picture of what I’m giving so I can make sure I’ve got a pretty good idea of what just left the house and its condition.
I would LOVE to have a copy of that worksheet though. Since we still haven’t filed our taxes for this year, I’ve still got time LOL
Thanks so much!!
Kristin
I made it sound like I wanted you to send me a copy of that worksheet, I realize that you gave the website and I can download it myself 🙂
Oh yes, this would work for us. I love to shop the garage sales but after 4 years of too much work for barely $50, I said that’s it. And then there’s these people who hold a yearly garage sale and manage to pay their pool membership with the earnings. Oy.
Great tip! When we had our taxes done this year, the lady asked if I donate items, and when I said I did, but didn’t have any receipts, she urged me to keep up with them somehow, because they can really add up.
I don’t have garage sales any more, either, especially since it’s so easy to just take a box by any of three nearby donation centers, so I can really use this site. Thanks again!
We give it all away too! Garage sales–way too much work!