9 Tips To Organize the Best Community Garage Sale

A garage sale is a great way to cut down on clutter and turn your unused households into quick cash. It’s even better if you can get your whole neighborhood involved and make it an event. Setting up a few tables and throwing price tags on a few things is minimum effort. If you want to make it worth your time, follow our 9 tips to organize the best community garage sale in the neighborhood:

  1. Decide on a date and time
  2. Research required permits
  3. Advertise
  4. Know what you’re selling
  5. Have a free box front and center
  6. Make Parking Easy
  7. Have Different Payment Methods Ready
  8. Have a back up plan for bad weather
  9. Donate anything that isn’t sold

Decide on Date and Time

Everyone’s schedule is busy and finding time for everyone is tough. If you are serious about cutting down on clutter and making some extra cash, be committed and take the time to set a firm date.

One way to do this is to host a neighborhood meeting and discuss a good weekend for the sale. Take a vote and prioritize the people who show up to the presale meeting. Once you have a date the majority of people vote for, stick to it. Make expectations clear and eliminate confusion by switching dates.

Research Required Permits

Depending on where you live, you might need a permit from your city. If your whole neighborhood is in on the sale, a permit would help. It allows you to close down portions of your community which helps with traffic flow and makes the event more legitimate. If your sale is only a couple houses it’s probably not an issue, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Advertise

Make the most out of your sale and spread the word. Get your whole neighborhood involved by sharing the sale’s dates on social media. An easy way to do this is by making an event on Facebook. Events are easy for others to share and promote, along with helping gauge how many people are interested in attending.

Outside of Facebook, making posts on Craigslist, Nextdoor, and Yard Sale Search can help boost awareness.

In addition, putting up flyers or signs around your neighborhood can catch any eyes that aren’t looking online.

We recommend first advertising a month in advance and increasing your posts or signage each week it gets closer to your sale.

Know what You Are Selling

Your community garage sale has a date, so now it’s time to figure out what you are selling. Before you think about pricing your items, be vigilant with sorting and deciding what is quality enough to sell. Be practical and make sure everything you are selling still has value. You don’t want to drive away customers by cluttering your sale with cheap or heavily used items. The look of your sale and items should be clear the moment someone begins walking up your driveway or sidewalk. Giving your sale curb appeal can go a long way.

Best organization for community sale
Free Box at Yard Sale
Customer shopping at garage sale.

Have a Free Box Front and Center

One solution to get rid of cheaper items and can actually help attract people to your sale is having a prominent free box. A big free box can convince visitors to take a few extra steps and check out what treasures you might be hiding in there. Once you’ve got them roped in, they are more likely to stick around and check out what else you have for sale.

Make parking Easy

 There is nothing worse for a garage sale visitor than to be frustrated before they even step out of the car. A bad traffic flow and parking plan can ruin the mood for everyone and discourage buyers from hitting each of the yard sales. Posting signs that read ‘street parking ahead’ or designating a clear area for parking with cones keeps it stress free for everyone. If you see people still struggling with parking, be friendly and point them to the nearest area they can park. Afterall, you are the expert in your own neighborhood!

Have Different Payment Methods Ready

It’s good to prepare for anything, and the last thing you want to do is turn away a potential sale because you don’t have enough change or the buyer only has a credit card. Having different payment methods ensure you can collect every sale possible. Thankfully it’s easy to stay prepared. Setting up Square or having your Venmo ready is a great backup incase cash isn’t an option for one of your visitors.

Have a Back Up Plan for Bad Weather

Let me guess, you’ve advertised, organized, and everyone is ready to rock-n-roll… and that’s when it starts to rain a small ocean’s worth of water. Nothing can dampen (10/10 joke) spirits like some harsh weather. Having tarps, tents, and an easy way to get all your stuff back in your garage or covered area quickly is an absolute must. Even with some competition from the weather, you can still rid yourself of some clutter with a little preparation and improvisation.

Donate Anything Not Sold

You could host the highest quality community garage sale and still have stuff left over. This is common and an easy fix by the time your sale is winding down. Call your local thrift stores and donation centers to see if they are accepting the types of items you have left over. Donating your goods is a great way to help them find value again in the hands of someone else in your community. Gather up the items your preferred donation center will accept and bring them over. Using a service like Bungii can make your donation drop off easy and hassle free.

Arranging a community garage sale shouldn’t be a headache. If you are feeling short on community yard sale ideas, following our 9 tips to organize the best community garage sale can cut down on clutter and help you make some spending money in one weekend. You might even become the neighborhood hero.