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Monday, August 6, 2012

Tips to Plan for a Garage Sale

Sometimes I think I try to do wayyyy too much.  I have zillions of small projects started and rarely does anything seem to get finished.  I did this sometimes in early marriage, but now that I have babies I think my scatter brain condition is exasperated!  I'm having to be very intentional with my goals and objectives to be able to achieve these goals.  Lists are my friends!

Thankfully, the Lord has been leading us into simplicity and helping us to see the freedom in owning what we need and not all sorts of excess (which greatly helps scatter-brainness!).

In preparation for Jonah there were at least four or five purges and how we wish we would have stored the car loads of junk (WHERE does it come from???) for a garage sale!




A garage sale is a cheap and simple way to earn income for your emergency savings, unexpected expenses, debt pay-off or whatever financial category in your budget that you determine could use a boost!

In order to prepare for a garage sale, I know there are a few beforehand jobs that need to be taken care of.  By planning ahead it helps the morning of the garage sale to go smooth.

The checklist I have is based on childhood experience of helping with a couple of garage sales, reading-up on garage sales and having had two in our current home.  Of course, everyone plans differently but I think these tasks are quite general and would aid any garage sale.

Garage Sale Tips
  • Run an ad in the local newspaper.  Include date, time, address, zip code and a small description of what you will be offering (ex: books, maternity clothing, mens clothing and knick knacks)
  • Keep pricing simple.  Stick to whole dollars and multiples of 25 for change.
  • Take-out $70-$100 change.  Make sure to get at least one roll ($10) of quarters if you will be offering items with multiples of 25 cents!
  • Set-up the evening before, unless rain is expected.  It wouldn't hurt to borrow a few tarps to cover the majority of your items for sale, even if rain isn't expected.
  • Rather than pricing every single item, hang signs for tables or sections of tables where everything is $1 or $5 (for example).
  • Price fair.  If your prices are too low people may question your quality of items, but if they are too expensive some people may not even hop out of their vehicles to take a look!  Think about what you would honestly pay for an item.  We don't mark-up higher than $5 or $10 what we would be willing to pay (some people like to haggle, so do give yourself a little wiggle room!)
  • Be outside at least 30 minutes before the start time of your sale - you might just have an early bird!  We don't mind early birds because it builds excitement for us.
  • Remember the point is to declutter and make money!  We sold our baby swing in the Fall (right before we found-out we were pregnant again!) for $10 less than I wanted to, but it was great to bless the first time couple and really, we just wanted it out!
I know that there are other tips you might have, so feel free to post in the comments.  Experience is the best source of knowledge!

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1 comment:

So glad to hear from you! All conversation is welcomed, within good reason and kind intentions.