Lesson #1: When you move into a new house, either keep it and use it. Throw it out. Donate it. Or have a garage sale.
I started a couple months ago going room by room, drawer by drawer, shelf by shelf finding things that we didn't use, had outgrown, whatever the reason. Then I made a pile in the basement.
Lesson #2 - price as you go. I knew I was going to do more of a generic pricing (all of this $1 or that $2), but it would have saved a lot of time had I priced the other things as I went.
A week before the garage sale, I started to do research on how to have a successful garage sale. I know it isn't rocket science but I wanted to make sure I was going to maximize my time and efforts. And of course as a marketing person, I wanted to make sure I was marketing my garage sale correctly.
Lesson #3 - do your research. Or take advice. It did help me a lot. I knew which days would be more successful. I know where to post. What kind of signs to make. All that stuff that really impacts a garage sale.
3 days before the garage sales, I started moving everything up from the basement. Holy cow, I had a lot of stuff. I lined the hallway, the steps, any place I could find room.
Lesson #4 - get help carrying everything up. I was sore before it began.
2 days before garage sale, I started going through the baby clothes and hanging up the nicer things. My research showed this helped and it really did. Most of those clothes sold quickly. Also, don't put things on the porch. People are nervous to come up onto your porch.
Lesson #5 - do this much sooner and do it more. I wish I would have had 2 racks of clothes hung up. It was easier to see. And easier to shop. Day 2 we moved everything in to the yard or drive... way better!
The night before the sale, I panicked and told Mary to bring over more tables for us. And I'm so glad I did - we definitely used them.
Lesson #6 - have lots of tables and when you think you have enough, get 2 more.
Signage was a huge project but well worth it. Almost everyone said they say the signs so they came over. My hot pink and neon yellow signs worked well. We saved them so we can use them again.
Lesson #7 - make good signs!
More of the sale, I started moving things outside (it was very damp so I couldn't set up yet). Then I got the tables in position and set the boxes on them. This was hard work.
Lesson #8 - get help if possible. If not, suck it and get your workout in prepping for the garage sale.
We posted the sale from 9 - 4... let's just say people were ready to shop at 8. And we were still setting up. Oh well, I don't think we lost any big sales.
Lesson #9 - be ready at least 1 hour before. Or have a sign up that says closed or something.
Sell. Sell. Sell. Mary and I decided that we were having a garage sale and then meant we wanted to set stuff. Not set stuff out and hope it sells and then if it doesn't pack it back up and keep it. Nope, we wanted stuff gone. So if we got a reasonable offer, we took it. We were trying to move merchandise. And it worked!
Lesson #10 - be ready and willing to take less than you had wanted. Trust me it saves time when having to pack everything back up at the end.
So for the next 2 days, we sold our hearts out and moved a lot of stuff. I kept looking at the tables and thinking, have we sold anything? But at the end when we say all the empty totes, we knew we did good. And when we saw the total we made, we knew it was a success (or at least I'm calling it a success). Plus we also had a little fun. Thursday probably more than Friday, since it was just Mary and I (no kids). We talked, laughed, and had great sister bonding.
Lesson #11 - have fun!
Friday afternoon, we started prepping for shutdown. We made an executive decision that do to a high chance of rain on Saturday, we would finish on Friday. We had piles - keep, donate, and trash. I asked myself, "If I planned to sell it and it didn't, why are you keeping it? So unless I thought I might try another garage sale or mom to mom sale, I tried not to keep stuff.
And then the hard work began. I was so sore the next day, I could hardly stand up.
Lesson #12 - Put in the extra effort at the end to organize. It's a great opportunity and well worth it if you plan to have another one.
All in all - I past my total goal for the garage sale the first day and then surpassed my new goal for the second day... so new stove/oven for me! Plus room in the basement - bonus!!
A huge thank you to my sister who helped so much!! I literally couldn't have done it without her.
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