Planning on having a garage or yard sale? Here are some tips on making your next garage sale a success.
* Having a garage sale is a terrific excuse and reason to actually clean out all of your closets and storage spaces. Go through each closet one by one and take along two empty boxes or trash bags. Label one "Donations" and the other "Garage Sale." Any time you come upon an item that you want to get rid of, decide whether you want to attempt to sell it or simply give it away to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. The rule of thumb when cleaning out your closest and storage spaces is anything you have not used or seen (aside from photographs and memorabilia) in the past year is open to be sold or donated. So, those jeans with the 26 inch waist that you once fit into and that you've been holding onto in case you lose a couple of pounds probably can be sold or given away now.
* Once you have gone through your basement, attic, closets, storage spaces and garage and have piled everything together, sort the items. For example, put all pants and jeans into one pile, all appliances into another and all tools into a separate pile.
* If you have space, ask your friends and family members if they have any items they wish to sell at your garage sale. Having more items will draw in bigger crowds.
* Make sure you price every single item clearly before you put them out for the garage sale. If you have friends who are putting in some items to sell, make sure they have priced their items as well and written their name or a code letter on the price tag. When one of their items sells, you can put their price tag in a spiral notebook and keep a running total of how much you owe them. Also, be reasonable when pricing items.
* Be willing to negotiate prices. You will meet some seasoned garage sale shoppers who will want to negotiate and haggle every single price. It is okay to be firm with some big ticket items, but be willing to haggle other prices.
* Advertise, advertise, advertise. Put an ad in the newspaper with your address and the times and dates of the garage sale. Use large pieces of cardboard to put up on telephone poles all around your neighborhood. If you live near a major street or intersection, advertise there as well. If your house is difficult to find, make a series of signs with arrows to direct shoppers to your house.
* When selling clothes, it is tempting to put them folded on a long table, sorted by type of clothing. Trust me, within an hour, that sorted table will be a pile of clothes as shoppers unfold them and move them around. Anytime you want to sell clothes, hang a clothesline or a piece of rope and hang them all up. It is easier for shoppers to go through them this way.
* You may have tons of clothes and books to sell, but what initially draws people to garage sales are the big ticket items like mattresses, bed frames, dining room tables, sofas and large tools. If you have any of these items, display them prominently to lure shoppers to your garage sale.
