How To Organize For A Successful Garage Sale

_{Getting organized before having your garage sale will make your sale more profitable and less stressful. Here are our top tips for getting you organized and ready.}

How To Organize For A Successful Garage Sale

Do you have a lot of unused or unwanted stuff around your home? Do you think these items might be of use to someone else? If so, you should consider having a garage sale. A garage sale is a great way to declutter your home while also making a little bit of extra cash. Never held a garage sale before?

Not to worry, this post will tell you everything you need to know about organizing a garage sale.

Declutter Your Home – Organize A Designated Spot

Before having a garage sale, you are going to want to declutter your entire home. You don’t want to have your garage sale and then realize you have a whole closet of unnecessary things.

Start with one room, closet, or shelf to declutter, and then just keep going. You might want to finish one room before moving on to the next so that you don’t find yourself feeling overwhelmed.

I often start months before, putting everything I would like to sell in one designated area. I also like to keep a set of price stickers by my garage sale boxes, and I price things as I put them into the box. That cuts down on a lot of work when it’s time to set up for the sale.

Organize Your Items

Once you have everything that you want to sell gathered up, it is time to organize them. Group similar items together, for example, books, clothing, and toys should all be on a table or in a bin together to make it easy for your customers to browse.

Clothing should be neatly folded on a table or hanging to make it easier to look through. If you have a portable hanging rack that you use in your laundry room, you can use that to hang some of your clothing.

If you need to make a makeshift hanging rack, you can do so with a pole and two ladders. Open the ladders up and let the pole rest on the ladder steps.

Price Your Items

Make sure that your items are priced before your first customer arrives. Many people prefer to price their items as they set them out on their tables, while others prefer to price them ahead of time so that they can set up more quickly.

As I mentioned before, I like to price my items as I place them in their designated spot until I move them into the garage to sell. It is a time saver for me. Price stuff low. If you aim to get rid of stuff, make sure you’re pricing it to sell. If you price things too high, you’ll end up with a lot of stuff to haul off to the donation center.

Advertise

If you don’t advertise your garage sale, no one will know to come! Place an ad in your local newspaper, and post your garage sale date, address, and hours on your local Facebook pages. You can also post to sites like NextDoor for your neighborhood. There are many available free ways to advertise.

Make Signs

Make some colorful signs to place around the entrance to your neighborhood with your address or garage sale written on them and arrows pointing them in your direction.

Some people also tie colorful balloons around their mailboxes so people know that they have the right spot. Join in with another neighbor. If you get more neighbors to do a garage sale with you, typically you will get more visitors.

Be Prepared to Negotiate

While you may want to stand firm on your prices for some items, like tools or furniture, be prepared to negotiate your pricing on other items. The goal here is to make some cash for your unwanted items. You don’t want them anymore but someone else might be willing to make reasonable negotiations.

Get Change

Make sure that you have plenty of small bills on hand so that you make change. Most people who shop garage sales regularly will be prepared with small bills, but you may still need to make change.

Have a Plan for the Leftovers

Make sure that you have a plan for the items that don’t sell as you don’t want to bring them back inside to clutter up your home. You can take leftover garage sale items to thrift stores like Goodwill or community donation centers.

You can also post on your local Facebook groups or on Freecycle that you have items available for pickup and someone may take you up on it. The one exception to keeping garage sale leftovers is high-value items.

If you have furniture, electronics, exercise equipment, or things of that nature that don’t sell, keep them and place them and list them on Facebook Marketplace and Craig’s List. If they don’t sell in a week or two, you can always donate them.