Dos and Don'ts of garage sales

Spending

How much wealth do you think you have underfoot in your home? Perhaps $200? Even $500? Well, it appears that in our case it was more like $985 (after advertising costs). Not a bad return if you need some extra cash and want to clear out the wardrobe.

But a garage sale is an investment - of time and emotion - and there are a few important rules of the game you need to know to maximise that investment. Before we give you those secrets, be aware of exactly what you're in for.

Time investment: You may conduct your garage sale only on Saturday, but you'll be spending Thursday and Friday sorting out belongings, getting starting change, making signs and safety-checking your home. Then there's Sunday, when you will be cleaning up and getting rid of all items that don't sell. All in all, that's four days of work, so invest your time wisely.

Emotional investment: Laugh now, but when someone is offering $2 for that gift from Nanna that made you roll your eyes when she gave it to you, the heart strings will tug. Parting with things can often be exhilarating, but it can also be tainted with guilt, melancholy and pure exhaustion. Prepare, too, to be frustrated and angered by professional garage-sale hawks who will berate you for trying to put a value above 50 cents on your life's belongings.

Investment in change: Mentally you must agree to be ruthless. If you haven't used something in the past year, lose it! What about all those projects you picked up along the way? Did that end table ever get sanded? Did that picture frame ever get repaired? Did that silk kimono ever get re-sewn? Lose it! Invest your mind in drawing a line and not crossing it. Remember: decisiveness equals cash returns.

There are important rules in the GS game:

Advertise: Don't fool yourself into thinking that signs alone will do the trick. Always place an ad in your local paper (they usually publish on the Thursday). Advertising in the metropolitan daily (released on the actual day) is a good idea. Collectively, you should pay $75-$85 (depending on the number of words and ad costs). Keep your ad simple: "Garage sale, short highlights of stuff, your address, and times and dates". Never put phone numbers, and specify: "No early birds or sales before starting time" (it's worth a try).

Organise/visualise: People stop at garage sales because of one thing only - drive-by factor. Your drive-by factor is determined by:

Are the items neatly and clearly separated by general category?
Have you merchandised the better items to be seen?
Have you cleaned items? Cleaning your items can make the difference between $5 and $20 for a bookcase.
Make your garage sale appear to have the right stuff. You must continue to merchandise through the day! Nothing says "keep driving" like a picked-over garage sale.
Safety-check your premises: Garage sales are unfortunately notorious for people stealing not only the items you have on sale, but anything that is left unattended nearby. Try, if you can, to limit the access to your sale to one direction only. Lock the front gates, front doors or any other areas of access, and always keep people away from your actual home!

Try to use tables, chairs, lawn furniture or rope to keep your garage sale under control. And always keep your money box with you, and during the day remove cash and store it inside. Run with no more than about $150 in change at any given time.

Know when to fold 'em: You might have wanted $15 for that book, but you need to know when to accept $5 or even $2. Add mark-up to compensate for negotiations, but understand that it's a garage sale and that people can still buy an end table at the local op shop for $7. If you have a big-ticket item, you may be better off advertising in the Trading Post or the classifieds of your metropolitan daily. A garage sale doesn't get top dollar, but it is the only place on Earth where people will pay for items you had earmarked for the trash. (Garage Sale Universal Truth: even the most worthless, broken junk will sell for something. If you are not sure about something, put it out on the day and toss it afterwards.)

Be prepared: Always have good friends around to help you police and serve your visitors. Give them perimeters for negotiation. That way, you can have many people making sales.

Always have a power cord run out to your garage sale area so people can check electrical goods. Don't say something works if it doesn't because, to quote the Governor of California: "They will be back". (And remember, they know where you live!) Have universally popular music playing during the sale (Motown usually works), and have food and water for your helpers.

Put up your signs either an hour before or, if you start early in the day, the night before. Keep the signs short and sweet. Example: "Big, cool garage sale; 15 Bend Street. 8am-5pm. Saturday the 2nd only" (and have a large arrow pointing the way). Be a responsible garage saler and take the signs down straight after your sale (this will also avoid post-sale visitors looking for last-minute bargains).

You should now be all set to make your tax-free fortune - but you will need to start practising the following necessary phrases:

Garagespeak:

"That's the final price. If you don't want it, don't buy it."

"No, I can't break $100 unless you spend at least $50."

"Excuse me, have you paid for that? Who did you give the money to?"

"We said no sale before 8am. No, you can't have a quick scan beforehand."

"If your child breaks that, I am going to have to charge you for it."

"It works and I don't have the instructions."

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Dos and Don'ts of garage sales

By Bill Kestin