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Having a Garage sale ???'s

post #1 of 13
7/28/05 at 2:07am
Thread Starter 
Ok so I am planning on having a garage sale next weekend and I am not keeping a lot of things that we don't use anymore. There is just too much and it is weighing me down. I am pretty happy with my prices as I do a lot of garage saleing myself so Iknow what people are generally happy to pay, however I do need some help.

I don't know if I should spend the money to put it in the newspaper, if I do, what all would you list? I have name brand childrens clothes, I have cloth diapers, I have books (lots of them) I have a nice home interiors set that I don't want to use anymore, there is scrapbooking stuff, kitchen stuff, tools, womens clothes, mens coats, and I am sure that there will be more as I have not gone through everything yet, each room is getting a very thorough going through. I am tired of all the clutter and it is time that stuff is OUTTA here.

I plan to have it be free after the garage sale other than my daughters clothes and items that I can take down to the consignment store, which is where it will go on the MOnday following. From there whatever doesn't sell will be donated to charity and I won't see it again as it is. Oh and there is a Queen size mattress adn box springs that we are not using, can I sell that or do I have to give it away?

Please tell me if you were looking what woudl you look for? We missed city wides in this town for this year and it isn't a huge town but I do live right on a main hwy so I am hoping that traffic will bring people in as well. But I dont' know what all to do as far as advertising. Do I put signs for about 3 miles outside of town to draw peoples attention to it?

Please tell me when you are looking what you look for, I generally go to towns or areas that are known for a lot of sales so I am not good at this. But I will say that if I look in the newspaper and see one that looks like it may have stuff that I would want I will make a special trip outta my way to check it out.

Hugs
Jessica
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post #2 of 13
7/28/05 at 11:35am

hmmm...

I usually just decide on a whim to have a garage sale and post signs on main streets close to my house. NO I don't think I'd put signs up 3 miles away especially if you are on a busy highway. Just on main streets leading to your home. I also posted on free cycle that at 2 pm come and get it. That gave me time to close the yardsale and take what I didn't want to get rid of (consignment clothes and a few toys wasn't sure I wanted to part with). Everything was gone. It was so awesome and freeing. I've never posted in the paper and have always had lots of traffic. HTH.
post #3 of 13
7/28/05 at 11:37am

One more thing...

make sure your signs are large and readable. Huge key. Nothing bugs me more when I'm yardsaling is not being able to read the sign. so I always make big fat letters and fill them in. Usually takes me like 30 minutes to just make a sign. Also make sure the sign won't fall in to itself yk? Went yardsaling this weekend can you tell. LOL
post #4 of 13
7/28/05 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 
I will do good size signs that are easy to read, that is a huge issue for me as well.

The reason I questioned making signs to have outside of town is because the town is only 5 blocks long, so otherwise I am afraid that people won't see that it is here, kwim.

I will go post on Freescycle when it is time, cuz that is what would be wonderful is to have people just show up and take the stuff away rather than having to deal with taking it to the good will etc.
post #5 of 13
7/30/05 at 10:50am
Our town paper has a garage/yard sale section. They also give you 2 free signs with the ad. I do know that a lot of people carry the ad section with them when saling. They also carry a map but most people in our town just carry the ads.
They say:
Multi Family yard sale,
Whole block yard sale
Garage sale

then a quick description: such as
Li Tikes, boy scout uniforms, tot girl clothes
75 years worth of memories!
furniture, toys, clothes

The 75 year one is family members cleaning out Grandmas stuff- stay away. Too many memories and her kids will be stingy. Unless its done by an estate sale person, stay away- it could be stuff from 4 decades ago and musty.
Lil Tikes stuff- lots of stuff from a growing family- go to that one
furniture toys clothes- could be anything, worth at least driving by
post #6 of 13
7/31/05 at 11:12pm
I wouldn't bother with a newspaper ad as long as there is enough traffic near your street. Make nice signs and place them where you think will generate the most traffic for you. As the others have said- signage is key (I learned this from Martha Stewart ) If you want to highlight items, I'd say books, kids stuff, and scrapbooking are good attention grabbers. I don't know why you couldn't sell a bed. Is that a hygiene issue?
post #7 of 13
8/4/05 at 12:52am
Depending on where you live:

www.craigslist.org

is an excellent place to list..and it's free!


