Preparing for a Garage Sale
Main objective of a Garage Sale is to make money while getting rid of stuff in your
house. The spring is the best time to have a garage sale. After a long winter people are
ready to get out and find some good deals.
Some tips to make the most of your garage sale:
1. Have as many signs as possible. Put one on every major corner, on the corner to
house and any needed in between. If it is more than 1/2 mile from the corner to your
house put some signs in between. You really can't make enough signs.
Make your signs large - 18-24 inch is just perfect.
Use contrasting colors. Black and white are best (A black permanent marker works best)
Be sure to put your address AND an arrow pointing the direction to your house.
Make all your signs out of the same material. For example, make all of them out of
cardboard with white painting. Those ways people will know it’s your garage sale and
know which signs to follow.
Check with your city or town and find out if they have any particular rules for garage
sales. Some cities require a permit that costs $1.50 - $5.00 per day.
When you'll purchase the permit, you will be getting a list of rules telling us things like
not to nail signs on telephone poles.
2. Check to see if any of your local papers or thrifty papers has free garage sale ads. Put
one in if they do or you can put your Ad in www.GarageSaleCow.com.
3. Clean out everything you can so you can have as large as sale as possible.
4. Price you stuff LOW. There is nothing more frustrating than going to a garage sale and
finding items for prices equal to or higher than the same items brand new on clearance.
A good rule of thumb is to price items a maximum of 10-20% retail price.
By the way, people who go to yard sales really don’t care if it’s brand new in the box and
you paid $80 for it so you “must” get $50 for it. It has been sitting in your house for who
knows how long so you aren’t getting your money’s worth anyway. Price it for $5 and
get rid of it!