Organizing A Garage Sale

If you plan to have a garage sale which is also known as a tag sale, evaluate your potential merchandise and decide whether you can make enough money to compensate for the time it will take you to organize the sale, mark the items, and work for the weekend. If you have enough stuff for a sale, the following tips will help you organize a garage sale.

1. Set a date for your sale, noting where holidays and other community events fall on the calendar. While it probably isn’t wise to hold a sale on a major holiday, it may be a good idea to sell your items when you'll attract a large crowd for instance during a festival.

2. Spread the word around. If you have enough inventories to warrant the expense, place an ad in the local newspaper's classified section. Regardless of whether you advertise in the paper, post signs (with clear directions) on telephone poles and bulletin boards around town.

3. Make your yard safe for people to move around freely. Anyone who trips on a divot or stumbles over an exposed pipe may have the right to seek legal action.

4. Present only clean and neat items for sale. Steam wrinkled clothes and wash greasy kitchenware no one wants to buy dirty items.

5. Check with your town government to see whether you need a permit. If a permit is required, evaluate how much it will cost; will the fee consume a large portion of what you intend to make at your sale?

6. Place a price sticker on every item, or sort items by price and put them on tables marked "Everything $5," "Everything $10," and so on. Make sure you stock up on change (coins and small bills) so that you can accept large bills.

7. An hour before you end of the sale, lower the prices. At the end of the sale, gather the items that remain and either put them in your car to donate to a charity or toss them in the trash.