My brother always referred to my annual garage sale as the “Cash for Trash” sale. My saucy comeback: “One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure!”
For many years this annual event brought the double blessing of decluttering and injecting resources into our one-income budget. Putting the garage sale on the calendar will force you to buckle down and get those closets cleaned out. And whether you need money for family vacation, homeschool curriculum, or property taxes, the extra funds will be a welcome reward for your labor.
Over my years as a “professional garage seller” — I’m claiming that title because I once heard that if you get paid to do something you are a professional, and our family’s garage sales always paid me well! — I’ve learned a thing or two about how to prepare and execute a successful one. Because May’s ‘Do It’ List includes the once-per-year task of cleaning out the garage, I’m choosing to share a few tips to help you prepare for your own Cash-For-Trash (or as I prefer to think of it, Share-the-Treasure) Sale!
- Choose a Date.
Commit this to the calendar with ample time to get ready. Ideally, leave yourself a solid month to do a thorough job of decluttering and preparing. If your community or subdivision has an annual sale, try to make that work in your schedule to take advantage of the extra traffic and free advertising. - Keep It Legal.
After choosing a date for your garage sale, check your city and/or community rules to be sure you are compliant. Some may require you to purchase and display a license, or otherwise register your sale. - Advertise.
There’s no use organizing a sale if no one knows you’re having it! Let your moms’ group, Bible study, and homeschool co-op know. Ask your friends to pass along the details to their own contacts. Create a Facebook event and invite people, especially those you may not see regularly. Look into advertising on Craigslist, or on your church or community email list. Consider taking out a newspaper ad (but remember print publications have early deadlines, so check about how far out you need to get information submitted). - Set up a holding area.
This may be an area in your garage, attic, or basement. It may be a spare bedroom, the corner of your master bedroom, or your dining room. Remind everyone it is temporary; cover the clutter with extra sheets if you need to. The important thing is to corral everything in one place. - Purge Away!
This is the real WORK of your garage sale. You will need to be ruthless, methodical, and efficient. Go systematically room by room, drawer by drawer, closet by closet. Challenge the children to do the same with their toys, clothes, books, games, etc. Commit to working on this a little (or a lot) every day to prepare. The more you clear out, the more organized your space and the more profit from your sale. Sort all items into three categories:
• Put Away
• Throw Away
• Sale Away! - Label Everything.
You will need to complete your purging about a week ahead to give plenty of time for preparing and pricing items. Shoppers will quickly become frustrated if pieces are not clearly marked. I know some sales just put up a sign (“Everything on this table – 50¢” or something similar), but items will always get moved and shifted. Do you really want to sell a perfectly good lamp for $1, simply because someone misplaced the item on the wrong table?You can purchase pre-printed price stickers (here’s an example) or just make your own. I always printed my own. Since I would rather just give something away than take time to label and sell it for .10 or .25, I found there were too many wasted denominations in the pre-printed sticker packs.
Our Garage Sale Price Stickers download can be printed on a 1”x 2 5/8” Avery 5160 label (or compatible, like these from Amazon). I print three denominations on each label, then cut the whole page top to bottom, so I end up with 90 price stickers using just one page of labels! The first page makes .50, $1, and $2; the second page is for $3, $4, and $5.
I can’t tell you what a huge time saver this is! I simply use blank labels to create a handwritten one for the odd $10 or $20 items. - Display your wares.
Beg or borrow as many folding tables as possible. In a pinch, you can use sawhorses and plywood, or even old doors. Rough wood can be covered with old sheets to protect merchandise.Clothing often sells better if it is hanging. I persuaded my hubby to install three heavy-duty hooks in the ceiling of our garage; they remained there permanently for future sales. We bought a metal closet rod and three long strands of chain (available by the foot at your local hardware store). Using the chain, we created loops to hold the metal rod. Three loops — one at each end, one in the middle — made it secure, and perfect for holding clothing items, coats, dress up clothes, etc. The best part is that chain and a closet rod store easily for your next sale; a rolling clothes rack is unnecessarily costly and takes up far more space.
It’s also helpful to put a sign on each table, labeling its contents. (A set of Garage Sale Table Signs is also available for download.) This lets potential buyers see what you have, and also gives a professional, orderly vibe to your sale. Shoppers are willing to pay a better price when you have done the work to be well-organized!
