How to Have a Successful Garage Sale

Having a garage sale can be tough work if you aren't organized. If you are organized you can make quite a bit of money from stuff just lying around your house. Here are some tips and ideas for having a successful garage sale.

Preparing for your sale

Decide what items you want to get rid of. Be sure to go through your closets, dressers, toys, garage, shed, and attic. This is great when it comes to spring cleaning. Start in one room and work your way around the house. You would be surprised what you will find that you forgot you had and that you realize you don't use or need anymore, clothes that no longer fit or you no longer wear and toys your children have outgrown and don't touch.

Once you have gone through everything, if you don't feel like you have enough to have a garage sale, call a friend or neighbor. They may want to join you and you can have one big sale. The more residents in your neighborhood that have a garage sale at the same time you do, the more business you are going to attract. The more items there are to get rid of (through you or a whole community) the more people are going to be likely to stop in your neighborhood.

Now you should get all of the items cleaned up and looking nice. Wash all clothing. Clean all furniture. Wash the dishes. Clean up the antiques. The cleaner and more presentable the item the easier it is going to be to sell. When people see dust and dirt they are less likely to buy our items. They don't want to have to buy something just to have to take it home and clean it. Make sure anything electronic works.

Price everything. Customers who have to constantly ask you the price of items are less likely to buy. They would rather just pick up the item and find the price. Remember that the items you are selling are not brand new and should be priced according to the value they hold now. Used clothing is best priced at 10% of the original cost. New clothing is best priced at 50% of the original cost. This is for clothing with the original tags still attached only. You may have clothing that you know is new, however without the tags on them, you can not prove that and others will think you are trying to be misleading. The general rule for larger items is to price a little higher than you are planning to get out of it so that you have room to barter.

Choose the date and time for your sale. This is hard because there is no possible way to predict the weather. Most yard sales run on Friday afternoons and early Saturday morning. Choose a weekend that you do not have a lot already going on. The garage sale will take a lot out of you and you want to have your best foot forward when it comes to garage sale day.

Involve your children. Most times, children are just as excited and want to do something to help. Have them go through their toys. Another way they can feel included is have them bake cookies and make koolaid that they can sell at the garage sale. Children love this as well as those shopping who are hungry or thirsty. Make sure everything is sanitary and wrapped properly.

Place your garage sale ad in your local newspaper. You can also put up fliers wherever you would like as well as post on different Internet sites. Your ad should include location (address), dates and times of sale and a brief description of the items you are selling. Describing your major ticket items give people a reason to want to visit your garage sale. Remember to keep your ad as short and sweet as possible. You are paying for this ad. Abbreviation is OK as long as it is something everyone will understand.

Here is an example ad:

555 Garage Sale Lane
Fri July 26^th 2-6pm
Sat July 27^th 7am-1pm

Furniture, stereo, exercise equip,

clothes for all sizes (kids and adults),

kitchen items, misc. Too much to list.

Be sure to have proper change prepared. You want to make sure that you have small bills and plenty of change before the date of the garage sale. This will keep you from having to sell stuff cheaper because you can't break a $20 and you will avoid losing business because you can't make change. Decide if you are going to accept checks. Most people don't accept checks unless they personally know the check writer.

Sale Day

Place any signs and posts around your neighborhood. This will help direct customers to your location as well as inform others there is a garage sale going on. This is part of your advertising. Generally when you place an ad in the newspaper, they will give you signs to put up. You can also purchase these signs in local department stores such as Wal-Mart.

Display all of your items as neatly and organized as possible. Put the electronics somewhere that you can plug them in, if possible. This way if someone would like for you to demonstrate that it works, you can. You will sell these easier this way. Keep all clothing together. Decorations together. You are basically setting this up like it is a store and you want everything all together as much as possible.

Make sure your station is positioned where you can see everything and everyone. This is where it would come in handy if you had a friend or relative there to help you. Then, you will have someone to take over the cash register should you need to get up to help a customer, etc. Set up your cash register or box and make sure you have plenty of change on hand.

During the Sale

Be as friendly and courteous as possible. Remember people are going to try to talk you down in price on things. If this is OK with you than go for it. If it is an item you feel should not go for a cheaper price than you have given, explain why it is worth the price you have on there and go from there.

Clean up any messes and keep your sale looking clean and organized. Many times tables with clothing become a mess. If you have spare time, reorganize a little bit. Fold clothing, pick up stray items, etc.

After your Sale

Take down any signs you have posted. Put away any items not sold. You can save these for a garage sale next year or you can donate them to your local thrift stores or missions. You do not have to take these items today as I am sure you are very tired. However, clean up the area as best as possible. Box up unsold items, clean up trash, etc.

Now it is time to relax. You have had a successful garage sale. Decide how you are going to spend all of that money you made, take a nap, enjoy a nice cup of tea, go out for lunch or do whatever feels great to you. You deserve it. You put in a lot of hard work and effort and it paid off.