Well after several curious readers have asked me ''how do I do it?'' And ''it'' being sell my stockpile at my garage sales I have decided to put together this post with detailed pictures and descriptions of what and how I do it. It is really easy and if you are organized a bit in the beginning it will be a breeze!So let's get started: Here are some guidelines to follow, it will make it easier on you and ''buyers'' to find you!
1.Advertising, BIG BRIGHT BOLD Signs! Make sure all signs you make are on BIG BRIGHT PAPER. I buy a poster kit at Walgreens for $4.99 plus a heavy duty black permanent marker for $1.99. I use the Green and Pink Poster Paper and make the signs SIMPLE and easy to read! Don't waste time putting your address. I simple wrote: SALE with an arrow pointing them in the right direction. On signs that are further away from your house put the day's, IE..Fri-Sat 5/1 - 5/2 That way people will know when to follow your lovely signs you made to buy buy buy!
Also put an ad on Craigslist (about 2-3 days before your sale) or your blog to help promote it. I asked the people if they followed the signs or saw it off of Craigslist and most people said they followed the signs and several people said ''Those are the best garage sale signs I've seen in years!'' So there you go:-)
2. Organize, Organize, Organize...Your Stockpile! I use these handy storage totes from Target (I bought on sale for $2.99) to organize into categories: Oral Care, Beauty, Hair Care, Medicine, Fragrance, Shaving, and Misc. I try to always put a small round sticker on the bottom or top of each product of the actual OOP (out of pocket) I spent on the item so I know what to charge at the garage sale.
3. Appropriate Pricing: This one is a hard one to learn. My first year of selling my stockpile I only made $256 in 2.5 days as opposed to this years $570 in 1.5 days! My first year I was ''nervous'' about selling my goods. ''What would people think? Would they really buy all my stuff?'' Well need-less to say that is all they bought!
So I learned my lesson this year and priced things about .50 to $1 higher. I try to always make atleast $1-$3 on each item. All the freebies we get those are easy! I try to have my prices be a tad bit cheaper than Walmart or Target.
On my last day I slashed everything to HALF OFF of original prices. Again, I made a REALLY large sign I put in front of my house that ready Everything Half Off, that got a lot of people to come in and buy $20-$40 worth in one trip! Look at the end of the post for what I priced my stock at.
4. Organize Sale Items into $ bins: Again I used the totes to put all $1, $2, $4 ect..items into. That way you are saving yourself time by individually pricing each item. This worked really well for all the Bertolli Spaghetti sauce I was selling! Put your more expensive items like laundry detergent, cleaning supplies out on the table. Then simple make 1 sign saying ''Laundry Soap $3.50'' and tape the sign in front of the items. That way you wont be asked a bazillion times what each item costs!
5. Set-Up & Staging: I would stage your sale so the first thing people see driving up are your really nice items, like my table of laundry detergent, Windex, Glade Air freshners, you know the more expensive items. I had all my kitchen chairs with 1 Target tote on each. I simple wrote on computer paper $1 each or $2 each and taped it to my chair. That way it looks like you have a lot more than what you do. Also don't be afraid to put some of your kids' toys out front to make it seem like it is for sale that way you can get those on-lookers to actually stop in and see what you have!
6. Incentive & Freebies: When I posted my ad on Craigslist I advertised that the first 10 people could pick a goody from my Freebie bag. I had some nice things in there too:-) It was incentive to come in with no obligation to buy. It worked because the early birds (most anyway) said ''Hey was I one of the first 10?''
Another incentive I was doing was telling the people who were buying if they referred a friend or family member that person could pick from the freebie pile too! They wrote their names down and sure enough I got 6 new customers that way!
7. Make It Fun! This one is key, if you don't have fun you will be a grumpy-gills and not make as much $$! People won't buy from grumpy people. I try to have fun balloons blown up with string to give away to all the kids that come. I set up a little stand for my kids to sell soda for .25. Make it fun for your kids too, I let them keep the $ earned from all the soda sold so they could pick out a new toy...ah but that's not all hee hee, I made them pick out quit a few of their older toys they don't play with anymore to put in a FREE bag for all the kids to pick out. This pleased the mom's who in turn (I think) looked longer and bought a few more items:-0 It's a win-win for everyone.
Here is an example list you can go by when you are ready to have your sale. This is all the items and prices I sold this year. Oh yes 1 more thing. On my last day I slashed everything to HALF OFF of original prices. Again, I made a REALLY large sign I put in front of my house that ready Everything Half Off, that got a lot of people to come in and buy $20-$40 worth in one trip!
Items/Prices:
Windex $1.50
All 3x Laundry Detergent $3
Snuggle Fabric Softer $3
Pledge Cleaning Spray/Wipes $2
Hansen's Soda $2 for a 6 pack
Toothbrushes $1
Toothpaste $2
Floss $1.50
Men's Gillette Power Razors $4
Women's Venus/Gilette Razors $4
Disposable Razors $2.50
Shaving Cream $1.50
Deodorant $1.50
Dry Idea Deodorant $1
Vaseline Lotion Smaller Bottle$2
Vaseline Pump Lotion $3
Glade Sense-n-Spray $3
Glade Lasting Impressions $3
Glade Small Soy Candles $2.50
Febreze Plug In $4
Random Cereal $1.50
Sunsilk Stylers $1.50
Shampoo/Conditioner $2
Medicine $2
Sambucol $2 ( $1.01 MM @ Wags)
Johnson Baby Products $2.50
Bertolli Pasta Pouches $2
Safeway Pasta $1
Electrosol Dish Tabs $2
Bright Green Kleenex $1
Softsoap Body Wash $2.50
Nivea Body Wash $2.50
Random FAR Items I've collected $1-$2
Other Cleaning Supplies $1.50
Huggies Diapers $5
And again last day slashed everything that I had left to half off! I hope that this was helpful to everyone. Garage Sales should be simple and fun! The most fun I think is replenishing your stock!! Good luck to everyone and HAPPY SHOPPING:-)
**Have you had a garage sale yet? If so I would love to hear from you on how you did and any pointers you can offer fellow readers and myself!**
