Garage Sale/Moving Sale tips

Make your garage sale a success
One great way to save money when you're moving (and even make a little extra!) is to have a garage sale.  As you start packing, you'll probably find things that you didn¡¯t even remember you had.  Most moving companies charge based on either the weight of your items or the amount of space they take up, so why pay to move things you don't use anymore?

First steps for setting up
First thing: figure out what you're going to sell.  Separate these items out as you're packing the rest of your things.  Keep a list of these items and refer to it during and after the sale to keep track of what you've sold.

Many cities require a permit for a garage sale, so ask about this as soon as possible.  Once your date is approved, go ahead and make your signs.  Brightly colored signs are a good way to catch attention.  Post your signs a few days in advance, and make arrows with the same bright colors to guide customers to your house.

Gather up supplies
Once you know what items you want to sell, you'll have an idea for how many tables you'll need.  See if you have any friends who own tables or if you can rent them from a local event facility.  Other supplies might include:

• Price tags
• Markers
• Boxes
• Grocery bags
• Newspaper
• Bins

The boxes and grocery bags can be used to help your customers carry their items.  People will usually buy more items if they have a way to carry them.  Old newspapers can be used to wrap breakable items.  Use bins for small items like jewelry.  Keeping these items together will help you keep track of them and help customers sort through them.

Pricing
You can always go the obvious route and label each individual item with its own price.  An easier idea is to use colored stickers and provide a guide.  Create a poster with a color key, showing which color represents each price.  After the poster is made, all you have to do is decide which price you want an item to be and place the corresponding sticker on it.

Trouble deciding what some things should cost? The sentimental value that an item might have for you probably will not hold the same for a customer at your garage sale.  A good rule of thumb is to shoot for 1/3 of the item's original price.

Price like items at the same value to avoid confusion.  An easy way to do this is to group these items together and place a sign with the price next to them.  You can also create signs for large items, such as furniture and lawn equipment.

Grab a few friends
An easy way to attract customers is to have more items.  Get together with your neighbors and friends to see if they'd like to join in.  Spreading the cost over multiple families makes it easier for you, and having more items will bring in more business.  One of your friends can be stationed at the end of the driveway so they can answer questions for drivers who can't decide if they actually want to stop in and shop.

Give one of your friends the responsibility of handling the money.  This person should also keep a list of the items that sell and their price.  After the garage sale is over you can go back over the list to help you sort out the money.  Immediately after the money is sorted, divide the leftover items into two piles: one pile to keep and one to donate.

Good luck with your sale! Let us know how it goes, and share your tips with us!