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Get Paid for De-cluttering Your House
When you have a garage sale, you make money by selling no-longer needed, or never-wanted, items. It’s fun to get cash for de-cluttering your house!
Buyers like these sales because they get to acquire new bargain-priced treasures.
Garage sales are definitely an exciting win/win situation for all!
But, it’s also important that your garage sale is safe.
So here’s lots of information that shows you how to have a safe and profitable garage sale.
Start Planning Your Garage Sale Today
Now’s a great time to start planning for an end-of-summer sale.
After Labor Day, September 5, 2022, everyone is back from vacation and temperatures are cooling. People want to shop and plan for the upcoming school year.
But they don’t want to break the bank.
If you have lots of “treasures” just taking up space in your home or storage, have a garage sale and turn your unwanted stuff into cash.
Can You Really Make Money at a Garage Sale?
In a word, yes.
If it’s your first garage sale, you’ll be surprised at how quickly small sales add up.
But before you reap the rewards, there are things you need to know.
A Garage Sale Differs From a Moving/House Sale
A garage sale:
- Takes place outside on your front lawn and/or in your garage
- Doesn’t usually attract people looking for expensive items or who have a lot of money with them to spend
- Attracts people who are searching for true bargains on lower-priced items
A moving or house sale:
- Usually takes place inside the home
- Offers expensive home items such as good furniture, fine china
- Attracts people prepared to spend more money
If you have high-quality furniture, gold jewelry, or expensive china to sell, you won’t find your best buyer at a garage sale.
What Sells Best at a Garage Sale
There are items that do tend to sell better than others.
The time of year and age of buyers can influence what sells best at a garage sale, as well.
But what you have to sell ultimately determines just what you will sell. I would not recommend purchasing items to resell at your sale–garage sales don’t do well with marked-up items.
Just remember, if you want to get rid of something, it costs nothing to include it in your sale.
In the following list, I have indicated some top selling items by putting them in bold print.
Items to sell at a garage sale:
- No-longer wanted holiday items from Christmas, Halloween, etc.
- Everyday dishes, glasses, and inexpensive silverware
- Vintage dishes
- Household items like shoe racks or ironing boards
- Baby clothing
- Clothing including new, never-worn clothing that you realize you will never wear
- Baby accessories (such as cribs, playpens, large backyard toys)
- Crafting items and supplies
- Toys
- Furniture
- Gently worn shoes and handbags
- Old LPs, CDs, and DVDs
- No-longer or never wanted home décor items
- Home, garden, and car tools
- Any miscellaneous items no longer wanted
My strongest piece of advice: If you are emotionally attached to something, don’s sell it at your sale. It will be too painful watching it walk away with its new owner.
How to Get Top Dollar for Your Unwanted Stuff
To have a successful garage sale:
- Make sure all items are freshly cleaned and clearly displayed.
Leaving items dirty and dusty from months or years of neglect truly hurts your cause. Take the time to clean or freshen up all items and you’ll receive top garage sale prices for them.
Cleaner items will also make all your other sale items more appealing.
- Try to have a lot of display tables. This way, people don’t need to bend or crouch down to sort through boxes. If shoppers have to crouch and dig through boxes, you’ll only sell to the most dedicated of garage sale diggers. Your profits will suffer.
- Make sure all items are clearly displayed and priced. Even the strangest items will catch the right buyer’s eye if it can be easily seen!
And be prepared to let items go at a fair, or even lower price. These profits will add up to a successful garage sale.
Additional Important Tips for a Profitable Garage Sale
- Price items with a little wiggle room. Many buyers want to bargain and will lose all interest if they can’t.
- Have same-use items grouped together. For example, if you are selling tools, have them all in one area.
- If you are selling a batch of items, such as many old records, be mentally prepared with a discounted price for the entire collection. Sometimes buyers want to buy items in batch and will come to you with an offer. Be prepared to immediately accept, counteroffer, or decline.
- Have a pad and pencil ready to take names of buyers who are interested in items but don’t want to pay your current price. You can always contact them after the sale, with a better price. If they are truly interested, you will probably make the sale.
- Put up lots of signs several days before the sale. People will plan to stop by.
- Make sure signs have large, easy-to-read directions that are visible from inside a car. Directional arrows are always helpful.
- Check your signs each morning, an hour before the sale starts. They can get knocked down or walk away overnight. Have extra signs on hand to replace damaged or missing ones.
- Visit a few local garage sales beforehand to get an idea of local pricing. See which items are popular. You may get some good ideas.
- Take advantage of free online garage sale listings that cover your area. Today, most people check these sites on their phones rather than buy a newspaper.
- Put up flyers in local supermarkets and on community bulletin boards.
- Have plenty of change on hand. It’s inevitable, someone will early on offer a $100 bill for a $3 item and deplete your small cash reserve. You’ll miss out on many s sales if you can’t make change for fives, tens, and twenties and even the occasional hundred.
- Have an electric source handy so the buyer can test electric items, such as lamps and radios, to make sure they’re working.
Important Tips for Garage Sale Safety
Safety is important to think about, and plan for, when having a garage sale. You may not want to think about these things, but it’s foolish not to.
Like the old adage says, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Some important tips for garage sale safety include:
- Have at least three people with you during the sale. Two can work at check-out and one can be available to answer questions and help potential buyers. Don’t forget to plan breaks for yourself and sales partners.
- Always keep your money with you. Never leave it unattended at the check-out table–even for a second. I find a fanny pack or belt bag is great for holding money. If you need to get up, it automatically comes with you. And you can easily access money for change.
Check out this slim, close to the body, Nice Pack. It has a secure zippered closure and can also be used as a belt bag, cross body, or shoulder bag throughout the year.
- Make sure that the door leading into your home from your garage is always on view, or even better, locked. You don’t want anyone wandering inside while you are busy outside.
- Never keep all your profits with you–only have what you need to make change. Bring other money inside on a regular basis, and put it safely away.
- If someone asks if they can use your bathroom, and you want to help them out, have someone walk them to the bathroom and wait outside the door for them. Remove all medicines from the bathroom beforehand. And remember, it’s your home. You can always say, “I’m sorry, but we’re not letting any buyers inside.” It’s well within your right to set boundaries.
- Always have a cell phone with you. This goes for everyone working at the sale.
It is a lot of work to hold a garage sale. But start preparing now, and you will enjoy a less cluttered house and a slightly fatter bank account, come September.
Are you going to be moving? There are differences between a garage sale and a moving sale. Read all about how to make money with a successful moving sale.
