Make a great sign that stands out and isn’t crowded with too much information. Make sure the arrow is pointing the right direction!
Have at least two helpers. Make sure one keeps an eye on the merchandize and one keeps track of the money.
If possible keep the money with you (even if it means wearing the dreaded fanny pack!)
Have lot of change and one dollar bills available.
Group like items together: kitchen, clothing, decorative, jewelry.
Make sure your items are clean and organized. Don’t feel like your displays have to look like you hired a decorator but don’t dump things on the ground either.
Organize small items like jewelry in muffin tins. Or pull out an old bulletin board tack on some push pins and hang necklaces from the pins.
Buyers always ask for a better price and sellers be prepared to negotiate! It’s part of the fun of going to and throwing garage sales.
Buyers check the back of rugs for stains. If you have allergies ask if it is a pet free home.
Open drawers to check for water stains or mold before buying a piece of furniture. Stick your nose in and make sure the piece doesn’t smell musty.
Sherry Harris is the author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series, The Longest Yard Sale is on-sale now. She started bargain hunting in second grade at her best friend’s yard sale. She honed her bartering skills as she moved around the country while her husband served in the Air Force. Sherry combined her love of garage sales, her life as an Air Force spouse, and her time living in Massachusetts as inspiration for this series.
ABOUT THE LONGEST YARD SALE:
Finding treasure can be murder when an Air Force officer is found dead during this New England town’s largest garage sale—and Sarah Winston won’t have it! No one spoils bargain hunting or frames her friend for murder in this second entry of Sherry Harris’s charming new cozy mystery series.
ONE MAN’S CLUTTER
When Sarah Winston turns Ellington, Massachusetts, into New England’s largest garage sale for a day, it’s the small town’s biggest event since the start of the Revolutionary War—but without the bloodshed. That is, until a valuable painting goes missing…and the lifeless body of an Air Force officer is found in Carol Carson’s painting studio, his face perfectly framed with the murder weapon—a metal picture frame.
IS ANOTHER MAN’S CLOVER
Sarah is mad as heck that someone used her town-wide garage sale to commit a crime—and frame her good friend Carol. She is definitely on this case…but it’s not easy rummaging through increasingly strange clues that point to cheating spouses, downright dirty investment schemes—even the mob. And Sarah will have to be very careful if she wants to live to bargain another day…
May New Reads