Hosting a Garage Sale: Part 3

This week's focus is on setting up the garage sale. If you missed the first two parts of this series, here are part 1 and part 2.

Start a few days before the sale. There is nothing worse than waiting until the night before the sale to begin setting it up. You will wind up staying up way too late working on it and being exhausted when the sale starts very early the next morning. Our sale is a week away and we set up the tables Thursday night. I've been slowly bringing items out to the garage as I get a chance. It is supposed to rain parts of next week so I will really focus then when I can't get outside but it is nice to know I won't have to wait until the last minute to get everything organized.

Sweep the garage floor. Sweep out the random leaves, grass clippings, and dirt that have appeared in the garage before setting anything up. If your garage is a mess, try to clean it up a little too. A nice appearance will appeal to the customer instead of distracting from your sale.

Visualize the layout. Decide where you want items to land before randomly setting them on tables. I have taken scrap paper and taped category names on tables so I can sort as I price. This is much easier to do from the get go instead of waiting until everything is priced and then realizing it is not organized at all.

Group like items together. This goes with the point above, but keep like items such as kitchen, toys, etc together. It will make it easier for the customer to find what they are looking for and therefore boost your sales.

Cover anything that is not for sale. There will most likely be items in your garage that are not for sale, simply cover them with a sheet so no one tries to buy them.

Stay tuned next week for how to market your sale. If you have any other great garage sale hints or tips, please leave a comment below.