by Lisa McGee

Created on: July 03, 2008   Last Updated: November 13, 2011

If you are going to put the effort into organizing a garage sale, do it right. Take the time to plan ahead and do all the little things that make a garage sale great and you will reap the benefit, in the form of profits.

The first thing you need to do is go through the items you want to sell. Do you have enough to fill more than a small table? If the answer is no, do yourself a favor and join someone else's sale. It will save you some effort and if there are two or more sellers, you can advertise as a "multi-family" sale. If you go it alone, you are going to get a lot of "drive-bys." A drive-by is when a potential buyer goes slowly passed your sale, deciding if it's worth stopping at. One small table of items is rarely enough to stop a car.

Once you have decided you do have enough items to warrant a sale, set the date. This takes some consideration as well. The best time for garage sales (at least here in the Northeast) is Spring. People are itching to get out and enjoy the weather. Also, die hard garage saler's believe that the folks who sell early in the year, have been planning and organizing all winter long, thus have a better sale ready to go.

Another consideration is what is going on in your town. Is there a weekend that has a big event planned, an event that draws in crowds from out of town? If so, that is a good weekend to have a garage sale. In our town, we have a series of antique shows through out the year. I don't even need to look up when the event is going on, I can tell by the huge number of garage sale signs springing up.

Once you have chosen a date, consider asking the neighbors on your street if they would like to join you. A neighborhood sale is a big draw. Buyers can go from one sale to another without having the hassle of driving and searching. These are becoming much more popular recently. Another option is to ask your relatives to bring over their stuff and advertise as a "multi-family" sale.

Now for the organizing. Make sure all your items are in good order. If a toy should have batteries, put them in. If something is electric and needs a plug, Place it near an outlet that you have available, so a potential buyer can test it. If no outlet is available, run an extention cord. Many a useful item is passed up because the buyer has been burned before, buying a broken appliance and won't even go near one.

Wash the clothing. Check them over. If you have a bunch of clothing that has some staining, make a section for clothing that you advertise

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