20 tips for a successful garage sale

A friend and I are ardent garage salers.

A friend and I are ardent garage salers.

Once the weather turns a little warmer. we're out on the trail of a good bargain. I've had a few garage sales myself but I'm more of an expert bargain finder than a seller. However, looking at it from that point of view, I came up with a list of ways to have a successful sale that I've learned over the years.

1. The ultimate goal of the sale is to get rid of as much stuff as possible. To do that, you're going to need to price low.

2. Take out anything you want to get more money for and consider selling it in THE TIMES classifieds, eBay or Craigslist. If you price it too high, you'll end up with it and end up taking it to Goodwill, anyway.

3. Consider re-gifting items with tags on. Or just giving them away.

4. Take out sentimental items. They'll be too hard to sell and you'll overprice them because subconsciously you don't want to get rid of them!

5. Wash all clothes. Wipe down items.

6. Remove stained clothes and place in a "free" bin.

7. Have a "free" basket and allow people/kids to take one item each.

8. Price everything or have an easy pricing system.

9. Price it to go or take it to Goodwill at the end. Remember Point No. 1.

10. Sell food. Not only will this make you money but it draws crowds, and crowds buy. Most places we see hot dogs, chips and pop for $2.

11. Place big, attractive items by the curb. That will draw in "drive-by" people.

12. Don't have your sale two days running. If people see that in the paper they'll assume it's picked over.

13. If you can, be part of a subdivision sale.

14. A few hours before closing (say noon), start to mark items down. We met some ladies who were getting up and marking stuff down every 30 minutes. They sold nearly all their stuff that way.

15. Presentation is the difference between people driving by and stopping.

16. Use flags and balloons to draw attention.

17. Use already marked stickers that you can buy cheap at the dollar store to price your items for convenience's sake.

18. Advertise well. THE TIMES reaches over 200,000 houses and is a great way to invite buyers. I went to a subdivision sale last week which wasn't in the paper. Needless to say they had hardly any visitors.

19. Finally, remember, this is not new stuff! Price it low or ...

20. Take it to Goodwill afterwards.

The opinions expressed are solely the writer's. Highland mom and British transplant Clair Boone offers Times readers the lowdown on all things frugal or free. Read her blog at mummydeals.org.