Garage Sale, Three Years in the Making

Yes.  Three years.  And it finally happened.  What a huge job it was to prepare this monster of a garage sale!  Thankfully, we had help (as you can see).

Sorry folks, the box on the left is priceless ;)  As for the pic on the right, just the tip of the iceberg, oh my!  At this point I was ok, but the room filled up more and by that point,  I could barely stand to look at all the 'stuff' clogging up my house!  I'm not a clutter person or a knick-knack collector, so 'things' everywhere drive me bonkers in my own home.  I was so stressed I felt like running from the house screaming... this doesn't even include all the stuff in our garage! 

We wrapped the garage sale signs I made up in saran because there was a chance of rain, had a giant party tent hanging around to cover the driveway and lend some shade (see?  I don't know where half of this stuff comes from!).  Borrowed folding tables from my in-laws, set the coffee maker to start perking in the morning and set the alarm clock for an ungodly hour.  I couldn't even take an in focus picture of my cup of coffee in the morning!  Even old Shadow the cat was wondering what we were all doing at such an hour.

Setup took quite a while... almost 1.5 hours on it's own.  We had a crazy amount of stuff!  So much, that people were asking if we were moving!  Ouch.

Remember this guy?  Yes, all my barbies, barbie clothes and all their teeny tiny accessories went in the sale.  But hey, Ken, your smile is still just as pearly white as it ever was.

 

Customers!  We had a lot of people!  Thankfully that means we moved out quite a lot of stuff.  I haven't participated in a garage sale since I was a kid.  I forgot how crazy cheap some people are!  The nice part was we got to meet quite a few more of our neighbours that live around the corner from us.  We're lucky, we really do have pretty great neighbours all around!

After we were done, we put the remaining stuff at the end of the front lawn by the street with a sign saying 'FREE', minus a couple things that will go onto Kijiji.  Whatever is left from that will go to goodwill.  Anywhere but back inside the house lol.

After cleanup, time for some BBQ!  My husband manned the grill to serve up some yumminess for all of us, including some family that dropped by for the evening.  Well deserved I'd say! 

The day ended with a bunch of tired adults, one tired baby and two pooped puppies.  Overall, a long, but great day!

Tips for a successful garage sale:

• Make legible signs from poster board in bright colours with the print in a contrasting colour.  All of your signs should be the same colour!  Make sure the text is BIG
• Detailed signs should be on the main road.  Put smaller signs with an arrow along the way to reassure your shoppers they are on the right path to your house
• If there is a chance of rain, wrap your sign in saran wrap so it doesn't fall apart / ink wont run
• Advertise!  You can post ads on Kijiji and Craigs list and some local news papers for free.  Take advantage of it and be detailed as to what you are selling.  Include photos if you can.
• Have change.  Make sure you have some small bills and coins ready to make change for people.
• Be courteous!  Smile and say hello and goodbye.  It will go a long way!