Garage Sales are Good!
(Page 2 of 3)
May/June 1971
by JUNE FINGULIN
Well! Getting rid of that stuff was becoming a real challenge but I wasn't beaten yet! I dusted off the typewriter, invested in some light green paper and a felt tip marker and "artistically" created some note-sized posters which I placed on every neighborhood grocery and laundromat bulletin board in the immediate vicinity. At least this advertising was virtually free!
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The bulletin board notices aroused the interest of our six-year-old so I made up some "handbills" for him to distribute to the houses of his neighborhood friends. We even thumbtacked a few to telephone poles; I'm not sure it's legal to do this but we didn't get any repercussions. I did the handbills mostly to give our little boy a chance to participate . . . but we later found that those little slips of paper brought quite a few people to the sale.
Next I put up a huge cardboard sign in our yard (lettered darkly with my trusty marking pen). The information on a yard sign should be brief and easily read from a passing automobile.
Just when to hold a garage sale depends on your personal schedule. Since I was home all day we "never closed" from one weekend to the next. Maybe you'll be able to do that, maybe not. The important thing is to be sure your notices, handbills and yard sign are out for several days before the event begins. And use all three methods of attracting customers: in talking to people who phoned and came in, I found that the three ways of advertising were just about equally effective and I consider them all worthwhile.
We did little else to prepare for the sale other than put everything together in one area. We did no fixing, repairing or painting although I did make sure that everything was clean.
To the assorted junk from the garage I added all the household items I'd been wanting to get rid of for a long time: a cabinetful of dishware odds and ends, a couple of old shag rugs and a bedspread I just hated. The sale, in other words, gave me an excuse to get rid of a lot of things I'd always disliked . . . but never felt I could afford to throw away.
A word about prices: don't set them too high. Remember that you've already gotten good use from your sale items and the folks interested in buying the articles are looking for a bargain. Give them one.
The following pertinent information should be on your notice:
1. Date of the Sale—both days of the week and month i.e. Friday through Sunday, April 16-25.
2. Time—9:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M.
3. Address where sale is to be held—identifying landmarks are helpful, if there are any.
4. Phone number.
5. Partial list of items for sale along with brief description.
6. Come and Browse . . . or words to that effect. Make people feel they can come and "snoop" even if they don't intend to buy . . . you never can tell.
