Organize a Yard or Garage Sale

It's time to organize your garage sale, in fact, you could even make it the First Annual Neighborhood Yard Sale. If you and your neighbors organize together, you'll draw a bigger crowd and make better profits.

To get ready for the big sale, you need to put a few smart systems in place.

5 Steps to Organizing a Successful Garage Sale

Step 1: Upload your "before" photos

Step 2: Think it through

Step 3: Think F.A.S.T.

Step 4: The basics of a successful garage sale

Step 5: Upload your "after" photos

What You'll Need to Get Started:
Digital camera
Computer

Upload your photos


Improve Your Chances of Appearing on The Oprah Show!
1. Gather up everything you want to sell at your garage sale and put it in one place. Don't straighten up the mess before you take your "before" photos. The messier, the better!
2. Take a photo from each and every corner of the mess. Get the widest angle possible—the more we see, the better.
3. Get creative! Take a few photos of specific areas of the stuff—your rack of clothes, electronics you want to sell, etc.
4. Make sure the room is well lit. If not, use a flash.
5. Make sure your camera settings are on the highest resolution possible.
6. Turn off the time/date stamp.
7. Don't include anyone in the photos. Rooms only, please!
8. Try not to submit blurry photos. We may not be able to use them.
9. Remember, you can only submit up to three photos, so pick your best ones!

How to Create a Shared Vision
Think it through. In order to have the best garage sale you can have, you and your family are going to have to let go of some stuff and come together as a team.

Establish a basic premise. Give boxes to everyone in your family a few weeks before the sale. Have each person fill a box or two with things he or she wants to sell (beyond what's already piled in the garage). Let the kids know they can keep the cash from their items.

Prepare together. Scrub, wash, polish and launder anything you plan to sell. If an item needs a simple repair to greatly increase its selling price, do it. Hang clothes on makeshift racks, sorted by size.

What You'll Need to Get Started

Trash bags
Download signs to help keep your piles in order:

• Keep
• Donate
• Recycle
• Clutter to Cash

F: Fix a time. Schedule a time that suits everyone involved. Organizing is a family affair, so get everyone on board by scheduling your kick-start at a time that works for everyone and make attendance mandatory! Set aside a Saturday or a Sunday, or a few hours every day, to start the process.

A: Anything not used in 12 months. Face it: If you haven't used an item in the last year, it is highly unlikely you really need it or that you are going to ever get enough use out of it to justify it cluttering up your home. Take the plunge and get rid of it! Ask yourself these questions as you encounter each piece of clutter:

• Do I use this?
• How long has it been since I've used it?
• Will I use it again?
• Is it worth the space it takes up in my house?

Remember: The objective is to get stuff out of your home, not to move it into another room. You will be amazed by the sheer volume of unused and unneeded items in your home. Don't spend time inventing reasons to keep these things.

S: Someone else's stuff. It's bad enough when clutter is your own, but it is totally crazy when the clutter belongs to someone else. Your house should not contain anything that doesn't belong to you. If it's something you've borrowed, give it back. If you've ended a relationship or gotten a divorce, now's the time to let your ex's belongings go. If your kids have established their own households, it's time for them to pick their stuff up.

T: Trash. The trash can is your friend. It is your very hungry friend. Take pride in how much you throw away and make it fun. Compete with your family members to see who tosses the most or award a prize to the best purger. Remember the goal: You only want to keep the amount of stuff that makes sense for your space.

• Set a date. Do this well in advance. Don't choose a holiday weekend, and pray for good weather.
• Decide what to sell. In addition to the things you've collected from purging, give everyone in your family a box or two that they can fill with additional items they are ready to sell.
• Collect sale items. Sort and box similar items. This will save time later when you are setting up. Store everything neatly in the garage.
• Tell your neighbors. Let your neighbors know about the sale, and encourage them to sell on the same day. The more sellers, the more people you'll attract.
• Tell the world. It's all about advertising. Put large, colorful signs on a major road. Keep them all the same color with clear directions, the address and the time. Also, take out ads in local papers and put notices in local supermarkets. Try listing the yard sale online or in free community papers also.
• Attach price tags. Clearly price everything with masking tape and bright markers. Put like things together. Use tables to make the viewing of merchandise easier. Borrow clothing racks, and have a great layout of goods so people can easily see everything.
• Enlist helpers. Assign your helpers specific tasks like managing the crowds, answering questions, making sales, taking payments and providing laughter and fun.
• Be prepared. Have an extension cord handy so people can check electric items. Have shopping bags or boxes handy to help people collect and carry goods away.
• Get some sleep. On the night before the sale, put up a sign in front of your house that says, "Absolutely no early birds." Otherwise, you'll have people knocking at your door before the sun is up.
• Manage the money. Have a lot of small change handy—use a fanny pack to keep it safe and in one place.
• Bargain. The idea of a yard sale is to get rid of everything. Bargain like crazy—offer to add items for an extra 50 cents or offer five books for the price of three. An hour before closing, slash prices!
• Get rid of everything. Arrange for a charity to pick up whatever is not sold. Don't take anything back into the house!
• Above all… Keep your sense of humor and make the day enjoyable for all. Encourage people to haggle and make a game of it. You'll sell more stuff and have fun.

What You'll Need to Get Started:
Digital camera
Computer

Upload your photos

Improve Your Chances of Appearing on The Oprah Show!
1. Take a photo from each and every corner of the sale. Get the widest angle possible—the more we see, the better.
2. Take the "after" in the exact same place you took all the "before" photos. That way they will match up perfectly.
3. Get creative! Take a few "before" and "after" photos of specific areas of your garage sale. Just remember to have the same angle for both photos!
4. Make sure your garage is well lit. If not, use a flash.
5. Make sure your camera settings are on the highest resolution possible.
6. Turn off the time/date stamp.
7. Don't include anyone in the photos.
8. Try not to submit blurry photos. We may not be able to use them.
9. Remember, you can only submit up to three photos, so pick your best ones!