Organized Garage Sale - Tips + Printables

This week I am working on having another garage sale.

I have shared many tips on organizing garage sales in the past.

Here are the posts for anyone that missed them:

Hosting a MORE organized garage sale - Read about it here.

Host an Organized Garage Sale - Read about it here.

AND...

if you want to make it super easy on yourself, I've created an entire printable garage sale bundle package that is NOW available in my Shop.  This entire set was designed to help you host an amazingly organized garage sale AND to take some of the work out. 

Here is the printable set that’s available in my shop.  You get a total of 37 pages to download and print from home.  Print the pages as many times as needed.  Of course, for personal use only.

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,
DaNita 
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View more of my Most Recent Projects HERE.
 

Hosting a MORE Organized Garage Sale

Hello, hello!  Today I’m sharing how I planned and hosted a MORE organized garage sale than in years past.  My friends and I had the sale a couple of weeks back and I’m just NOW getting around to posting about it.

If you remember, last year I shared tips on hosting an organized sale.  This year, my friends and I had an EVEN MORE organized sale and we got so many comments on how much people appreciated the fact that it was so highly organized and easy to find exactly what they’re looking for, which I believe, encourages people to buy items. :)

PLANNING

With any garage/yard sale expect to put in a LOT of work.  BUT, get this, I’ve created an entire printable garage sale bundle package that is NOW available in my Shop.  This entire set was designed to help you host an amazingly organized garage sale AND to take some of the work out. Yes, I created this set for myself too, so I don’t have to do the same thing over and over every year.  I have everything I need all prepped and ready to go for the next sale that I have.

Here is the printable set that’s available in my shop.  You get a total of 37 pages to download and print from home.  Print the pages as many times as needed.  Of course, for personal use only.

I keep the printable items in a binder and store it in a bin in the garage. The next time I go to have another sale, I’ll have everything I need all in one location, which I’m super excited about.

I keep a smaller bin that holds pens, tape, a calculator and labels inside the garage sale bin as well…

… and a cash box that I bought from Staples.

Inside my garage sale bin I also have a ton of grocery bags for the next sale.

PREPARING

• Go through your home and decide what to sell.  Start doing this early enough (it takes some time.)  I kind of do this all year long, when I come across something that I’ll be adding to the sale, I put them into bins in the garage, until the bins are full, then I start collecting items in a closet in the garage. About 3 weeks before my sale, I do a final “go through” of the entirety of my home.

• Set a date for the sale

ADVERTISE

• Advertise with Flyers:  I advertise my sale with flyers (which are part of the printable package in my shop and is an editable file.) Post around town the week of the sale.
• Advertise in your local newspaper:  Included in the printable package are more advertising tips on this one.
• Advertise online: Craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

• Advertise with bright colored signs: More tips are included in the printable package regarding signs AND printable directional signs are also included.  This year I used a great readers advice and had my signs say “Upscale Multi-Family Garage Sale.” LOVED the idea and I live in an upscale neighborhood, so I decided that was okay to do.  Thanks for the idea!!

SETTING UP

Categorize your sale like you would see in a store.  Included in the printable bundle pack are 21 printable category signs.  I laminated my signs, that way I can use them for many years.

I typically start to set tables on the Monday before the sale.   I set all items up in the garage and the morning of the sale, we pull most of the tables out into the driveway.

Set up Tables: Get as many tables as you can from family and friends.  Having items at eye level is much better than on the ground and they sell faster.  HOWEVER, toys laid out on a blanket on the ground is good.

Cover Tables: My tables are really getting junky, so this year I bought plastic table covers from the dollar tree and used those to cover up my tables.  Table cloths just give a much cleaner, neater look.

Take the time to wash/wipe down your items: You’ll have a better chance at selling them if you do. 

Categorize clothing in sections: Men, Woman, Boys & Girls

and also organize by size.

These hanging clothes dividers are part of the printable bundle pack too.

Check Pockets: When setting up, make sure to check the pockets of jackets, pants, purses, bags and such.  There has been a time or two that I’ve forgot and some honest person finds money inside.

Books and photo albums are good in totes.

PRICE AND LABEL ITEMS

• Price items: Included in the printable bundle pack is a price guide sheet to get you started.  This year I printed my prices onto Avery return address labels.  I set it up to get 2 prices with my initial on 1 label.  So much easier than using masking tape, which I’ve used up until now.  I can’t believe I haven’t printed the prices before.
  
  
• Clearly mark items: If the item is new, near new, works great, etc. put a sticker on it that says so.  Tape pj’s together and write the size on the tape.  Adding the size on the clothing stickers is a great idea too. Mark the size of window panels, duvet covers, bedspreads, sheets, dust ruffles, etc. Masking tape works great for this.
  
