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A garage sale is a lot of hard work, but the returns can more than justify the effort.

Clean out your closets and anything that is useless to you or you don’t want – put it in the sale. Don’t throw anything away. What is one person’s trash is another’s treasure.

• First, set a date and time when you can devote your full time to this sale, for gathering up various articles as well as being able to attend the sale full time.
• Second, plan just what you’re going to put in this sale, if you are going to have the sale alone, or with two to five more families.
• Third, have plenty of change on hand – both silver and paper money.

Of course you need to advertise. Make sure you say it’s a Garage Sale (sometimes people forget!), give the date, times and address with brief directions if it is difficult to find.

Ideally, run an ad in your daily newspaper. If you run your ad one day only, have it in the Thursday paper but it’s better to run it for two days to appear in both the Thursday and Friday editions. If your sale runs through Saturday, your sale is about over before the paper hits the street on Saturday. Therefore, 2-day advertising is usually adequate unless your  Don’t forget that  word of mouth can be very effective so tell everybody you know. If employed, place signs on your company’s bulletin boards. Best days for your Garage Sale are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

What Can You Sell
Antiques and collectibles are very popular regardless of state of repair or condition. Capitalize on the season. Feature luggage at going-away to school or vacation time. Toys near Christmas. Include fads – today, bottles of all kinds are in demand: big bottles, little bottles, Jim Beam, Avon, Kara Brooks, Wheaton/Nuline, old medicine, Mrs. Butterworth, miniature – all kinds, old fruit jars, and insulators.

Here are some additional items that are in demand: baseball cards, lawnmowers, camping articles, guns, tools, coins, old books, salt and pepper shakers, needlework, jewelry and dishes. Doll clothing and accessories are always in demand and especially for Barbie and Ken or teen dolls. Toys go over big at any time. Dolls and stuffed toys make a hit with the kids and they, in turn, will finally persuade their mothers to buy something.

Don’t be afraid to drag out those outgrown items, old dishes, two-of-a-kind items you don’t really need and generally ‘clean house’. You’ll find the money in your pocket is better than all the clutter in the house. Homemade items are very popular. If someone in your household sews, then sew up aprons, doll clothes, dolls, stuffed toys from scraps of material lying around. You’ll make use of those scraps taking up space and make money too! Fresh produce such as tomatoes, green beans, corn, fruits, etc. will also sell, if you grow a lot of fruit and vegetables in your garden.

Display Your Goods

• Place tables so that shoppers can browse without feeling crowded.
• Display your wares attractively.
• Be sure they are clean, usable, and priced temptingly.
• People are looking for bargains. Don’t disappoint them.
• If you have any fragile, rare or expensive items such as crystal, cut glass or jewelry, be sure it is displayed on a sturdy table and up high out of reach of kiddies. They are curious and you might be too busy to watch them.
• Drinking glasses, dishes, cups will sell faster if you price them in sets of 6 for $1.00 instead of 15 cents each.
• Paperback books, magazines, records and items that have titles will sell more readily if they are marked separately. If they want them collectively, they’ll ask you. Then bundle them all up and sell them.

Take advantage of the space under the tables, if you need more display room. You will be amazed how buyers spot the smallest item under the table. Colorful table covers draw a lot of attention to your items.

You will save yourself a lot of time answering questions if you show a price on all merchandise. Use a heavy black felt marking pen for lettering. If more families go in with you, identify your price tags with a code such as G 75 cents or M 25 cents. The letters designate, perhaps, the first letter of the last name of the family who contributed items to sell. Keep all the tags and at the end of the sale, divide the tags according to code and total the sales. You may not come out right to the penny on sales and change you had on hand as anyone can make errors in making change for a customer.

Be sure you have electrical outlets nearby to plug in toasters, blenders, electric skillets, irons, hair dryers, electric razors, etc., to show people that your articles do work. If you have to use an extension cord, make sure it is in excellent condition and preferably a heavy duty one.

If you want to continue your selling of any items you might have made, you can let people know then and have future sales all lined up. A circular made up and passed out to each customer would help to obtain any future sales also. You will profit both from the present sale and any future sales also. In short, you should have received much money, future profits, some new acquaintances and a weary but happy body!

Tags: Advertising, Garage Sale, Money, Newspaper, Shopping

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 6th, 2010 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Featured, Headline, House and home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.