Sherra
post #8 of 13
8/5/05 at 1:48am
I am having one tomorrow- and did put it in the paper. I also put signs around my house. Basically starting at the Main Street- and driving home- I put signs up along the way to direct the traffic- and there better be traffic!
I hate seeing signs all over town- with NO directions!
I need arrows!!!
Emilie
post #9 of 13
8/6/05 at 12:25am
Thread Starter 
Well I didn't put an ad in the paper, I don't think it would have gotten me much traffic from it. We did put up big signs leading the way and making sure that people realized that they would be coming up on us. Today it went fairly well, I sold about 280.00 worth of stuff, and there is still more for tomorrow, plus we found some other stuff we want to put out for tomorrow. Of course the baby items are the hot seller, only 1 think left other than clothes and some sippys and a couple bottles. Other than that it is mainly housewear items. I did sell almost all of my kitchen stuff, but there was some awesome deals on the pampered chef and on corening wear out there.
But to me it is better anyways, less stuff to clutter up my house, I even sold my set of dishes I have had for 5 years and HATED the entire time. Now I can get a set that I like, or we may just use the antique ones from dh's grandmother!
Hugs
Jessica
post #10 of 13
8/12/05 at 3:07pm
I am having a garage sale this weekend after months of purging stuff. We filled up a large closet with stuff. Last week, we set it all up in the garage then posted signs on our walk last night. I just posted on Craigslist; thanks for the tip.
post #11 of 13
8/13/05 at 9:33pm
Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that our garage sale went well. We got rid off a lot of stuff and made about $100. It was a pretty small stash of stuff. My DH purges all the time; he won't let us accumulate too much! We are having our first babe this fall and have only lived in this house for three years so that probably contributes to the lack of " extra stuff" we have!

Posted the remnants on Freecycle just now and people are already coming by! The good stuff goes to non-profits. We still have the motorcylce to sell. I may try Craig's List.

Thanks for all the tips!
post #12 of 13
8/13/05 at 11:52pm
Good job on the yard sale!
Any tips on what worked or didn't work?

We are having our first yard sale on Labor Day weekend... I've never had one! We have sooo much stuff and I know I need to get in the storage area and price it all (hard to find the time with the little ones!).
I've heard it's a good idea to sell water- has anyone done this? I was thinking about buying a flat of them and selling them cold for 50 cents. I know I won't make much, but maybe it will keep people around longer looking at my stuff :LOL
Can't wait to get rid of all this STUFF! Hopefully we'll make a little bit of money, too
post #13 of 13
8/14/05 at 10:35am

My Experience

Things that worked:

Large, clearly "readable" signs all over the nieghborhood with arrows!

E-mailed neighbors to bring stuff over to donate/get rid of.

Craigslist posting...beginning of the week and the day before maybe?

Willing to take a lower price for things. If people did not like the price, I lowered it immediately. I may have started my prices a little high though.

Having clothes on hangers so they are visible. Hanging drapery, linens, etc. so they are visible.

Things that sold out quickly for us were board games, shoes and bed linens.

Having stuff visible from the road so when people drive by they will actually get out of the car and come.

We held it in our garage and on the driveway so it was nice and shaded.

We started at 7am and were done by 11:00ish. I would start earlier...close to 6am. Yard sale shoppers like going out early, it seems from my talks with them. Another family in my hood was having one that started at 6am.

Being friendly to people, throwing in a free kids toy or small treat.

Giving nice, decent stuff to homeless shelters, etc...Posting on Freecylce to give the other leftovers away, esp. the large stuff like sofas!