Around this time of year, most people are either wrapping up their spring cleaning or just starting to think about it. But once the cleaning is done you’re likely to have items that you no longer need cluttering your house. So why not make a few bucks out of it? Garage sales are the perfect chance to declutter your home without feeling the guilt of throwing items away.
Whether you’re holding a yearly sale to help relieve your home of clutter or you’re a more seasoned professional who collects items and holds garage sales as a means of earning semi-regular income, renting self storage can help make your sale better organized and more successful (which of course means more profitable).
Tips for Having a Successful Garage Sale
Now it’s time for the garage sale. You have staged the tables and displays for your garage sale and priced all of your items. However, that’s only half the battle. There are some other things you can do to help your garage sale be as successful as possible:
Watch the Weather
Respect the elements. Know the weather patterns of your area and plan accordingly. Extended forecasts aren’t always reliable, but they can give you some idea if the target date for your sale is likely to coincide with a thunderstorm.
Advertise and Get the Neighborhood’s Attention
Get people’s attention. Many subdivisions and neighborhoods will organize community sales, where a lot of the publicity legwork will be done for you, but if you’re going alone all the advertising is on you. Newspapers still have sections in the classified ads for garage sales, but like most other things garage sales have gone digital. Craigslist has a page specifically for garage sale listings and many communities will have their own local sites dedicated to advertising garage sales as well. Posting a few flyers (with hours of the sale and directions to your home) on street signs, lamp posts and community bulletin boards will help spread the word about your sale. Check out Adobe’s Free Event Flyer Maker for quick and easy to use templates!
Stick to 25¢ Increments
Change is hard. When pricing items, stick to quarter dollar increments. This will limit the amount of change you’ll need on hand. Not having change for someone could lead to you either taking a lower price on an item than you want or losing the sale altogether.
Negotiate on Prices
Let’s make a deal. Don’t get offended if someone haggles with you on prices. Negotiating is a time honored tradition of yard sales. If there are items where you won’t negotiate on price, identify them ahead of time and make it clear on the price tag the number is “firm”. Remember, if you’re renting a storage unit, any unsold items can be easily stored again. Don’t find yourself forced into taking a much lower price for something out of some self imposed obligation to sell as much of your stuff as possible.
Create Curb Appeal
Create curb appeal. Some people just can’t pass by a garage sale without stopping, but many will decide whether to approach your home based on what they see as they drive by. Cut your grass a few days ahead of time (this will have the lawn looking nice without making people walk through a bunch of freshly cut grass), get clutter not being sold out of the driveway and yard. Try putting some larger (and hopefully more appealing items) closer to the street to catch passing eyes. Yours won’t be the only sale in town (or even your neighborhood). Take steps to ensure your sale stands out among the rest.
How a Storage Unit Can Help With Your Garage Sale
A self storage unit can allow for you to collect and safely hold items for your sale without your home getting too cluttered for comfortable living. Plotting out your sale ahead of time allows you to more accurately price your items and put together a list of the most attractive items for use in online advertising. The garage sale setup process can be much easier with a storage unit to work with, as well.
Stage Your Tables and Displays & Take Photos
Presentation can make or break a garage sale. Many storage units are spacious enough to allow you to stage your garage sale tables and best show what your sale will look like. This will also give you the ability to take a full inventory of your stuff, pick out the most attractive items and create ads with accompanying photos, which are more likely to draw people in.
Price Your Items Before the Sale
After you’ve staged all of your items, you can price your items and save yourself a great deal of work before the days of the garage sale.
Store Items After Your Sale
Sometimes, even the best garage sales can leave yards full of unsold items. Self-storage can give you a place to house all of your items that weren’t sold during the sale, and they will be easy to access all year round. On the other hand, many people holding yard sales will be anxious to move as much stuff as possible. If you’re renting a storage unit, you can cherry-pick these sales for some of the best stuff (often at lower prices than they’re worth) and hold those items in your storage unit until next year’s garage sale season rolls around. That’s just one way you can do more than just save money with a storage unit, you can actually make money.
Even if you’re selling great stuff at low prices, you won’t sell or make much if you don’t handle your sale correctly. A successful garage sale is equal parts art and science. Knowing some of the basics will put you on a path toward success.
Looking for a unit to help you have an easy garage sale set up and take-down? Check out our Self Storage Calculator to see what sizes and types of unit to fit your needs and rent online today.