Tips on Having a Successful Garage Sale

We had a garage sale on Saturday, and it was not as successful as I hoped for. We made about $80, which isn't horrible, but way less than I had anticipated. It was my first garage sale that I did by myself (my husband helped me a bit, but this was mostly a one-woman job).

I thought I'd share with you the things I learned from this sale, so that you won't make the same mistakes as I did!

1. Have TONS of stuff: As you can see from the picture above, we did not have tons of stuff. Even though the stuff we had was GOOD (lots of great books, designer clothes for men women and babies, some cute knick knacks) it was not enough. You need lots of well-organized things, and don't worry if it's junk to you. Daniel's parents brought a bunch of stuff at the end of the sale that sold like crazy, and it was all junk to me. Not to others.

2. Have some BIG items: Most of my items were small, so our garage sale wouldn't catch your eye if you're just driving by. Also, small items go for cheap, big items are the money makers. I had an antique school desk that I was too weak to carry upstairs and a bunch of furniture in the basement that we could have lugged upstairs.

3. Have LOTS of help: Garage sales aren't as successful when it's a one man job. Have everyone who lives in the house sort through their things weeks before the sale and gather everything together. Make sure you have a couple of people to help out during the actual sale. Time goes slow when you're sitting by yourself at a garage sale, and more people will take advantage, especially if you're a woman (a few people stole from us and I was too scared to do anything and Daniel was out at the time).

4. Have GREAT signs: We actually had pretty good signs. You should have clear, big, and bright signs directing to your garage sale. The harder it is to find your house, the better the sign should be. We live on a busy street, so a lot of our "traffic" came from drive-bys. Also, have a sign right outside your house for people driving by. as a warning (we didn't do this, but should have!)

5. Keep the space ORGANIZED: I tried my best to keep the garage sale organized and categorized. It makes your garage sale more visually appealing and helps you to sell things. Books should have spines facing out, knick knacks should be displayed, and clothes should be hung up.

6. TALK with your customers.
7. Have spare CHANGE.
8. Be FIRM with your prices
9. Have FUN


  1. look at little pen wrapped up! so cute!

  2. If you have a lot of namebrand baby clothes in good condition, you should sell it online. It is a bit of work, but you make decent money..

  3. Briii... She looks so smart already!
    In every single photo she makes cute faces. It looks like she knows you are actually taking pictures of her. So so so so cute.

    We dont have garage sales over here. Well, never heard/seen before. We actually have things like that for clothes, but not for furniture you know... We just sort of sell it to specific stores so they can make it look better, clean, paint, or whatever they want to do, and sell it afterwards.
    For clothes, we can buy used ones (in good conditions) in stores called brechó. Too bad you couldnt make more money, but 80$ is still fair enough, right ? :)




This Rookie Wife | Template By Rockaboo Designs | 2012