  

GET CHANGE & HAVE A STOCK OF BAGS READY

This year we started with:

• 4-ten dollar bills
• 4-five dollar bills
• 30-one dollar bills
• 2 rolls of quarters

We used our new cash box (as shown above) this year and it worked great.  What I failed to mention last year and we have done this every single year is this:

We keep a minimum amount of cash in the box. Anytime there’s a break in customers, one of us ladies running the checkout station, takes the majority of the cash out of the box and brings it into the house, adding it to an envelope that we have hidden inside.

Even still, with a minimum amount of cash in the box, WE NEVER, EVER leave the CASH BOX alone or out of our sight.  One of us is always watching it.

DAY OF SALE

Get up nice and early, at least 2 hours before the sale.  Expect early birds too!  

Create a checkout table.

At the checkout table, have bags ready and a place for hangers…

Sell snacks if you’d like.  We kept them right at the checkout stand this year.

HAUL THE TABLES OUTSIDE

If possible, have a friend or your spouse put the signs out.  This helps tremendously as you’ll have a busy morning getting everything ready.  My husband always sets out my signs.

and last but certainly not least, Open UP shop and SELL those items!

Here’s a few more tips:

Have a FREE bin.
Mark items down throughout the day.

DONATE THE LEFT-OVERS.

So tell me, are you planning a garage sale?  Are you overwhelmed with the idea of how much work it is?  Lighten your work load with the Printable Garage Sale Bundle Pack. Not only will it take some time off your hands, but you’ll be sure to have the MOST organized garage sale on the block.

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,

DaNita

Organizing an Out of Control Storage Closet

I have this great closet, right off my boys’ toy room.   It’s just a long, narrow closet and I use it as a storage closet.  It’s kind of my “attic” or “basement” storage, as I don’t have either.

I have YET to show you the rest of my upstairs toy room, because I have yet to finish it. I plan to (hopefully) soon!! and I promise, when I do finish it, I will show you.  If you missed it you can see how I’ve organized the toys in the upstairs playroom HERE, HERE and HERE.

See that door off my half finished toy room? It leads to the disaster closet. The door has a lock on it, because it’s my storage closet and I don’t want the little ones digging through the bins inside.

However, my little guys are getting bigger and they keep finding the key to get inside.  BUT now that I’ve cleaned it out, I hid the key, where ONLY I can find it. So if they need something from inside, they need to talk to mama. ;)

I’ve said before that if you are building a new home and have the option to plan for plenty of storage, do so.  That’s what I did and I am SO glad that I did.  Anywhere and everywhere that I could find extra space, I would add a niche or a closet.

NOW what you probably shouldn’t do with that extra storage space is let it get the way that I’ve let mine get these past few months.

Be prepared, because what I’m about to show you is real life here in this Delightful Order house. It’s certainly has become quite un-delightful and I MUST show you because there are way too many of you who think that my home is never out-of-order and that it’s this perfect place, always clean and orderly.  For real, we do live here and it’s NOT always perfect.  Messes are made, un-organization is here, OFTEN… trust me!!

GASP!! … this is really how it looked when I opened the door.  I couldn’t walk to the back of the closet if I wanted to. BUT allow me to explain…

… most everything on the floor is garage sale stuff (the garage sale happened this past weekend and I plan on sharing that with you later.)  If you’ve ever planned and hosted a garage sale then you know how crazy busy the weeks ahead can get.

I had gone through  just about every stitch of every square inch of my home and the garage sale bins that I keep in the garage were completely filled, the little closet in the garage that I also stash garage sale stuff was overflowing, so the rest ended up in this closet…

… and that’s my reason for this dis-order. 

The other week, I spent some time taking the closet over.

First thing I did was clear the entire closet out and vacuumed it.

Next, I hung up the bags and small suitcases.

With simple hooks that I had screwed on the wall.

I put the empty suitcases and backpacks on the wire shelves.

I’ll show you more details on how I’ve organized the bins in another post.

and now, I can walk to the back of the closet…

… without a problem.

Now take a peek at the before and after’s together:

So much better!! That’s it, this closet has gotten a little Delightful Order and it feels great to have it done. :)

Tell me, do you have a closet that you feel is out of control and you need to "take it over" or have you "taken over" a closet lately?  Do share, I'd love to hear from you.

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,

DaNita

Host an Organized Garage / Yard Sale

My friends and I host a Garage/Yard sale each spring. Today, I'm sharing "our" way of having an organized sale.  The most important thing that I would say is PLAN AHEAD!

