Hi friends! In lieu of this weeks "3 things Thursday" - I'm posting a "we had a giant garage sale and here are some great tips if you wanna have one too Friday". Enjoy!
1 month - 3 weeks before the sale: Start de-cluttering your spaces and accumulating what you plan to sell. Make an area in your garage, or other weather-safe area to collect your items. Take about 1-3 hours every couple of days to go through your most cluttered areas. Completing this process in small "chunks" of time makes it much easier in the long run. When sorting, ask yourself - when did I last use this? If it has been longer than a year, try to let the item go to a better home. Sell anything that you no longer love or is just taking up space. OMG SELL IT ALL (okay sorry I just got carried away).
2 weeks before the sale: Start organizing your items on to folding tables and price them. You can buy already priced stickers here or at your local mass merchant. For clothing, be sure to staple the stickers to the tags to prevent theft (yes, this has happened to us). Price items to the quarter (.25, .50, .75) or dollar, so you don't have to make weird change or keep any coins other than quarters.
Yall I am from fashion and I can tell you that MERCHANDISING IS EVERYTHING, even at garage sales. I like to organize my items into "theme" tables a Christmas table, technology table, etc. that way buyers can gravitate towards their interests. Invest in a rolling clothing rack OR if you have 2 ladders, you can connect them with a pole to hang the clothes you hope to sell. Start a "free" bin to encourage the Lookee Loos to stop by. Just throw in anything broken (but fixable) or really cheap stuff you want to give away.
1 week before the sale: Make your signs (or buy them here!). Signage is VERY IMPORTANT! Make sure they are bold, legible, and will stand up to wind and condensation if you leave them overnight. I prefer using the wire stakes (we learned the hard way to not use a single wooden stake - whampwaaaa) Include the following info: 1) garage sale(or tag, or yard, depending on your geographic location) 2) actual street address 3) days open 4) hours open 5) arrows to direct traffic Place an ad in your local classified section. 3 lines should do it.
The afternoon before your sale: Put your signs up now to get after work commuters thinking about stopping by the next morning. Get about $100 in small bills and get plenty of quarters. Wear this money on you at all times in an apron. Periodically deposit larger bills in a safe place in your home.
The morning of the sale: Pull everything out of your garage and arrange it tastefully in a manner that is easy for customers to walk through. Think about your favorite boutique and try to emulate that feeling (except that it's all your past treasures!). Put your big ticket items close to the street, and drag that "free" box close to the curb with a big sign on it.
During the sale: Keep a tally of what sells. If it's multi family, be sure to write down whose item and what sold. Make sure to check your signs every day to make sure they are doing their job of directing traffic!
Garage sales are a lot of work - I advise working with a spouse or buddy! But if done properly, the benefits outweigh what you put into it. Think of how clutter free your home will be! And of course you'll be ballin' with all your new funds from selling all your old junk!
Peace, love, and label-makers y'all!
Meg
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