How to Organize a Successful Garage Sale!

Success at the sale

My Mom used to have garage/yard sales at least once a year during the spring time. (Hi Mom!) And the tips she would use to prepare for her sale almost always guaranteed her sale to be a success. She taught me that more people will purchase your items if they are displayed well, well, that and low prices! Here are a few pointers for making your sale a success!

1. Organize your items by category 
When you go to the store you don't see items that don't belong together put next to each other on purpose, do you? You wouldn't go down the shower curtain isle and want to find a suitcase and a half used bottle of vitamin c would you? Keep your items with similar items. If you have enough tables, put one category of items to a table. Have a kitchen table, a home decor table, etc. 

2. Keep your items reasonably priced
When going through and pricing your items ask yourself "how much would I pay for this?" Keep in mind, also, the area you live in. If you live in a relatively poor area don't price your items too high, or they'll never sell. Remember these are used items, if you do have an unopened brand new item, you can try pricing it a little higher. And if you aren't sure what to put for a price, try asking for offers, someone else will always tell you what they want to pay for it.

3. Test your electronic items
If you have electronics in your sale, people will almost always ask "does this work?" be prepared with a detailed answer. Explain any operation flaws and offer to let them test it out before taking it home. It may come in handy to have a power strip and an outlet ready for this. If you tell people "it worked back in..." You won't find many takers.

4. Hang your clothes
If you have the space and the resources, try to hang your clothes. People are much more likely to go through clothes if they aren't laying on a table. If you decide to hang your clothes and need hangers try a department store like Kohl's or JC Penny for free hangers. Keep women's clothes and men's clothes separate. If you do not have the space or resources to hang your clothes, keep them folded nicely on a table and separate them by gender. And if you want to be a pro, place them in size order. 

5. Advertise! 
This is especially important if you live in a bad location. Put up signs, advertise on Facebook, craigslist and other social media (It's free!), put an ad in the newspaper, post flyers in grocery stores and don't forget to tell your friends! Keep your signs simple, but include information. For example "Huge Garage sale Sat 7-12 123 Main St!" Make sure you're writing in bold lettering, because a lot of people won't try to read the sign as they're driving if the writing is too small.

6. Be friendly
How many garage sales have you gone to where people seem like they absolutely abhor having to sell their items to you? There are a lot of people who get grumpy when having a sale. Try your absolute hardest not to be one of those people and say hello to people coming up your drive way. Think of it as people coming into your home. If you are too shy to say hello, offer a smile. It's not as hard as you might think. Make sure you drink your coffee in the morning if you feel like you can't be friendly early in the morning!


People who go out to sales are usually looking for something they just can't live without, by following these simple steps, if you've got it, they're sure to take it off your hands!

The Grandplants?

Have you ever seen that bumper sticker that says "I love my granddog"? Or been told "My son and his wife just got a dog.. I'm a Grandpa!" Well not but a few years ago, we got the very news. My sister-in-law and soon to be brother-in-law found a puppy, Belle. Oh she was a cute little thing! We didn't think much of it until.. We noticed the word "granddog" oh no. Oh no oh no! There is a fine line between the people who jokingly call their pets kids or grand kids and those who actually treat their four legged friends as humans. I quickly began to think "this dog is going to be treated the same as my children!" And oh I did not want that. I suppose I thought too quickly because I soon realized it wasn't that way at all. This pup was not really being treated like a granddog (except kisses on the mouth-yuck!). So now that we have truly established that this dog is just a pet and won't be treated quite the same as a human baby it quickly became fun! Presents "from" Belle. A Christmas card "from" Belle with reindeer antlers on her head. Now we're feeling a little left out because we don't have any pets! One thing we did have a lot of were plants. Indoor and outdoor, we had quite a collection of potted plants! We thought "You know, if a dog can be a grand "child" why can't our plants? They're living too! And so it had begun. They had Belle, and we had the plants. And of course they had to have names! We decided on names starting with 'd'. Danny, Dafney etc. And then it happened... we did something so out of the blue, so original, it had everyone guessing. If Belle could make a "Happy holidays" card, why couldn't we? Well, we certainly had enough equipment in our apartment to make this happen. White blanket for bankground? Check. Camera? Check. Gather all the plants and wear matching flannels? Check!

Happy Holidays! Hope they were great!