Ready, Set, Sell! How to Set Up & Run a Family Garage Sale

“One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!” This was a common statement I heard from my grandpa while I was growing up. He found value in most things or believed someone else would find value in it. There are items in your house that you no longer need, but someone else could benefit from. Instead of throwing it out, consider selling it or giving it away to charity.

In our house, we love garage sale season. We plan around city-wide sales and have a blast going from sale to sale, finding things that we could use or that someone else could use. This year we were able to get items for our daughter’s first house and baby items for our other daughter’s first baby. We found some great deals and saved a lot of money on things they needed. (How to find deals at a garage sale is another article altogether and is coming soon!)

In this article I want to talk about having a garage sale. I know, it’s a lot of work! But hear me out… During summer break (or at a time that is good for you), take the time to go through your house. We have done this just about every summer as a family. This will help bring some order to everything and help you to be ready to start the new school year out on top. Decluttering is so good for everyone! Garage sales give your kids, even young ones, an opportunity to experience the entrepreneurial spirit.

It’s a good idea to start with one room and closet at a time; otherwise you will get completely overwhelmed. The kids’ rooms can be quite time-consuming when you have little ones because they have a lot of stuff! It can be helpful to go through their room alone or try letting them help you. Your older kids might need some supervision or encouragement to stay focused, but they can do this pretty independently. 

• Touch each item and decide which category it falls into: Keep, Sale, or Trash.
• With kids’ clothes that no longer fit, you will have to determine if this is something you want to keep for additional children or let go. I had tubs that I would mark with the size and store for later use. It’s helpful to downsize what wasn’t needed and take inventory of what will be needed for the next child. I often kept a list of those things in my purse for when I came across a deal at the store or while thrifting. It would help me to remember what I needed. The same goes for shoes!
• If you are overwhelmed by the number of toys, consider having a rotation schedule where you take a portion of toys out and store them. This helps with boredom, and kids will get excited about the switch. Any broken toys should be pitched, and loved toys no longer played with should go in the sale pile.
• Have the mentality of “If I haven’t used this item in the past year, do I really need to keep it?” As you go through your kitchen, office, homeschool items, garage, basement, and other closets, this will help you be efficient. 

If you have a garage, that is perfect for the sale! We don’t have a big garage, so we put up tables in our yard or driveway. Sometimes we joined a family who had a big garage and had a multi-family sale. People love to go to those! Ask your church or friends for tables you can borrow or set up sawhorses with plywood. You can even spread blankets on the ground for some things.

Buyers will be more interested in your sale if you are organized and have a good pricing system. I find it awkward to ask what people want for an item that isn’t marked when I’m at a garage sale, so I price everything or have a chart with prices for things like clothes. This is when the kids got excited because I would let them have color-coded stickers for the items that they were selling. As people purchased things, the stickers were placed on a posterboard under their name. They would spend hours calculating what each one was making all day long and at the end of the day. (This is real-life math, by the way!) If you want to sell your stuff, then you need to price it right. The rule of thumb for a used item is to sell it at about 10% of its original price. You can also give yourself a little wiggle room to negotiate. Now, if it’s a name-brand item or you see that its value is higher on eBay or other resale sites, increase your price or consider selling it on those platforms if it doesn’t sell at your sale. 

Try to organize your items and present them in the best way possible. Some things may need to be dusted and spruced up, and that is a great job for the kids to help with. The better things look, the more appealing they will be. Clothes can be tricky. Most people won’t take the time to go through a messy pile of clothes, so organize them by size. I hang as many clothes as possible and cut out cardboard dividers like stores use to separate sizes. Usually, we have a clothing chart with a set price for shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, coats, curtains, etc. If I fold clothes on a table, I’ll use scotch tape to divide the table and hang a sign to indicate the size of each taped-off area. People love this kind of organization, and our clothes almost always sell out. What’s left we donate to our local resale shop.

You’ve done the work, now let’s get rid of this stuff!

• If you have the space, a holding table is nice to have. This allows customers to put things down in a “safe” spot—and now their hands are free to hold more items!
• Be ready to make deals with people, but I personally will hold firm to the asking price at the beginning of the sale and be more willing to let things go on the last day. 
• Advertise, Advertise, Advertise!—Facebook Marketplace has been a great place for us to advertise, along with our city’s Facebook page. Visible garage sale signs that point to your sale will catch people driving by. You can buy these signs or have your kids help make them out of posterboard or cardboard. Make sure to attach them securely and even hang balloons to catch people’s eye.
• Consider having some evening hours for those who work during the day. For example, start the sale Thursday evening from 5-8pm, host all day Friday 8am-8pm, or have a half-off day Saturday from 8am-12pm. Do what works for you but consider times that will accommodate other schedules.
• Save up Walmart bags and boxes to put purchased items in. 

• Be ready to start on time! This is the hardest part. Customers will usually come at or before your start time. If you are ready early you will feel less flustered when they show up.
• Give all your helpers a task or have a rotating schedule for little breaks. It’s good for them to share responsibility, especially if they are selling some of their own items.
• Have a lemonade stand or sell water bottles! Who can resist a child selling refreshments at a table?
• During quiet bursts, straighten up your tables and try to keep them neat. As needed, take empty tables down or rearrange and spread things out more.
• If your sale is multiple days, have something to cover your tables at night. Tarps, sheets, and tablecloths are all good options. Keep an eye on the weather and bring valuable things inside.
• Have a half-off sale during the last couple of hours. Tell customers this and they usually will come back to see what’s left! Bring inside anything that you don’t want to fire sale and post those another time on eBay or marketplace platforms. 

At this time, you are probably tired but feeling accomplished. You have a choice now. Save leftover items for a future sale or give things away for free—this is easy, just put it on the curb or box it up to donate. All hands on deck for this project! Don’t forget to take down your street signs and delete your Facebook posts.

End the sale by totaling up everyone’s stickers and giving them their money. This is very rewarding for the kids—and for mamas! Jot down some notes on what worked and what to do differently next time and put it with your garage sale box that holds stickers, signs, and sizing charts. 

Finally, go get ice cream and celebrate!