Garage sale tips to help you downsize.

With the new townhouse secured in South Carolina, it was time for us to downsize our personal belongings. The new residence in Summerville, SC, offers a nice view and easy access to local shops and stores, but it will be lacking in the storage area department. Gone is the basement that housed our work area and shelving racks. It’s time for a garage sale!

There will be no garage in our new place. The first year we lived in our house, the garage was nothing more than a storage shed. After one winter with both the cars parked outside we finally became motivated to empty it out and use it for what it was intended. Read on to get our tips for a successful garage sale.

It’s Hard To Let Go

There is a lot you can accumulate in a very short period of time. Both of us marveled at how much we had collected in the three years that we lived in Alexandria, Minnesota. This coupled with the things that have moved with us.

You know those precious possessions that you never really use, but just can’t seem to part with? The old, vintage  concert t-shirt from an event you attended over twenty years ago, the coffee cups that were collected while traveling. You get the point. If you are planning on parting with some of your treasures, I will let you in on the things that sold and the things that got dumped.

Garage Sale Tips

Set a date about two weeks out and start telling your friends and family. Maybe somebody else wants to join your garage sale by adding their used items. That’s great! Just be sure to use different colored stickers so you’ll know who gets the money at the end.

Stock up on supplies like garage sale stickers, bags, a few boxes for bulk items and lots of change. Pre-printed sales stickers are a huge time saver. Create at least 2 highly visible sign to place at the end of your street or around the neighborhood a day or two before the garage sale.

Clean, sort and price all your garage sale items ahead of time.

Most people will get annoyed with you if they constantly have to ask you for the price of items. Remember, everything has been used and it’s second hand, so price items accordingly. Make a few bundles to draw the eye as conversation starters, and that you might be able to sell for more money. For instance, place two mugs and a pound of coffee on a platter with a sugar bowl and creamer.

Saturday and Sunday mornings are best for garage sales. You can start as early as 6 am for the early birds and stay at it until around 2 pm. After that most people are done running errands and you will see less and less people.

Start slashing your prices towards the end of the sale. Of course, this depends on how badly you want to get rig of your stuff. Think about it this way. You can either carry everything back into your house or you can let it go for less than want you originally wanted to sell it for.

What sells best at a garage sale?

• Furniture

Furniture is expensive when you have to buy it new. A lot of young people just need some things to get them by while their in college. A garage sale is the place for young families and anyone starting out in a new apartment to find decent, used furniture.

• Kitchen items

Same as above. Buying new dishes, cookware and whatnot can get very expensive. Most of us accumulate extra pots, pans and dishware we hardly ever use. A lot of people go to garage sales to find antique glass ware or to look for seldom used kitchen gadgets like a hand-held lemon squeezer or bread machine.

• Yard tools

You name the season, everything will move in this area. Snow shovels to yard rakes are all fair game. We had a whole barrel full of rakes, spades, and shovels that sold on the very first day! A lot of guys like to go to garage sales and look specifically for yard tools.

• Clothes & Shoes

The clothing items were a big hit or miss for us. You have to find someone that will actually fits your size, likes your style and is flexible to how worn out the items may be. All in all we sold quite a few of our clothes and several pairs of women’s high heel shoes. What was left over found it’s way to the donation bins located throughout town.

Use social media to advertise your sale 

Silke was at the office on Thursday and Friday and took the time to mention the Garage Sales on Face Book. I had five people tell me that they saw the post online and that’s how they found out about it. Craigslist is still pretty popular and of course your local radio and/or TV station websites probably have a local sales page where you can post your garage sale as well.

Get more garage sale tips and learn how to get rid off clutter from Jaime at the No Getting Off This Train blog.

Our own garage sale was a success and all the proceeds will go towards our gas fund. We’re renting a Budget truck and I’m guessing at 8-10 MPG we’ll need all the funding we can get!

Do you have any other garage sale tips? Leave us a comment below, we would love to hear from you.