- Add a Ministry Table.
Include free Bibles. Add brochures for your Bible study or your church’s VBS. Include a Prayer Box with note cards, pens, and a sign that reads: “Share your name and I’ll pray for you. Feel share to share a specific request and your contact info, if you like.” - Signage. Although you advertise online and perhaps even in print, your sale will benefit from some strategically placed signage. I created signs on my computer and kept the document in a designated “Garage Sale” folder. (You can download these free printable
Garage Sale Signs
to save that extra time and effort.)
Each year when it was time for our sale, I printed signs on brightly colored paper, in the largest, boldest font the page would accommodate. I purchased several sheets of poster board, folded each in half, then stapled them onto a metal frame. (You can buy the U-shaped sign frames at the hardware store … we had some left over from election season when we placed campaign signs in our yard. Nothing like recycling/repurposing!) Your eye-catching garage sale signs can then be taped or glued to each side of the poster board.
Signs can be planted at the entrance to your subdivision, and at each intersection or turn on the route to your home. They make it easier for those who are looking for your sale to find it, and will usually generate spontaneous visits from some shoppers, as well.
- Security.
While the preparation can be grueling, an extrovert like me LOVES the energy on Garage Sale Day! I love meeting new people, visiting with those who come, having the opportunity to invite them to Bible study or VBS. More than once, I have been blessed to listen to and pray with women who came to my home to browse through the items we’re selling.But let’s be honest: you also
have to be wise and cautious. You need to protect your home, your resources, and your children. So, in the interest of security, here are some suggestions:
• Get a babysitter or arrange a play date for babies and toddlers.
• Arrange to have at least one friend or family member be with you at all times.
• Keep the door into your home locked (or at least blocked off with a table or chair to make it difficult for someone to step inside while you are distracted).
• Wear your cash. A cash box can walk away. Use a fanny pack to collect money and make change.
• Do not accept personal checks. If even one of them is returned for insufficient funds, you’ll incur a hefty bank fee in addition to the unpleasant task of trying to collect the money owed you.
• At some point during the day, you will most likely be asked, “May I use your restroom?” When that happens, simply respond, “I’m sorry, but I promised my husband I would not allow strangers in our home.” And make that promise to him, so you’re being truthful when you say it!
• Use rope or twine to cordon off areas around the perimeter of your garage that include anything you don’t wish to sell (lawn mower, bicycles, wagon, etc.) Tape signs on the shelves, ropes, or even larger individual items that say, NOT FOR SALE. It will save you answering, “Are you selling the _____?” or “How much for these?” for what seems like a zillion times! - Young Entrepreneurs.
A garage sale is a tremendous opportunity to train your children in the free enterprise system! They could set up a separate table to sell their own stuff. Or perhaps you can allow them to be the drink vendor: buy a case of water for $2.99, sell the chilled water for 50¢ per bottle, and double — maybe even quadruple! — their money. Ask them to calculate their profit.The experience of creating signs, interacting with customers, and making change will all be great life lessons for your kids (and when they tally up what they made, be sure to encourage them to tithe and save before spending).
- Donate What’s Left.
Whatever you do, DO NOT haul any of the stuff from your sale back inside your house. DO NOT rob yourself of the blessing of having less! Don’t clutter up what you just uncluttered!Instead, make a detailed list of items to be donated and note their “thrift shop price.” (If you use software to prepare your own income taxes, the program will usually suggest a value for donated items, so you don’t need to worry about assigning prices ahead of time.) Then load up your garage sale leftovers and immediately deliver them to The Salvation Army, Goodwill or another local thrift shop. Be sure to ask for a receipt for your donation. Staple it to the list, and be sure to file it away with your important tax papers as soon as you return home so you’ll be able to claim the tax deduction.
- Tithe Your Earnings.
Decide as a family if you will share a love offering with a missionary family, set it aside for Christmas shoe boxes, support your local Crisis Pregnancy Center, or help provide scholarships for Christian camp. The possibilities are endless. Pray. Discuss. Make this a teachable (and tithe-able) experience for your children.
Let us know if you take the Garage Sale plunge! We would love to hear about your experience, see pics of your cleaned-out closets, and know what organization gets the tithe from your earnings!
Happy Garage Selling!
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