Moving is one of the biggest and most complicated events in everyone’s life, and that’s why it requires good organization. It is known that planning the move itself requires thinking about several stages of this process.
There are many obligations, you are involved in various parties and you don’t know what to do first. In a big crowd, one important item is often forgotten, which can contribute to the general good.
This is decluttering, which absolutely should not be skipped. There are several reasons for this process. Getting rid of excess belongings and unnecessary payment for transport to a new address is a reason that does not need to be explained. Then, by selling what you no longer need, you can earn additional cash, which you will use to finance some of your current expenses.
Donating to humanitarian organizations, giving as a gift to the vulnerable or recycling is certainly more fulfilling and useful than throwing away.
One of the ways to do this is the good old garage sale, loved by many as an event and fun.
1. Why Host a Garage Sale Before Moving?
And garage sale is an excellent and effective way to finally deal with unnecessary things and to send them into the lives of others, to whom they will become important. Something old to us will be new to someone else.
Extra money, which can play an important role at some point in the move, is not to be underestimated either, because we all know that extra costs are always lurking.
After all, why would we pack and pay for the transportation of a bunch of things that we won’t use anymore? It is not wise to fill up the new space we are moving to but to buy what we need later.
2. How to Plan & Organize a Successful Garage Sale
Let’s see how to start with everything.
Choose a date and time
When you think about the date and time, check the weather report first. A detailed organization will not be worth anything if there is heavy rain or deep snow.
So, according to the weather conditions, set the date. It is best if it is a weekend, especially Saturday, in the morning. Experiences say that this is the best period to gather buyers.
Avoid that the date of your garage sale coincides with some important and big event in your city or neighborhood.
Gather and Sort Items
Accompanied by your family, visit the house, basement, attic, garage, and utility rooms, and slowly and carefully begin to separate what you will bring to your yard sale.
You have to reach an agreement with which everyone will agree, and count on different opinions and approaches, that is inevitable. Let the discussion go on as long as necessary, but once you make a decision, make it final.
Sort things by type. Furniture, electronics, clothes, toys, kitchenware, decorative elements, old-school books, tools, carpets, etc. You’d be surprised how much of it sat unused and forgotten for years, gathering dust and bugs.
Try to wash, wipe, and clean everything possible, and test the electronics to see if it works, so you don’t get into an unpleasant situation. That way, your garage sale will be successful, and the buyers will be satisfied.
3. Pricing Strategy for a Successful Sale
It’s very important to think about this part as well.
Price Items Clearly
Form prices by informing yourself how much you can realistically get for the things you offer. Be competitive, to have more traffic. Do not exaggerate the price, things will remain unsold, and that is certainly not the goal.
Use stickers where you can clearly see how much it costs.
Offer discounts
It is always a popular way of selling when you offer a discount. Probably in a bunch of different things you can make a combination to buy something as a set, where it will be cheaper. Also, the offer to buy something and get another for free is most often effective.
Arrange Items to Attract the Buyers
Make an effort to arrange the items, it is not a wasted effort. It will look better, and attract customers if you include a sense of aesthetics, which surely someone in the family has.
You can combine existing shelves or borrow them from the neighborhood, where you will line up smaller things, and group large ones by function, style, color, or as inspiration leads you. Your garage sale can be a real small work of art, an interesting labyrinth through the history of your family.
Highlight the highest quality and best-preserved items in the foreground, closer to the entrance. Thus, the entire garage hall will get an attractive look, and those interested will expect a quality offer.
4. Marketing Your Garage Sale in the East Bay
Today, it’s easier than ever to advertise yourself.
Use Social Media
Is there anything more effective and better than advertising your garage sale through social media these days? Post about your sale on Craiglist, Facebook, Nextdoor, Marketplace, neighborhood groups, and local platforms.
Create Eye-Catching Garage Sale Signs
Create eye-catching, easy-to-read road signs and signs that will inform you about your location as well as the date and time of garage sale maintenance.
Make sure the colors are intense, if you have a talent for drawing, illustrate the signposts with something fun, decorative, and witty.
Place all those advertising elements in busy places, where many passers-by will see the signs and want to visit you.
Word-of-Mouth & Flyers
Talk about organizing a garage sale wherever you go and call everyone you can think of. Family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues at work, are all potential customers or free advertisers. Let them also spread the story to as many places as possible, it certainly helps the mass of visits to your yard hall.
Don’t forget flyers, which you can hand out in groceries, hair salons, bus stations, and other busy places.
4. Setting Up for Success on Garage Sale Day
The big day has come when you can demonstrate your abilities as an emotionally intelligent person and a skilled salesperson. Start early in the morning with all activities.
Have Enough Change
As a true professional, you must have enough small bills and coins for every type of transaction. Also, make sure that you keep the incoming money in a locked box or that one of your people is only responsible for the safety of the money.
Provide Bags and Boxes
You have to provide the packaging, in which the customers will take the things. For large items, such as furniture, electronics, large quantities of clothes, and decorative items of larger dimensions, buyers will probably take care of themselves, arriving by car. They certainly won’t expect professional packaging of furniture from you.
Prepare refreshments
Your garage sale will get the atmosphere of a garden party, where it is more relaxed and easier to buy if you prepare a small service. Lemonade, juice, cookies, snacks, nothing big or demanding, but you will see that it contributes to a better mood and closer communication.
Be Friendly and Open to Negotiation
There will certainly be people who will comment on the exhibited items, perhaps some in a negative way. Don’t take it personally, people often have that manner, and sometimes they want to lower the price that way.
Be polite, ignore if someone is unpleasant, and negotiate the possibility of lowering the price. You are in charge of this garage sale and act like it. If you want to make some compromise and change your original position but don’t let anyone overdo their demands.
5. What to Do With Leftover Items
Rarely does anyone sell everything they set aside for the garage sale. Something always remains. Don’t throw it away, find out about the institutions to which you could donate things.
Charity organizations are available for various types of donations. Bedding, clothes, pillows, mattresses, dishes, and much more will certainly be welcome.
What can be recycled, sort the same materials and take them to the nearest recycling center.
Consider donating to a local theater or cultural center. They always need different furniture and other items of all kinds for performances.
Maybe your dear aunt’s old dress will come to life again as an actress in Chekhov’s play. Offer your neighbors and friends to choose something, at least as a souvenir.
Conclusion
After all this action, it remains for you to clean up everything behind you, including the signs stuck in various places.
The important phase of your move is over (we from Johnson & Daly can do most other things) and you can congratulate yourself and your family on the entire commitment. In the future, think about the fact that we live in an era of consumerism and excessive shopping. We don’t need much.
The best part is yet to come. Sit down with your family, toast a job well done, and count the money you’ve earned. You will surely be satisfied.