SET A DATE for the sale.  We ALWAYS have our sales on Fridays, because that's the day that we get the most traffic. Some years we've had the sale on Saturday as well.  It may differ in your area, so ask around to see what day is a "popular garage sale" day. 

COLLECT ITEMS to sell within your home. I'm usually collecting all year.  If I see an item I no longer use, I add it to a dedicated garage sale box that I keep in the garage. A couple of weeks before the sale, I go through every drawer, cabinet, closet, etc. in my entire house and decide what to get rid of.  The garage sale box that I have in my garage, usually ends up being an ENTIRE storage closet FULL by the time I'm finished going through my home.

ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE, ADVERTISE!

*  Create large bright signs and attach balloons to your signs.

*  Create a pull-tab flyer to post around town

*  Advertise on Craigslist

*  Place an ad in your local paper (our ads must be in by the Wednesday before the sale.)

*  Have each person that is involved in the sale post it on their facebook page.

PRICING YOUR ITEMS to sell is probably the most time-consuming. So give yourself PLENTY of time to do this.  Don't try to get all your pricing and setting up done the day before the sale.  It will exhaust you!   I always end up calling my good friend and she helps me figure out the best prices to put on my items. 

I use good ole' masking tape to price my items, because it stays in place.  The little colorful stickers ALWAYS fall off.   Price everything clearly on the top of the item. 

Each year that we have our sale we usually have at least 4 or 5 families involved.  In order to keep track of who's item sells, this year we did a little different tracking system, which worked well for us.   We place our initials on each of our price tags (did you notice the dm on the price tag above? that's me.)   The day of the sale, this is the way we tracked: (one of our lovely customers recommended this.)

We have 2 people at check-out.  One person (the bagger) takes the customers pile and tells the "cashier "the price and the initial, then places the item in a bag.  (REMEMBER to have plastic or paper grocery bags on hand.) The "cashier" writes the prices down with the initial next to each item (see above.) Then she puts a line under the last item. She then takes her calculator and adds up all the items above each line, to get the total price due.  At the end of the sale, we go back and total each persons amount, to figure out who made what.

GET CHANGE

Don't FORGET to go to the bank and get change the day before your sale.  We often begin with: two or three $10.00 bills, four $5.00 bills, twenty $1.00 bills and a roll of Quarters and roll of Dimes.  This year we used plastic pencil boxes to store our money and of course, we didn't let this out of our sight!  It would probably be wiser, NOT to use see-through bins. Next year we will do different :)

SETTING UP

Group like items together on tables.

 A great way to display books is stacking them on their sides in plastic totes or boxes.

We lay a blanket on the ground for all the toys.
It works really great, because the children sit and play with the toys as the parents shop.

We have a wonderful friend, who loans us this clothes rounder every year ~ and it's so great! We try to hang as many clothes as possible, because clothes NEVER, EVER stay folded nicely on tables.  We always do end up with tables of clothing and this is how we organize the tables:

 

Labeling the fronts of the tables, to make it easier for the customer to find what they are looking for.

Place attractive items OUT front, so people can drive by and see that you have good stuff and that your sale would be worth stopping at.

FREE BOX

We place a FREE box at the end of the driveway for people to go through on their way out. Who doesn't LOVE something that costs nothing?

SELL GOODIES

Some years we've had the little ones sell snacks and drinks.  They LOVE it and it's really great for them.   I LOVE this homemade sign!! Makes me :)

Other years, we've had coffee and doughnuts for sale in the morning and hot dogs, soda and chips available to purchase in the afternoon. My hubby and  bro-in-law usually end up grilling the hot-dogs.  It's always FUN when their available to help out. I will say this, the hot-dog stand has always been a BIG hit! 

SLASH PRICES. If you're going to be having a 2-day sale, it's wise to price your items lower for the next day. Or even go through on day 1 and start marking things down, or adding it to your FREE bin.  Of course, if you REALLY want to sell the items, price them REAL CHEAP.

DONATE THE LEFT-OVERS.  At the end of the day, there is usually always stuff left over, unless you have an unbelievable SALE (and if you have a sale with nothing left over, please let me know HOW.) NOW you need to decide what to do with the left-over stuff that didn't sell.  Sometimes I donate my items to another sale that I know of. With children's clothing, I take the name brand clothing and bring it to a clothing consignment shop and often times, I donate the rest to goodwill.  I do NOT bring it back into my home.

Garage Sales ARE a lot of work, but can be SO worth it if you're looking to clear out some clutter and make some extra cash.

Do you have any great Garage Sale Tips?  Do Share!  I'd love to hear!