Garage Sale Tips
If you are interested in having a garage sale--tips from those who have had some or those people who have them regularly can be of great help. Every weekend, especially from April to October, you can find a garage sale on just about every street in the country. Some people make really big bucks at these sales, and have ongoing sales throughout the summer and fall.
If you want to make a little bit of spending money off the stuff that you no longer want or need, then armed with some good garage sale tips you could have a very profitable weekend. And that leads right to the first of our garage sale tips: choose a date on a weekend. You want people to be home from work so that those driving by have the time to stop and look at your items. In fact, some people are so into going to garage sales that they plan their free time around them. Picking up good items cheap has great appeal. Holiday weekends are even better--Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Fourth of July, for examples.
The first thing you need to do is select the items for your sale. Go around your house room to room and pull out all the things you don’t ever use. A good place to start is with all of the gifts people have given you over the years that you just never used. Then there’s all the clothing that doesn’t fit anymore (make sure to wash it), electronics and small kitchen appliances that got stored somewhere out of the way when you got new ones, books you read or decided you didn’t want to read, stuff you might have packed away over the years as technology changed like 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, 45s and LP records. Old car parts and tools usually go really fast at garage sales.
Then there’s silverware, glasses, mugs, furniture, toys the kids outgrew, knickknacks, jewelry and so on. Anything and everything can sell at a garage sale. And one fact that shouldn’t be overlooked--you don’t even need a garage for a garage sale. They work just as well on lawns or you could rent a table or two a local flea market.
Take all of the stuff you are going to sell and clean it up so that it looks the best it possibly can. It is easier if you put price stickers on each item--when it’s crowded you don’t want people asking you the price of every little item. Cheap is always best so some sample prices might include: clothing 50-cents to $3.00, electronics $5-50 depending on what it is and the condition, books 25-cents each or five for a buck is always good, Records or tapes, usually around one dollar a piece unless you have something of great collector value like a Beatles 45, toys $1-5. You get the idea.
If your local paper has a garage sale section, take out an ad in it. Place flyers around the neighborhood but the best advertising is always word of mouth. Tell the neighbors to stop by and have them tell their friends.
On the day of the sale make sure everything in neatly placed on tables or set in neat piles around the yard. If you can manage it, try to run an electric cord outside so people can test the electronics. Always be honest and tell people if something works or if it doesn’t. Some of these buyers will be handy enough to fix their purchases. If someone offers you a reasonable amount below what you have priced an item, accept it. If you have a lot of very small items or clothing, have plenty of grocery store bags ready to bag items. Start the day with a good amount of change on hand--dollar bills and quarters will be needed most. Then just have fun. You’ve used all the garage sale tips you can, so now just wait for the people to come. They will--garage sales are like magnets.