I don't necessarily like having garage sales, but I do love making money off old stuff. I usually only last for about 3 hours before I get bored and decide to go inside. I had a garage sale on Saturday - one of many in preparation for my move - and made $150!!!!!!! In 3 hours. That's like a $50 an hour job. I'll take it! Oh and my goal was $150. WOOT.
I'm no garage sale expert, but here's what helps me!
- HAVE HELP. Seriously. You cannot do it alone. I like to have at least one other person besides myself. One person at the money box and one helping customers. My dad is always in charge of putting the signs up, while me and my garage sale partner set the stuff out. This time it's Jarad. First garage sale together. Awwww.
- Make your signs stand out! I like to use neon poster board. Write big and write clear. Use arrows! Don't try and fit too much information. Just SALE and your address.
- Put a price tag on everything. It avoids confusion and will keep you sane. A lady told me if something isn't priced, she won't ask about it.
- Decide whether the 25 cents is more important than getting rid of the junk - hagglers gonna haggle.
- Price items a little higher. Like I said before...hagglers gonna haggle!
- Group like items! I like to group all of the items that are similar in the same spot.
- Do not leave your money box unattended! Too many horror stories out there. I've heard of people using fanny packs. This might be a good idea if you are having a really big sale.
- Keep all "valuables" near you and the money box. I keep small items like jewelry right next to me.
- Utilize social media and Craigslist. Post on Craigslist a few days in advance. I had 3 people waiting in their cars outside of my house before I was even finished setting up. They saw my ad on Craigslist.
- Have change. You might get a random garage sale baller that pays with a $20 or above. I like to have plenty of 5's and 1's just in case! 10's wouldn't hurt either!
- Have bags. My family keeps the plastic grocery bags in a cabinet in our house. I bust them out when I'm having a garage sale. It makes people happy and dwindles the stash down.
- Use a clothes rack if you have one. I bought a $10 clothes rack from Target to hang up the nicer things. Almost everything sold on it!
So...when are you having your next garage sale?
Great tips! I love throwing garage sales! Make room for new fun items! :)
ReplyDeleteMy mom posts ads on craigslist too! She would take pictures of any furniture and big ticket items to include or post separate ads for them too.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness I grew up having garage sales with my parents, I love them. I always sold brownies and lemonade and I got to keep all the profits from that. I was rolling in the dough back then ;)
ReplyDeletewww.goingupupandaway.blogspot.com
great tips! i love garage sales. my family has a ton of old books they wanted to get rid of so at one of our garage sales, the boyfriend and i put out stacks of books, a jar and a sign inviting people to take what they wanted and donate what they could to our college funds. it was pretty successful and we got rid of a lot of books. i also did "cookies for college" at a family garage sale one year and that was great. one more idea is to put a classified ad in the paper--a lot of people in my community still read the paper and it's usually free!
ReplyDeleteWay to go girly! The grocery bags is a great idea, never actually thought of doing that. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you have a lot of a certain type of item (clothes in my case!) I've found that doing a "bag sale" works really well. At my yard sale this month, I had a giant table of clothes that were 50 cents each, or you could stuff a grocery bag for $3. Doing it that way helped get rid of a ton of stuff and made money fairly quickly!
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