On Saturday I held my first ever garage sale. I love buying second hand items, and enjoy a good garage sale...but never actually planned to hold one myself. Of course all that changed once I realized just how many baby clothes I had stored in the basement! After two consignment sales, I still had way too many items...so I decided to take advantage of the HOA sponsored neighborhood garage sale! I think I was pretty successful...and wanted to share what worked for me!
Keep an eye on the weather forecast - A week before you plan to hold your sale, check the weather report. Continue to check it through the week, because it may change! On Monday they were predicting mid 70s and cloudy. By Thursday they downgraded it. It ended up being 34 degrees when I opened up the garage door at 7am. It was windy all morning long and it may have reached 50 by noon when I closed up shop. It was sunny and beautiful but very windy and cold! In my opinion, it was way too cold for a garage sale. Had it not been a neighborhood wide sale, I would have changed the date to something later in the month.
Take advantage of neighborhood wide sales - If your neighborhood sponsors a community wide garage sale, definitely consider holding your sale the same day(s). You will see a lot more foot traffic with very little advertising. There were six of us holding sales on my block on Saturday. The street was jam packed with customers all morning long. I don't think I would have seen traffic like that if it was just me holding a sale.
Get organized - Make sure you organize your sale. It might take a little bit more time, but its worth it. For instance, I had lots of baby clothes to sale. I did not have the time to price each individual item, nor the space to hang each piece up for display. I ended up sorting the clothes and placing them into clear Rubbermaid boxes by size (such as 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months/2T). On 8x10 paper I printed out signs showing the size and words "$1 each". I taped a sign to each end of the box. I ended up with ten boxes full of clothes! I did not fold them, just stuffed them in the box. I borrowed folding tables from work and set the boxes side by side on the tables. I placed all the shoes in a box and labeled the box with signs similar to the clothing boxes. I used wicker baskets to hold baby blankets and crib sheets and taped a sign to the table below them. I got tons of compliments on how organized my sale was, and how easy it was to sort through the clothing. It honestly did not take me much time at all, the uniform signs seemed to have a lot of impact though!
Make it obvious - This seems like a no-brainer to me, but it might not be for everybody. Make sure you make it obvious that you are having a sale. My neighbor had the majority of her stuff inside her garage and a one or two boxes pulled out on the driveway. She had clothes piled on moving boxes, so it looked more like she was cleaning out her garage than holding a sale. The stuff in the garage did not look organized enough to be a sale, it was honestly hard to tell what was going on over there! Even with five other sales on the block, she had a tough time getting any foot traffic. She was across the street from the rest of us, which could have affected the traffic...but most likely people just did not realize she was having a sale too. The rest of us had our stuff pulled out on the driveway, we had tables or big blankets piled high with things. We pulled our cars out and parked them down the street. One lady that lives in the cul-de-sac pulled her car up to the corner and taped a sign to it notifying people that they should turn the corner for another sale. Do whatever it takes to make it obvious that you are selling stuff!
Happy Selling!
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