Organizing a garage sale may be in your near future if over the years, you realize your garage seems to be accumulating more and more boxes, more and more junk. Stuff you haven’t looked at for years are still sitting in the boxes or on the shelves, taking up your precious space. What should you do? Throw them away? Give them away? Or leave them there?

There’s a simple solution to this. SELL THEM.  One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.  Someone may have a use for the 3 year old lawnmower you haven’t used.  Or, someone’s children may still love the Lego set that your kids have outgrown.  Organizing a garage sale may just be the answer to some spring cleaning and some quick bucks.

The Basic Rules of a Garage Sale

First, you need to do a bit of cleaning. This is essential to your organizing a garage sale and things you have not used in the past year automatically qualify to be sold.  Get a few boxes or black garbage bags and put all the similar items in one and label them. Then get some pricing labels and a marker, and start setting some prices. If you don’t know what the price is, try to remember how much similar things sold for at a previous garage sale you went to, or if you drive by a garage sale before you hold your own, check out their items and see what and how much they are selling for.  After you’ve prepared your inventory, you’re ready for the next step!

Advertise your Event!

As with all events, advertising is much needed.  If you would like to spend a little, getting some advertising in with the local city newspaper helps.  If not, you can get some cardboard paper or parts of old boxes the night before, and write a simple “GARAGE SALE!” with an arrow, followed by your address should do the trick.  Remember to write large enough for people to see when they’re driving by.  Put enough advertising around your neighborhood and easy-to-see locations so that drivers can take a quick glance while driving by and know where to go.  Don’t forget that people who see the signs will tend to stop by right after. If you don’t want people arriving you early, you may want to put up the signs the morning of your sale instead.

Negotiating the Prices and Cleaning up

Garage sales are a typical place for price negotiating. Most people will cut the price 30-50% before they buy.  If it’s an item that you can do without, then try haggling with them a bit. If it’s an item that you feel is worth the price, then there’s no harm telling them that as well.  However, if you don’t sell that item and it’s going back to collect dust in your garage, you may just want to sell it at any price.  After your sale is over, be sure to wrap up all the left over items. If you really want to clean house – you may want to give the clothing, books, and toys to charity.  For all other items, you can either throw them away or save them as inventory for the next time you are organizing a garage sale.

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