Organization in your home is an important aspect of your home life and if you feel like clutter is getting the best of you, it may be time to part with the baseball card collection. How? A garage sale is always a great idea to purge your house of unwanted relics of the past if you need extra cash, are moving, or just need to do a fall or spring cleaning. If you do decide to have a garage sale, how can you make sure it’s a successful one and you’re not stuck with lots of leftover items or underselling your things? Here’s five tips for a great garage sale!
1. Set up is essential. If you want your garage sale to have a good response, you’ll need to organize the things that you’re selling. Don’t just haul boxes out of your storage room and set them in your yard. Set up tables, even if you have to borrow them or get creative – think sawhorses and doors, ladders and boards. Don’t just have boxes of clothes, either. Even if you have to assemble a makeshift clothes line on your porch or between two trees, your clothes will sell better if they’re hanging and not in piles (just make sure you take your hangars back during the transaction. Organize your tables into categories.
2. Cleaning up is extremely important, too. Dust and polish items. Make sure nothing is dirty or stained, wash dishes, clothes and tables. Also, make sure that your yard looks nice. You don’t have to hire a landscaper, but your grass should be mowed, edges and bushes trimmed. Even clean off your porches and carports. Make sure everything is clean and clutter free. Even if your stuff is valuable, you won’t make as much if you give the impression that you haven’t maintained it – having the yard and home looking nice drives up the price.
3. Get other people involved! There are several ways to do this. Having a multi-family yard sale with neighbors can draw a lot more people – the more stuff you have to sell, the more likely you are to get people to stop. Once they have stopped, they may buy things they didn’t even know they were looking for! If you have enough to have a yard sale on your own, however, you can get people involved by word of mouth. Tell your friends and family about it, and even consider having a “pre-sale” – the night before, let people you know have first pick.
4. Open a dialogue with your shoppers. If you price everything, you may end up losing money, because people negotiate at garage sales. Don’t price smaller items; let the shoppers ask you how much you want, so that you can ask how much they are willing to pay. This way, you are opening a negotiation and dialogue, and they may even offer you more than what you would price the item for.
5. Know the value of your items. You do want to have prices on larger items. You need to know their value – the condition and what they sell new, so that you can ask a fair price and do not get pushed around in negotiation.
A clean home means not only a happy home, but a content spouse. Hopefully these tips will help satisfy both, but sometimes one may not be willing to break the sentimental bond that exists between you and your stuff. Lock It Up Self Storage hopes you have a successful garage sale to satisfy home and hubby!
Lock It Up Self Storage specializes in San Jose self storage with 7 Bay Area locations.