Tips for Planning a Garage Sale

Garage sale season will be here soon! And while you should definitely use garage sales to find great deals on furniture, toys, books and all sorts of other stuff, you should also consider throwing your own garage sale.

You’ll not only get rid of some of your unwanted stuff, you make a few dollars (or several hundred dollars), too! And while throwing a garage sale can be fun, it also takes a lot a planning to get it right.

Here are five tips to help you do exactly that.

Treat Shoppers Like Friends

If you’re nice to people, they’ll be nice to you, which means they’ll be more likely to buy something and more likely to buy it for the price you asked.

When shoppers arrive, don’t just sit in your lawn chair. Walk up to them, smile, greet them, and make small talk. Just like you would if a friend were visiting your home.

Offer Freebies

Have you ever noticed that garage sales that offer free coffee, soda and snacks (doughnuts are a good choice) usually have the most people?

That’s because people like free stuff. And even if they only stop by for the free soda, they’ll still take some time to look around and they might even buy something.

Make Sure Your Stuff Looks New

Okay, you might not be able to make it look “new,” but you should at least take some time to dust it, clean it, or repair it as much as possible.

This seems like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many sellers skip this step – and then wonder why no one wants to buy that barely used (but very grimy looking) toaster oven.

Start Early

Garage sale shoppers get up early, which is why the peak garage sale hours are between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. With that in mind, you should definitely resist the temptation to sleep in until 8 and then take an hour to set up your garage sale.

Wake up at 5 (on a Saturday? Yes!) and be set up and ready to sell by 6 a.m.

Grab a Friend

Waking up at 5 a.m. and standing around your front lawn for four hours is a lot more fun with friends. For that reason, you should definitely invite a friend or two to bring some of their unwanted goodies and join you.

You’ll not only have a companion to talk to during the slow periods, but all of your stuff put together will make your garage sale look bigger, and when it comes to garage sales, bigger is better!