My mom is having a garage sale this weekend, so Paulie and I took full advantage of the opportunity to purge. Everything from a never-been-used Ikea kitchen set to a hodgepodge collection of votives has been carted up to my mom's for the sale. The best part? A bunch of her neighbors are participating, which means I might just be able to scoop up some new finds of my own.
If you've ever had a garage sale before (this is a first for us!), feel free to share your secrets. For starters, I plan on baking some chocolate chip cookies for the shoppers. Because who wouldn't love a little sugar with their sundries, right?
24 comments:
A great tip I read from the Cynthia Rowley Swell Party book: To help move single, unmatched cocktail, wine and drinking glasses, prepare some lemonade and a sign stating "Lemonade $1, Glasses FREE". Maybe serve cider instead of lemonade. My personal tip- maintain your sense of humor throughout the day - you get all kinds at yard sales. Good luck!
I only wish more people were struck with the urge to bake chocolate chip cookies for the shoppers - I would definitely attend more garage sales if homemade chocolate chip cookies were involved! :)
Sugar with your sundries, what a great line. I love reading what you write, it always comes across as fresh and unique.
Good luck with the sale, i can't wait to hear about it, and learn some tricks.
My sister had a sale that included lots of jewelery. She had a box with lots of individual spaces. Whenever she sold something, she put a penny in the empty box to keep track of what she had sold and reduce shoplifting. She said it really worked.
love suggestion 1, from BeesKneesParties!! my brother and i always sold lemonade at our mom's yard sales, and most people don't want it, but can't pass up cute kids :)
[plus, we got to keep our money!]
always price a TAD higher than you'd be willing to let things go for, ppl that go to garage sales will ALWAYS low ball.
cookies are a lovely touch!
i cant believe this is your first yard sale! exciting times! also i'd so be more inclined to shop if a cookie came along with my purchase! good plan.
when i was a kid my aunt and uncle had one every spring and i always had a lemonade stand to go right along with it. so much fun! i've never had one as an adult but am going to team up with a friend for one next spring. i can't wait! love the cookie idea, i plan on stealing it :)
xo
kelly
I just had my first garage sale a couple of months ago and I made a small fortune! I loved it! BTW, I made cookies too and it DOES help. Good luck!
I agree with pricing things just a little high, not just because it leaves room for bartering, but often people don't want to buy things that are too cheap.
We had a whole bunch of clothes that I just wanted to get rid of and priced everything at 25 cents each. Nothing sold. My garage sale experienced neighbor came over and raised the prices to between $3 and $10 and about 6 minutes later things were selling like hot cakes! I still don't understand why, but she insisted that it's what always happens.
My best piece of advice is to have enough change on hand--a roll of quarters, nickels and a stack of $1s should do the trick. Also, a friend once had a "bargain bag" trick--as his sale winded (wound?) down, he offered a promotion--all the wares shoppers could fit into a plastic shopping bag for $10. He sold just about everything! Good luck and have fun! :)
I've never had a garage sale myself, so unfortunately I don't have any advice... but I am pretty much obsessed with that scene in Sex and the City! Can't wait for the sequel :)
Have never had one but want to in the future.
All the best!
Instead of pricing every little thing, set up $1, $5, etc. tables for all of the miscellaneous stuff you want to move quickly (and not be stuck with at the end of the day). :) Good luck!
I agree with Rosemary about the promotion if your goal is to come home with nothing! It works well. Here, we start about 7 AM, and most people come between then and 8 AM. So, be ready for the early birds. And, after the sale, we head straight to good will. It's not worth storing if you were ready to sell it.
and, ps Bee (if you didn't see my reply), I grew up in Purchase!
I'm a hoarder who gets sudden urges to purge things, but once they're out there on the tables, pricetags on, ready to be owned by someone else, I get suddenly nostalgic. At garage sales as a kid, my dad would take all my stuff, itemize it, price it, and then I'd sneak through the tables and snatch a bunch of things back to my "keep" pile. IT's a vicious cycle....
Baking cookies is a great idea! Have fun!
I have to be honest and say that if you just want to get rid of your stuff - donate it straight to a charity as a tax deduction rather than bothering with a garage sale. It's too much hard work. If you want to make as much money as you can from your stuff then having a garage sale is great but you need to do it right. I recommend checking out www.bestgaragesaletips.com for hundreds of tips for a successful money-making sale especially the tips on preparation.
Garage sales can be so fun... but so exhausting! I usually don't tag everything with a price... I make it up as I go along. That way as you get later in the day the prices start dropping!
haha, i love that scene! So cute.
Purging of things is the best feeling!!! But it can also be hard to part with things, even when you know you don't need them... it's like working out - you can think of a ton of excuses not to or reasons to put it off, but once it's done it feels so good! :)
cookies and lemonade are the perfect recipe for a garage sale success. unloess you can afford a jamaican steel band too?! lol
good luck hun!
ps - i put that photo as my screensaver yesterday funnily enough! x
Everyone loves a little FREE treat!
Smart move :)
I linked you to my post today!
Have a lovely weekend,
Laura
www.brightboldbeautiful.blogspot.com
cookies are a GREAT idea! my mom has started running all her garage sales as "name your price" or "what's it worth to you?" garage sales, to avoid the work of pricing everything. have fun!
These are GREAT tips!! (I really liked the idea with the penny/jewelry tip -- it's always so disheartening when you realize someone has STOLEN from your garage sale... who would think? (But it's happened to me before... the turds!) Glad to hear it sounds like it was a success!! (they're a lot of work, aren't they? but worth it, one always hopes!)
I love the photo you chose for this post...your so clever! Hope the sale went well...I have yet to host one so sorry, no tips from me. The cookies sound like a good idea though!
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