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Are you feeling strapped for cash this holiday season? Maybe you are looking for ways to earn a bit more money for a few more gifts. Why not try a garage sale? You probably will not make enough for all of your shopping, but you will make at least a little something to ease the pressure. The best time for your garage sale is the weekend of your Neighborhood Garage Sale, when more advertising is done for you, and people will be drawn to your neighborhood.
I recently hosted my very first garage sale, and I thought it was a reasonable success. We made about $120, and we sold mostly children's clothes and toys our kids have outgrown. It was a nice, relaxed weekend, and I only spent about two hours preparing for it. Here's what I did:
1. Put the kids' clothes in large laundry baskets, divided by gender and age, if you have time.
2. Hang adult clothes from the garage door, if yours locks open like ours does. Otherwise, fold and stack it on a card table.
3. Use masking tape to label prices for large items, like furniture, lamps, electronics, or expensive toys.
4. Instead of charging per item of clothing, try offering a "sack special": $5 for a small plastic grocery bag full of any clothing items your customers want. This way, they can mix kids' clothes and adult clothes, and they don't feel like you're staring at their choices. You can designate more expensive items (like coats, suits, or formal dresses) as off limits for the "sack special".
5. Don't be afraid to negotiate. People like to feel like they're getting a great bargain, and you just want to make some money. Knocking a dollar off the cost of something probably won't make much difference to you in the long run, and the customer might tell others about your great attitude! Just be careful not to bend too far. If you really value something and think you can get more for it, hold out for the better price.
6. Advertise! Take out an ad in the newspaper if you have time and money, but you can also purchase very cheap signs at the local hardware store and post them at the entrance to your neighborhood and at each turn pointing to your house. Use a thick permanent marker to label types of items you have, like furniture, toys, and children's clothes.
7. Decide on a time limit and put it on the sign. You don't want people showing up at your house at dinner time, and most people won't anyway. We ended our garage sale at around 1pm each day, and by then we were getting very few customers. Most garage sale shoppers start early to beat the rush and get the best items before they're gone.
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