Before I start the math, I need to mention that I had three resales in the past month: I sold the ski pole (it wasn't a hiking pole as the seller told me) from March 3rd for $10, I sold one textbook from August 18th for $2.00 (to my sister's university's bookstore buyback), and the Game Boy stuff from August 18th and September 8th for $30 total. I split the profit from the Game Boy stuff evenly between the two days.
I decided to record all my 2012 transactions in a table this year to make everything easier, as shown below:
Date
|
Item(s)
|
No. Items / Sets Purchased
|
Income / Spending ($)
|
Drove?
|
Income for Saling Day
|
1/14/12
|
8
|
-13.40
|
Yes
|
170
|
|
1/17/12
|
Trekking
poles from 1/14
|
35
|
--
|
||
1/24/12
|
Nerf
Guns from 1/14
|
65
|
--
|
||
1/28/12
|
4
|
-2
|
Yes
|
20
|
|
2/4/12
|
Various
|
3
|
-0.60
|
Yes
|
|
2/11/12
|
6
|
-6.10
|
Yes
|
45
|
|
3/3/12
|
-6
|
Yes
|
39.16
|
||
3/7/12
|
Book
from 3/3
|
29.16
|
Yes
|
||
3/10/12
|
1
|
-0.50
|
No
|
||
3/23/12
|
Laser
tag from 1/28
|
+20
|
--
|
||
3/24/12
|
3
|
-21.20
|
Yes
|
63.69
|
|
3/28/12
|
Kindle
from 3/24
|
40
|
--
|
||
3/31/12
|
6
|
-6.25
|
Yes
|
||
4/7/12
|
1
|
-0.50
|
No
|
40
|
|
4/9/12
|
Book
from 3/24
|
9.32
|
--
|
||
4/15/12
|
Nerf
Guns from 2/11
|
45
|
--
|
||
4/21/12
|
19
|
-4.45
|
Yes
|
22
|
|
4/28/12
|
Silverware
from 1/14
|
10
|
--
|
||
4/28/12
|
Graphics
card from 4/21
|
22
|
--
|
||
5/2/12
|
Book
from 3/24
|
14.37
|
--
|
||
5/5/12
|
-1.25
|
Yes
|
|||
5/12/12
|
10
|
-3.10
|
Yes
|
45.07
|
|
6/2/12
|
5
|
-1.70
|
Yes
|
||
6/9/12
|
2
|
-1.25
|
No
|
||
6/23/12
|
3
|
-1.90
|
Yes
|
114.65
|
|
6/25/12
|
Book
from 6/23
|
34.65
|
--
|
||
7/7/12
|
13
|
-1.85
|
Yes
|
||
7/14/12
|
Textbook
from 5/12
|
8.68
|
--
|
||
7/14/12
|
Power
Pad from 6/23
|
20
|
--
|
||
7/14/12
|
TV
Tuner from 5/12
|
5
|
--
|
||
7/29/12
|
4
|
-2.25
|
No
|
||
8/4/12
|
7
|
-6
|
Yes
|
||
8/18/12
|
7
|
-5.25
|
Yes
|
17
|
|
9/8/12
|
6
|
-2.75
|
Yes
|
33.18
|
|
9/8/12
|
Calculator
from 4/7
|
40
|
--
|
||
9/10/12
|
Goldeneye
from 9/8
|
9.73
|
--
|
||
9/10/12
|
Keyboard
from 1/14
|
60
|
--
|
||
9/15/12
|
Large wine glasses
|
2
|
-.25
|
No
|
|
9/17/12
|
Textbook
from 5/12
|
31.39
|
--
|
||
9/24/12
|
Super
Mario World from 9/8
|
8.45
|
--
|
||
10/14/12
|
TI-83+
from 6/23
|
60
|
--
|
||
10/27/12
|
3
|
-1
|
Yes
|
||
11/3/12
|
1
|
-.10
|
No
|
||
12/7/12
|
Ski
Pole from 3/3
|
10
|
--
|
||
12/14/12
|
Book
from 8/18
|
2
|
|||
12/23/12
|
Gameboy
stuff from 8/18 and 9/8
|
30
|
--
|
||
TOTAL
|
TOTAL
|
+490.10
|
--
|
For ease of calculation, I counted "sets" of items rather than individual items; for example, the Game Boy stuff I bought on August 18th was counted as a single set rather than counting all the individual items. Likewise, if I bought a bunch of similar items at one garage sale, say, four Nerf guns, they were counted as one set. The income/spending column is used to tally sales and purchases; a negative figure means I went saling that day, a positive figure indicates a resale. The Income for Saling Day column tallies all the money I made from reselling items from a particular day. The Drove column designates whether anyone drove on that day of saling.
While it's not obvious from the table, I purchased 89 sets of items for $89.65; I resold 23 items for a total of $579.75, or an average of approximately $25 per item.
As you can see above, my total profit before gas was just short of $500, or $27.23 per trip. I'm using the same assumptions I did last year calculating gas costs except I'm assuming gas cost $4.65 per gallon (this year's peak for regular) instead of $4.25 per gallon.
This means gas costs are calculated as:
Cost = 18 trips * 0.5 * 40 miles / trip * 1 gallon / 15 miles * $4.65 / gallon = $111.60.
Keep in mind this is a rather conservative figure; I drove less frequently than 50% of the time and I drove a far more efficient vehicle than I did in 2011.
This means that my profit after gas is $378.50, or just over $21 per trip.
I got some great items in 2012. I did 95% of my Christmas and birthday shopping, spending $20 total at most. I bought a smartphone for $1 that I now use as a media, portable storage, and wifi device. I bought a (second) Kindle, four graphing calculators, two Gamecube games that retail for $40+ each used, a new bread machine, and an HD video camera. I also managed, combined with the power of eBay and dumpsters, to assemble an entirely new (to me) computer for under $25 including a keyboard worth more than probably everything else combined.
I still have a few items leftover from this year to sell in 2013. I have two graphing calculators from which I estimate to make $80-100. I have a few Nerf guns that will get me $30-40 and an Alphasmart that, should my scheduled deal go through, will get me $25. This means I'm sitting on an additional potential income of $130-$165.
On this note, I also sold some items leftover from 2011 during 2012:
Date
|
Item(s)
|
Income/Spending ($)
|
1/20/12
|
Opinel
knife from 7/30
|
5
|
3/23/12
|
Laser
Tag from 12/10
|
110
|
4/20/12
|
Mechanical
Keyboard
|
40
|
4/21/12
|
DVDs
from 9/10
|
10
|
8/27/12
|
TI-92
from 8/27
|
40
|
9/22/12
|
DVDs
from 9/10
|
5
|
TOTAL
|
TOTAL
|
+210
|
At the end of 2011 I had pretty much broken even after gas, so I profited an average of $15 per trip over the fourteen times I went saling in 2011. I'm obviously doing a lot better this year.
I didn't really get to go garage saling in the last three months of this year, just due to weather and schedules. I do have plans to start saling again starting January, weather permitting. Hopefully 2013 will be as fun and profitable as 2012.
