Is It Time You Had A Garage Sale?

By Julie McRitchie

Do you need to make more space to use your living areas better and make way for some new things? If you answered yes, then a garage sale is a way for you to earn some cash while your at it! First things first though, you will need to have done a full declutter and if you haven’t yet seen some of my other articles click here for tips on “How to declutter your garage, and Home decluttering tips”.

You are now ready to have your garage sale with all that clutter! If at the end of all your sorting you don’t have enough to host a garage sale on your own, ask around your neighbours and have one big neighbourhood one or a number of you in the same street have a garage sale each. This is good for a number of reasons one ad in the paper for numerous addresses which will bring a lot more people this is especially beneficial true if you live out of town a bit.

When decluttering just put everything that you are nominating for the garage sale into boxes and put in an area until you can go through it again.

Tip

So that you do have the garage sale make the date for it when you start decluttering this gives you a time line to work to and keeps you accountable to the end, and more so if you have arranged with neighbours to share the date.

• List some special things on eBay as you may get a better price there than at the garage sale or find someone who can do it for you. The more detail and clearer the photos on eBay the better chances you have of selling it. Have the eBay Auctions end prior to the garage sale so if the items don’t sell you can have them at your garage sale.

Ok, so lets now assume you have been through all your cupboards, including all the boxes inside your cupboards thoroughly and have been ruthless meaning anything and everything your either don’t love, don’t use, don’t need are now all out in the shed which also has been sorted and decluttered! Right now even with this big pile of stuff in the shed you should be feeling very proud of your efforts and enjoying the new space in your home and feeling freer than you have in a long while. Any pictures that have been on your walls that you don’t love and garden ornaments should also have been included in your assessment of what you love, and need.

• Walk around your home yard and shed knowing the feeling of how good it is to be decluttering and organizing your life ask as you look at everything, do I love it, do I need it, do I use it continually, if the answer is no to 2 then toss it!

• Now to the garage or the room where you have all this stuff for the garage sale stored; go prepared with markers, paper, stickers, packing tape, CD player and Favourite CD, a cuppa, garbage bags as some stuff on second thoughts may not be good enough to sell.

• Look at the area you will use for the day of the sale, think how you will use the area and display your stuff. Also have a “what if” plan for rain.
• Sheets make good covers over cupboards to provide a clear backdrop. Also put sheeting over tables, wooden planks etc. Bring the outdoor table in for display area also, this can be taken outside on the day and have stuff stored under it also.
• Use boxes on their sides for books to be displayed in or videos.

• To make the garage sale easy for your customers to look for things, group things in to themes, gardening, cooking, kitchen, automotive, hobbies etc.

• Put all children toys and books together and adult items on the other side. Guy type stuff in obvious clear area as men are less likely to rummage than women.

• While you are sorting and laying stuff out just ensure it is all clean if now wash, iron, dust, and buff it! Anything that needs a bit of airing like fabrics or sports gear i.e. ski and camping gear hang it out for a day or two.

• Prepare signs and ensure arrows are facing the right way! Have some balloons ready to tie up and have some plastic bags and paper to wrap breakables for your customers.

• Pricing stuff can be a bit of a grey area so either visit other garages sales in the lead up to yours (but no shopping for you!) or ask friends who are garage sale junkies what prices are currently in the garage sale arena.

• Bundling things into box lots like books, plants, dress ups, videos, fabric pieces, toys etc helps move a lot of stuff relatively quickly.

• On the day be up and ready, as garage sale junkies are on the round early. Have your change bag ready, you are better off having more change than not enough! Put on some music that is relaxing background shopping mall style so people feel inclined to browse. Some times it can be good to have free tea and coffee available. If you are doing a street garage sale then maybe a BBQ could be a good idea, decide how the funds raised from this will be used prior to the day. Maybe toward a street Christmas party or simply shared among the children of the families involved.

• If you are selling some items on behalf of others be sure that you have all the details on their products and know the lowest price they will accept. Have their phone number handy so you can call with any additional questions.

• Remembering that the whole exercise here is to get rid of a lot of unwanted stuff not to get rich! What ever doesn’t go at your garage sale is not going back into your cupboards but will have to be loaded into your car and taken to the op shop or somewhere similar.

• Let people walk away with a bargain and enjoy the feeling that something you liked is going to a good home. Some times people tell you their story why they want a particular item, my old childhood dolls went to an old lady who makes clothes for them and then donates them at Christmas time to a charity to be sent overseas. I felt so good knowing they were going to have a better life than being up in my roof!

• Keep rearranging your sale items during the morning as holes appear in your display as you sell items. People also feel more comfortable at a garage sale when the person is busy dong something rather than watching them!

• If you are advertising your garages sale on the Saturday sell what you can then open again on the Sunday leaving your signs out and then add “everything free”. Some people still pay, others are just so grateful; you will really feel like you are doing a great service to others. All our videos went to a Children’s hospital ward; apparently kids get attached to videos while in hospital and want to take them home so there is a need to keep replacing the videos. The guy was just so happy walking away with them I only wished I had more to give him!

• At the end of your sale bring in your signs, close the gates and garage door, put everything into boxes then straight into your car to be taken on Monday morning to the local op shop. Do not be tempted to take anything back inside!

• If you have been left with a large item or two; a trampoline or dining table etc then phone around op shops for one that will collect the bigger items.

• Finally count your money and decide then how to spend it! Reward yourself with something that will be special to you, tickets to an event, some pampering, nice new coffee table!

Well done on a great job done. Now you have sorted and organized enjoy it? If you feel you could do with some help in other areas of life organization then try some of these other articles,

How to save money by being more organized with it

How to keep on top of changes you make to keep your home clutter free

Try doing a night time to do list