Earlier this summer, we had a garage sale. We had a lot of junk treasures, to clean out. I was excited about the prospect of making a good chunk of change based on a few of our "big" objects and the oodles of infant gear and kids' clothes, which are always hot garage sale items. But, I knew that presentation was the key to getting more things sold. The neater my "treasures" were displayed, the quicker and better they would sell.
We have annual garage sales so I've somewhat perfected my strategies over the years. I usually try to arrange things similar to a mini-store with all like-items placed together. Normally, I have enough table space simply by putting a big piece of plywood on top of our sawhorses, and setting up my card table and Lifetime 4'x2' table. I also always use my Lifetime Personal Table for my separate cash table. This year, however, we had way too much stuff...I needed more table space. My husband is in the Air Force and, luckily, his squadron had three Lifetime 8-foot tables we could borrow. Whoo-hoo! However, did I mention these tables are normally used by a bunch of fighter pilots for BBQs and lobster boils? Oh, and the tables are stored outside. Consequently, when Mike brought the tables home, they were disgusting. Dried on BBQ sauce, beverages, butter, and layers of dirt and filth. Do the guys ever clean these things?!? (Rhetorical question, I suppose.) But, just like Lifetime advertises, the tables are pretty much stain-resistant. Fortunately, most of the aged stains hosed right off, and only a few of the really crusty ones required a little more elbow grease with some soap and a brush.
Having all the table space was great. It allowed us to set up everything the night before in the garage and simply carry the tables out to the driveway in the morning to open business. And, I could use one table for baby items, one for household décor, one for electronics, etc. However, one thing tables aren't good for displaying at garage sales ...clothes. People tend to just rummage through neatly stacked piles and you end up with a huge heap of what looks like dirty laundry! So what did I do with the TON of kids' clothes I had? Well, here's a helpful tip... I took an extending pole (or use a shower rod) and laid it between the rungs of two ladders and tied the rod fast so it wouldn't roll. I hung all of the nicest and cutest outfits on the rod. Then, I used pink and blue index cards cut in half to make hang tags for the rods to separate each section of clothes by size and gender, just like you see in a store. For other clothing items like onsies, pajamas, shorts, etc, I used big clear bins with giant signs stating what sizes and gender it contained. Oh...and EVERYTHING was priced individually. It takes a little longer to price everything individually and organize it well, but it's definitely worth it in the end...we made over $400 in four hours and our biggest ticket item was only a $40 TV! If you plan on having a garage sale in the near future, check out some more handy garage sale tips at http://www.lifetime.com/tipssolutions/organization/article.aspx?PostID=170.