Garage Sale Success Story

This Saturday my daughter Johnnie-Girl and I

put on a very successful garage sale.

We worked most of the day on Friday

running around the house

and out building pulling out stuff that we have

been storing for years for

no apparent reason.

It was a great time of purging

and an enlightening time for our spirit.

The key to our success ... I have to say ... was not the 'stuff'

but our signs and presentation.

Years ago a visiting pastor from Ontario gave us

a valuable piece of advice

while visiting with our family

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID

or KISS for short

Large cardboard signs simply need to say
YARD SALE in big black painted upper case letters.
Add a few very large arrows painted
on other pieces of cardboard
to aid in direction and these signs bring them in
from miles away every time.
Please don't get caught up with the urge to include
address, sale times, or a list of items.
Remember the KISS method.

As for item presentation ...
beg, borrow or steal lotsa tables.
We borrowed our from the church.
Most people prefer not to bend over to look
at your wares spread out on bed sheets or tarps on the ground.
Remember that garage sales are usually on hot summer days.
Tables allow customers to view at a comfortable height.
Have items arranged according to type.
One table for housewares. One for toys. One for tools etc.
I also include a table marked
25 CENTS AN ITEM.
And then mark it down to 10 cents an item at about noon.
Gets them every time.
Also put bright removable price stickers
on every single item!
I find that people are generally not bold enough to ask
how much an item is and so with that holding them back
you have lost a sale.

After all was set up
Johnnie-Girl and I simple sat back
in the shade of the house
and took in the profits.
Oh, don't forget to be friendly.
Smile, talk, joke
Enjoy yourself as perfect strangers help you to
clean out your house.
For our fun and little bit of effort
we raked in $465.80.
Not bad for a bunch of stuff we didn't really need.