If you’ve ever held a garage sale, then you know it’s a TON of work. Many hours go into the process and if you don’t make much money from it, then you feel like it wasn’t worth your time when all is said and done. I’ve held several garage/yard sales in my adulthood and while there are some things you can’t control (weather, how many decide to come, etc.), there are many things you can do to improve your chance of success!
Read on for tips on when to hold your garage sale, how to set up, helpful items you’ll need, and more:
Tips on Timing:
- Late spring and early fall are the best times of year to have a sale.
- Hold your garage sale toward the beginning of the month; people have more money at this time before paying all their due bills.
- Given all the work it takes to put together, I suggest having the sale for two days: Friday and Saturday.
- Start early in the morning. There are serious garage sale people called “early birds” who like to be parked in front of your house before anyone else. I suggest opening between 6-8am. I usually start pulling stuff to the driveway at 6am and officially open at 7am. You can shut down between 12-2pm as people really taper off after lunch time.
- If your neighborhood is doing a garage sale, join in! More customers are likely to come when they know there are several to go to in a small vicinity vs. driving to one address.
Tips on Making it Public:
- Make sure people know your yard sale is happening! No different than in the old days when we advertised garage sales in the newspaper with our address, we now have even more online options. Some places to post your address, dates, and times are on NextDoor, Yard Sale Search, Garage Sale Finder, Garage Sales, and your own Facebook page. Facebook also has many sale pages for whatever area you live in such as Farragut and Hardin Valley Only Sales or Oak Ridge Yard Sale. Join those groups so you can post your information!
- Post your sale on these sites on Wednesday night or Thursday around noon. This gives people time to plan. Make sure to add pictures on your posts. It’s okay to post the information ahead of time and go back later to add the pictures once your items are all outside and organized.
- Place garage sale signs with your address, days, and hours at corners to direct passersby to your house. Add balloons to the signs to stand out. Warning: some towns don’t allow signs at certain busy intersections, so be prepared to have some signs outside of your neighborhood taken away by town workers. Remember: it’s illegal to tape personal signs on stop signs or yield signs.
Tips on Set Up:
- When setting up your stuff, keep categories separate. Group together house décor, kids’ clothes, adult clothes, shoes, toys, books, big price items, bedding/pillows, etc. That way, if people are looking for specific things, they can head to that area/table instead of rummaging through everything. If you make it hard for them to find, they are less likely to look.
- If you have clothes racks, hang clothes up so people can see them better. I personally hate when there are just bins full of clothes that I’m supposed to dig through. I’ll pass it by. If you don’t have clothes racks, you can find some pretty cheap used ones on Facebook Marketplace, purchase at Walmart or Target, or make a makeshift one out of old unused shower rods and rope, and hang it from the garage door tracks.
- If you need hangers to hang up clothes you’re selling and don’t want to risk people taking your nice plastic or velvet ones, stop by some dry cleaners and see if they have any wire hangers they don’t need anymore. I’ve gotten plenty of wire hangers for free from dry cleaners. I also see people post hangers for really cheap and sometimes free on Facebook Marketplace.
- Price everything individually if you have the time and patience. Price them in a way that will make it easy to add up. For instance, in increments of 25 cents or 50 cents. You’ll want to be able to add quickly in your head at checkout.
- Don’t price your items with the assumption of haggling, but be willing to negotiate. If I price something at $10, it’s because I think it’s worth $10, but I’d rather get $7 than stay firm on the price and watch people walk away empty-handed while the item still sits in my driveway.
- If you plan on having the sale in your garage, get everything set up the night before so you’re not scrambling in the morning. If you plan on having it all on your driveway, have it somewhat staged in your garage the night before so you can just wheel/drag/pull/move everything outside quickly.
Other Tips:
- Say “hi” to everyone, but leave them alone. If you follow them around or try to sell them something, they will probably leave. This isn’t a furniture store.
- If the weather is going to be unfavorable, reschedule the sale. Nobody wants to hold or attend a yard sale in the pouring rain or in high winds. Find a holding spot in your home or garage for everything you’ve prepped and try again your next available weekend. Just make sure you let people know of the cancellation if you’ve already posted the dates and times.
- When the sale is over, decide what left over stuff to trash, donate, sell online, and box back up for a future garage sale.
Helpful Items You’ll Need:
- Card tables (borrow from neighbors, friends and family if you need to)
- A chair (if it’s 5-8 hours, you’ll want to relax at times)
- Clothes racks or shower rods hanging from garage track (if you’re selling clothes)
- Hangers (if you’re selling clothes)
- Garage sale stickers (to price stuff)
- Signs for yard and corners (found at Walmart, hardware stores, and Amazon)
- Balloons (optional)
- $100+ in change (I usually start with a couple $20s, three $10s, five $5s, a bunch of $1s and many quarters)
- Fanny pack (I find it easiest to keep the money on my person and it’s easy to look through for change)
- Pen (for missing stickers you need to replace)
- Pad of paper (to keep track of anything)
- Calculator or your smartphone (in case the math gets too hard)
- Grocery sacks (for when people buy a lot and can’t carry it all)
- Sunscreen or some type of shade (pop-up canopy, stay in garage, under a tree, etc.)
