How to Have an Eco-Friendly Garage Sale

Spring and summer mean garage sales and plenty of them. You may even be having one of your own. If so, you are already doing your part for the environment by selling your unwanted items instead of throwing them away, but you can take it a step further by running your yard sale in an eco-friendly way as well.

Make an eco-friendly sign

Go to a supermarket and ask them for a box that they are going to throw away or use one of your own. Next, cut (and save) the flaps off it so you will be left with the square part of the box. If there is no writing on the outside of the box, you are all set. If there is, cut the box along one corner so that you now have a long piece of cardboard. Now, tape it back in its original shape with the writing on the inside instead of showing to the outside. Write garage sale, along with your address, on all four sides of the box. Place the sign on a busy corner so those coming from all four directions will be able to see it. Use a piece of scrap wood or metal to hold the sign in place. Make sure to go back and get your sign after the garage sale is over. Save the sign for any future garage sales you may have.

Advertise mainly online and in a newspaper

Many people going to garage sales will know where they are going before they step foot out the door. Post a listing for your garage sale online on several websites that deal with your local area. In addition, take a listing out in your newspaper.

Make price signs

Take the flaps from your cardboard box that you used to make the sign and use them to write down your prices. Cut the flaps into small pieces, write the prices on them, and put them in front of the individual items.

Ask for bags

While some people may bring bags with them to put their newly purchased items in, the majority will most likely not. Email your family and friends and ask them for plastic bags that you can have for your garage sale. Since the use of reusable bags has increased, many people have plastic bags that they do not know what to do with, but feel guilty simply discarding. Reusing the plastic bags for your garage sale is an eco-friendly way to make good use of them.

Make your prices reasonable

While you may want to make prices higher to leave room for negotiation, if you make them too high people will walk away. If no one buys your items, you are going to be left with a lot to figure out what to do with.

Get rid of the rest of your items in an eco-friendly way

Do not dump them in the trash. If you cannot sell them after the yard sale on an online site, donate them to a charity where they can find another good home.

Having an eco-friendly garage sale will not only be good for your wallet, but it will be good for the environment as well.