It happens to all of us, regardless of our best intentions… stuff builds up. Old books, unused electronics, out-grown kids clothes, you name it, it’s probably taking up valuable space in your home.
One profitable way to get rid of unwanted stuff is to sell it off to some innocent, unsuspecting passerby one else. Preferably out of your garage on a warm spring day…
Tips For A Successful Garage Sale:
1. Choose your date and time wisely.
- Don’t hold it over a holiday weekend, unless you live in a high-tourist area.
- Look online for other garage sale ads, and try to plan yours for a heavy-sale weekend. People like to ‘garage sale hop’ from one garage to the next, so the more sales going on, the better the traffic.
- Consider holding a multi-family garage sale. The more, the merrier… and the more shoppers will show!
- Nowadays, many garage sales start on Friday. If you can swing it with your work schedule, start your sale while folks are on their way home from work.
- Start your sale on Saturday morning as early as you can stand it – at least by 8 AM (Jason at the station said 7 AM). And in my experience, traffic essentially stops by 4 PM, so there’s no need to run it until dinner time.
2. Choose your location wisely.
- Once again, check out the garage sale ads in the paper. If you live in an area with very few sales, consider holding your sale at a friend or relative’s house that live in a high traffic area.
- If you live in a hard-to-access area, far off of a busy road, once again – consider holding your sale at a friend’s house. Perhaps they have items to sell, too!
- Check with you city to make sure you’re allowed to have a garage sale. There could be a city ordinance against them (rare, but better safe than sorry).
3. Choose your signs wisely.
- Garage sales live or die by their signs! You need large, easy to read signs, preferably with directional arrows. I use my old real estate signs, and cover them with the sale information.
- Ask your friends and family if they have signs you can borrow. Or, find inexpensive ones at hardware stores like Menards. You’ll need at least 6 signs. You can also make your own from scraps of cardboard and garden stakes.
- Check with the city first before you place your signs. I’ve had the police and/or city works take mine before if I’ve placed them in the wrong areas.
4. Advertise for FREE.
- Send out sale invitations to your Facebook Friends. You can also announce your sale on your Wall, but I’d advise against posting your address. Better to direct people to your area, and then they can find the sale off your signs.
- Advertise the sale on Craigslist. You can post it every day, for free. I’d start advertising a week in advance, and then update daily until the night before the sale.
- Tweet your sale. Like with Facebook, tell your Followers about your sale, directing them to the general area.
- Post flyers on community boards at the grocery store, coffee shop, dry cleaners, etc. Put the info up at least a week in advance.
- Advertise and search for sales for FREE at www.garagesalestracker.com.
- In your ads, make sure to state what types of items you’re selling. Ex. Kid’s clothes, furniture, tools, electronics, exercise equipment.
General Tips:
- Don’t run your sale by yourself. You need at least one other person to help you keep track of the shoppers.
- Recycle your old grocery bags and plastic bags to hold people’s loot.
- Individually sticker or tag every item. It’s more work for you, yes, but easier for the shopper.
- Be careful with what you sell. Don’t sell items with sentimental value… or stuff you might get a better price for on eBay, consignment stores, or Craigslist.
Share with the group – do you do garage sales? Yes… or NO.
8 Comments
I like to hit garage sales every now and then. Last summer, I helped my pal, Jules with her family’s garage sale, and it was actually a lot of fun. We used to work retail together, so me tidying up the clothing was like old times.
She had it set up and run very well. Great tips! If I ever have the opportunity to hold a garage sale, I will remember them.
Out our way in Hugo, we start on Thursday for our sales. We’re usually busiest on Thurs and Friday and then Saturday have hardly anything and shut down by noon. As mentioned above, best advice, large print signs with arrows. Too many people try to write a book on their sign and you just can’t read it as it’s too small and too much!
Oh heck yeah do we do garage sales. Also – I ALWAYS took my kids with. And when they got to the age where they could start doing math in their heads, I would have them pay for things. They learned about money, about doing math in their heads, and about bartering. It was an excellent way to practice. And they would each get a few dollars to purchase what they wanted. You would be surprised how quickly they became VERY particular about what they wanted, and the “I want that!” went away.
Pretty much everything I have can score more money on eBay or Amazon, but will I ever get around to putting it there? Probably not. Shipping and handling is such a chore. What I would love to see is garage sales that are for certain things. Like say, a community book garage sale. Do those exist?
this Saturday is Jonathan Garage Sale day- you can pick up a list of all the Jonathan (area in Chaska) garage sales by stopping by St Andrew West church and hit them all. It’s HUGE! The church even sells hot dogs!
We made a nice chunk of change last year, but we’re skipping selling this year.
Larue, I love your comments on what you did with your kids. Great ideas. I might try those with my niece and nephew.
I love that my frugal peeps are as into garage sales as I am. There used to be tons of sales in the neighborhood I grew up in – Syracuse, NY. And a massive flea market attached to the farmer’s market we went to every weekend. So I’ve been thrifting since I was a wee Chicklette. And you?
Besides, it’s much cheaper to RENT out your kids….perpetual income ;D