Ready To Plan Your Best Garage Sale?
Before or after a big move is a great time to declutter with a garage sale. Follow the 6 steps to throw the best garage sale on the block.
When you are moving, hopefully you can spare some time to go into major cleaning and declutter mode. This is important to do when you move. Clearing out old items not only saves you money on your upcoming move but it also allows you to move into your new home with a fresh start minus the clutter.
In some of our previous blogs we have mentioned that one of the best ways to clear out your home before you move is to throw a garage or yard sale. A garage sale can be whatever you want it to be. You can make it extravagant and all about making a lot of money or quick and focused on almost just giving away things for the purpose of cleaning out your home.
No matter what type of yardsale you want to have, we have some tips for you that will help make it a success.
Here are 6 Tips to having the best garage sale on your block from your Houston Movers!
1. Get help! Having help with your garage sale makes all the difference. Even if you are just having a small thrown together garage sale, you will probably need help. The more the merrier, and those you enlist to help may even have some items they can sell too.
Ask your family members or friends to pitch in. They may want a cut of the profit or a thank you lunch, but it will be worth it. Most children will find garage sales fun and be of some help at the same time. It can be a good opportunity to teach your children about money, selling, and repurposing items.
2. Go over your pricing techniques before the garage sale. If there is anything that you are not willing to budge on price, make sure that everyone knows about it. If things are priced a certain way and you don’t want to accept anything less, make sure everyone is informed and on board. If the purpose of the garage sale is just to get rid of things make sure that everyone involved knows that they can drop prices if someone is interested but wants to negotiate the asking price.
3. Set a date and get the word out. Set the date as early as you can and inform the neighborhood. You may be able to generate interest in your area, and have several families pitch in and have their own garage sales on the same day. If you can arrange a neighborhood garage sale, you will generally get more traffic and interest than if it were just your house.
You can use the newspaper and Craigslist if you are in a big city like Houston. Be sure to include your entire address when you are advertising on these platforms. Another good way to bring traffic to your sale is a good old-fashioned yard sign on the main intersections near your home.
4. Make sure you have proper room to display your items. It is important to have plenty of table space for garage sales. Things don’t sell as well if people have to dig in boxes or on the floor for them. Have hanging areas for items on hangers and if you are not pricing them individually, separate these items into different areas according to price.
5. Have all the change you might need before the day of the garage sale. You’ll want to have a roll of quarters, a stack of $1 bills, and a few $5 bills on hand. It is important to have it before the big day of the sale because it may be hard to find anywhere early Saturday or Sunday morning that can give you change.
6. Have a plan for the items that don’t sell. Many charities will do pick ups of items from garage sales that don’t sell. This will save you the trip and ensure that you keep those items on their way out the door and not coming back in your home to be moved the next week and thrown away in a few years.
We wish you luck on your garage sale and your upcoming move!