| Drive through almost any neighborhood in any city or | | | | Friday, and Saturday. |
| town on a weekend, and you're sure to see garage | | | | Step five: Advertise, advertise and advertise some |
| sales scattered throughout. | | | | more. Place ads in the local newspaper, shopper |
| These homeowners are spending their weekend time | | | | guides, on bulletin boards and even online. Place signs |
| off making money. The average profit is $600 for a | | | | all over the neighborhood with brightly colored letters, |
| one-weekend garage sale. | | | | attached balloons, etc. |
| It's time to get your share of the pie. Organization is | | | | Step six: Organize your sale. Put price stickers on your |
| the key. | | | | items. Have a wide variety of clothing and jewelry and |
| Step one: Check with the local officials to see what | | | | arrange them in a rainbow of colors. Make sure |
| the local laws and regulations are on operating garage | | | | jewelry and appliances sparkle! Hang clothing on racks |
| sales in your area. | | | | arranged in sizes. Imagine that you are opening a retail |
| Step two: Spend a few weekends going to garage | | | | store and copy what the stores do. |
| sales in your area. See what is selling, what people are | | | | If you have items that are hard to price and you think |
| buying, how the items are priced, how the sellers | | | | they will not sell, put them in a penny box. And be sure |
| advertise. Observe how the sellers display their items. | | | | to mark the box "Penny Box" or "All items just 1 cent |
| Take notes. | | | | each". |
| Step three: Clean house and take stock of what you | | | | Step seven: Timing. Consider starting at 7:00 a.m. |
| have and what it's time to get rid of. Be sure to pick | | | | instead of 8:00 or 9:00. And close no later than 6:00 |
| out at least one interesting and unusual item to call | | | | p.m. And positively NEVER shut down for the noon |
| attention to your sale; some large ticket item you can | | | | hour! There are people who work on weekends and |
| set up in front of your home during your sale. | | | | will stop on their way to or from work and shop during |
| If you find older items such as dishes, a painting, an old | | | | their lunch breaks. |
| flower urn etc. that you feel it's time to dispose of | | | | As most customers will have come and gone by 1:00, |
| have it appraised. You don't want to sell something for | | | | noon hour being the most active, you can start |
| 50 cents only to find out later it was an antique valued | | | | lowering prices after 1:00 p.m. On items you think will |
| at $500.00. You can be sure there are garage sale | | | | not sell at all, put them in a box marked "Free". |
| shoppers who are on the lookout for just this kind of | | | | And lastly, what doesn't sell take to the local Good Will |
| treasure. | | | | or other organization of your choice. |
| Step four: Pick a date for your sale. The best time to | | | | REQUIREMENTS FOR REPRINT: You have |
| have a garage sale is twice a year in May or | | | | permission to publish this article free of charge in your |
| September. People will be out shopping for summer | | | | e-zine, newsletter, ebook, print publication or on your |
| items in May and winter items in September. | | | | website ONLY if it remains unchanged and you include |
| Never pick a holiday weekend such as Mother's Day | | | | the copyright and author information (Resource Box) |
| or Labor Day. Holiday festivities will get the attention of | | | | at the end. You may not use this article in any |
| most people. | | | | unsolicited commercial email (spam). |
| The best days for your garage sale are Thursday, | | | | |