Are you thinking of getting rid of all the clutter of things in your garage? Maybe, you’re thinking that you’d finally like to park both your vehicles in the garage this winter. You’re thinking of re-organizing your garage storage items so you’ve taken the first steps to declutter.
Now, you have a pile of stuff which is ready for a garage sale. Next you’re thinking how to get everything sold by the end of the garage sale day. So, it’s time to figure out how to make the garage sale as successful as possible. It’s time to get the whole family involved and get everyone connected with the process. Not only is it a great learning experience for young ones to gain some business experience but they’ll be more involved in the process of letting go of things.
Let’s take a look at some key things to discuss as a family for how to make your garage sale or yard sale a success.
Team Up with Your Neighbours
One of the best ways to increase the success of your garage sale is to do it as a street sale by involving as many neighbours as possible. When you’re attracting people to a street with multiple garage sales, there will be a lot more attraction for the bargain hunters to come out and do some hunting when they know that they can view several lots worth of garage sale items.
Also, it’s a great way to build up some community spirit on your street while getting to know your neighbours better. In addition, pooling resources makes the work of preparing for the garage sale a little easier overall.
Also, invite family and friends of the family to participate so there are plenty of people to service bargain hunters with a purchase or making change for them. Let younger family members run a small lemonade stand and bake sale for hungry bargain hunters. Enhance the atmosphere with music which will boost the mood of everyone there looking around for a deal. Having a few extra people around means that someone can look after the music if there is a rush of people.
Plan Your Garage Sale Date with a Rain Date
It’s best to have a rain date so if things go sideways on the planned garage sale date, then everyone is already agreed on the rain date and it’s a no brainer to run it on the rain date. It can also be part of the advertising.
Start the garage sale earlier so that people can attend the sale without interrupting the rest of their day. A garage sale that runs 8:00am until 1:00pm will do better than one that starts in the afternoon. Be prepared for avid garage sale shoppers to arrive earlier than the hours set for the garage sale. Also, if you choose a summer morning, then it will be cooler and more comfortable in the morning. Comfortable temperatures are important to people attending and buying more. For the best temperatures, it is best to hold a garage sale in late spring and early fall. So, late September is a great time to hold a garage sale as much as late April or early May.
Saturday morning is the better day for the garage sale. People seem to enjoy starting their weekend with a fun bargain hunting excursion on a Saturday morning while leaving Sunday to catch up and complete all those things they intended to complete over the weekend. Also, this allows people to make Sunday the rain date.
Advertise Your Garage Sale
One common suggestion is to call it a “yard” sale as opposed to a garage sale. It’s been said that people feel that a yard sale sounds a little more upscale than a garage sale. This may help more in some neighbourhoods than others.
For local neighbourhood signs, use large 3 foot square cardboard signs with very large easy to read letters so people driving along in vehicles can quickly read and follow your signs. There should be about 20 – 30 signs attracting drivers from all directions towards your street.
In addition, use social media to promote your garage sale. People will drive a short distance to attend your garage sale, especially if the sale is organized and includes multiple households all on the same street for a greater bargain hunting experience for the shopper. Some of the social media sites you can use include:
Start advertising early so there is time for people to plan to attend your yard sale.
Organize for a Successful Garage Sale
Place price tags on everything so there is a starting price for everything. Bargain hunters enjoy the interaction with other people when purchasing something. These buyers also enjoy the haggling process so be prepared.
Arrange sale items into groups of items or by price range on different tables where you have many smaller items. Label everything and make it easy for people to walk around and view everything just like any retail space. Display things in a fun way and to frame things so they are more appealing.
Have some chairs for people to sit and rest including a chair for yourself. Your chair should face the road and allow you to stand up and greet any visitors to your yard or driveway.
Prepare to make change for people. And, if you anticipate people using larger bills, it’s possible to get a counterfeit detector from Staples or Walmart to scan any bills which you suspect.
The Apres Yard Sale
Work with neighbours to keep it fun and lively while having enough hands to look after all the small things which will make the day memorable and a success. Anything that’s left over at the end of the day, you can either post online as a classified ad, donate to a charity or drop off with a local Value Village or other second hand shop.
A yard sale helps everyone declutter leaving only the stuff we actually use regularly. It’s a healthy start before any garage renovation project. Now that you’ve run a garage sale to look after the discard pile, it’s time to look at how to manage and organize the garage to store the things that needs a place in the garage so people can access and use it.
In our next blog, we’ll review how to use the space in the garage to store the remaining items so they remain safe but also easily accessible while leaving space for the vehicles to park inside the garage.
