Needing Some Garage Sale Tips...:)

Organization is key. People don't like to have to bend down to look at items nor search through items in big boxes. People will try and talk you down at sales... even if it's a quarter which can be annoying but you just have to figure out your gameplan and stick to it. Also, I high recommend using masking tape for price labels than the stickers you buy at the store (1) stickers fall off half the time (b) or on the flip side you can't get them off. Instead of trying to peel stickers off as people buy them, just use paper and write down the prices and add them up. Good luck! You also might want to put notice on Craiglist when the sale is coming up. And be sure to check with your town to find out if you need a permit.

I agree with Sue's advice. Plus, be prepared that people will try to talk you down on prices all day long-- even when you are selling them for 25-50 cents!!! It's kinda crazy!

If you're still looking for a great way to sell your children's clothes, toys, books, furniture and more, please check out www.kidscloset.biz and click on the Joliet/Orland Park link. Consignors make 70% of their selling price and you don't even have to work at the sale! Plus you get to shop before the public. The Spring sale is April 30 to May 1 at the Orland Park Civic Center.

Hi! I can tell you from experience going to sales and having them, that clothes can be tough to sell. People don't like to have to look through them. So if you are going to lay them out on the table, make sure they are laid out according to size/gender. I always like when people pin together sets so I don't have to look for the matching pants/tops. If they are good clean clothes you can definitely start higher; I am willing to pay a buck or more per item because I would pay more than that at Goodwill. If they are brand name, nice dresses/outfits, I have paid $5 for those items. Don't forget shoes...I sometimes buy shoes at sales just for spare pairs!! Good luck!

We had a garage sale last year where we sold all my daughter's clothes ~ from 0-3 months - 3T. What I did was first separate all the clothes by size, then I folded them and pinned together everything that was an outfit and then I laid them out in tables in neat piles. Underneath the piles, I taped a piece of paper to the table stating what size it was. If there were more than two sizes on a certain table I would separate the clothes with masking tape and then make sure I put a sign underneath that part stating the size. Then I bought some posterboard and wrote down what each item was. For example, all onesies were 50 cents, all pants and shirts were a dollar, etc. I did individually place prices on the outfits or dresses because a lot of these were really nice, but most of them were no more than $3.00. I also put all the shoes on one table and marked those as $2.00 unless there were nicer ones, then I individually marked those and put a sign underneath stating that all shoes were $2.00 unless otherwise marked. I hung up the posterboard with the prices on the back wall of our garage and also in the front to the side as people walked up. We got a lot of compliments on how neatly organized our garage sale was. I had one lady spend about 2 hours going through all the clothes and bought two big bags full of clothes. She just quoted me a price and I just said that was fine. It was probably off by about $5.00, but I didn't care. We also ended up selling almost all of the shoes, too.

As I am sure you can imagine, it was extremely time-consuming, but in the end I believe we definitely made more money than if I were to bring all the clothes to Once Upon a Child or to a consignment store.

Good luck!