7 Garage Sale Tips and Tricks

We don’t have time or space for a highly organized, high pressure sale, so we make our garage sales as easy and fun as possible. Here are our seven garage sale tips to keep things effective yet easy!

1. Decide on a date: We usually choose the first nice weekend of the fall.
2. Set up a table in the garage: When it comes time for the sale, you already have the table staged and ready to go.
3. Don’t worry about tagging each individual item: Set up a chalkboard with the prices for each category of items. This saves so much time and haggling!
4. Purchase “Garage Sale” signs at the Dollar Store.
5. Have $40 in single bills ready in a zip lock bag: We keep our garage sale money separate and safe, so that we know exactly how much profit we make.
6. Set up the signs and sale at the same time: As I drag out the table and the first items, my husband drives around and puts out the signs. Then, he drives through Dunkin’ Donuts just to keep the entire family happy and fueled.
7. Don’t worry about setting an end time: We end whenever we hit a thirty minute lull. If we have hit thirty minutes without one car stopping, that is when we start loading everything in my husband’s truck to take to Goodwill. This keeps us from getting too frustrated with the entire sale. Some days this is 3:30pm. This past month, it was about 12:30pm. I’m OK with that. We cleaned out the garage, donated items to those in need, and made some great spending money for ourselves!

Did I miss any tips that you use to make your garage sale amazingly simple and effective? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!