Now that it is getting warmer, you may be thinking of having your garage sale. Garage sales are a great way to get rid of some rarely used items while making extra cash. But, before you start posting signs around town, develop a plan to make your garage sale successful. We have some of the best strategies to help you make the most money.
Create Your Goals
There are many reasons to hold a garage sale; to make extra money to spend on fun adventures or help pay for necessary expenses; to rehome precious unused items, or clear out space with these unneeded items. Knowing your purpose for a yard sale will help you stay decisions and learn how to make tough decisions down the road.
Scope Out the Competition
Take a look at some local garage sales and see which items are successful. Online platforms like NextDoor can also show what items and phrasing draws people in. Note any words or descriptions that grab your attention as you peruse.
Pick a Date
While most can correctly guess that the weekend is the best time for a sale, many don’t think about which weekend. If you can wait until the first weekend of the month, that would be best for your goals since that is when many get paid and have more cash to spend. Then, give yourself about a month to get everything together and adequately price your items.
Go Through Your Things
Start looking at everything you have and organizing it into categories. This early sorting will simplify everything down the line when you need to display for your shoppers. As you go through your items, price them out. You will be too stressed the night before your sale date to do pricing. Instead, save yourself some time and money with masking tape and a sharpie to label your items. You can simplify items like clothing by using a pricing sheet. Draw up different prices for socks, shirts, and pants so that you do not need to price each clothing item individually. Just print a few out the night before your sale to display for easy reference, and you will be set for the big day!
Advertise Strategically
A few days before your sale, you will want to kick off the announcement. Tell everyone you know in person and online, hang flyers, and post on online boards for garage sales. Use some of the phrasing you learned in step two and develop a simple, grabby phrase to catch people’s eyes. Boast about the items that will sell well from your research and promote the forms of payment you can take. These advertisements shouldn’t cost you any money and give you plenty of opportunities to get the word out.
Post physical garage sale signs on large weather-proof signs within a mile of your house a couple of days before the sale. In large, easy-to-read writing, include the days, times, and address. These signs should all look similar, so people know they are for the same garage sale. Look into any rules or regulations your area may have about posting signs. Utilize busy intersections and both ends of your street. Once everything is posted, drive past them to make sure they are easy to read. Lastly, on the days of your sale, use chalk to write simple “Sale!” and arrows pointing to your house to entice walking neighbors to follow the scavenger hunt to your home.
Come Prepared
About a week before your sale, gather all necessities. Get your tables, cash box, a variety of bills, extension cord, lightbulbs, batteries, chairs, calculators, sandwich bags, a cooler, hand sanitizers, music, paper clips, pens, tape measure, tape, tarp, umbrella, treats, and drinks. If you can find an inexpensive credit card reader like Square, that will boost your sales. Download apps like Paypal and Venmo to set yourself up for various forms of payment.
Set Everything Up
Set everything up a day before the sale to save yourself the headache. Come up with an excellent shopping plan for your visitors. Each table should be for a different room in the house to make things easy to sift through. Stack books or use sturdy boxes to give your visitors other focal points. Place children’s toys at the floor level. If the children play with the toys, the parents will stay and shop for longer.
Once everything is set out, and your signs are posted, you should be all set and ready to go! Keep in mind your goals and prepare yourself so that you may not sell everything you put out. There may be items you can’t use but would like to make sure are in a good home. Self storage can help you out there! Safely store your things in one of our conveniently priced units. We offer free heating and cooling so your items can stay through the hotter summer months until you are ready for your next yard sale. Check out a location near you to take your tour!
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