How to Organize a Subdivision Garage Sale

Your subdivision can put on a garage sale on a grand scale.

If you want to have a successful and profitable garage sale, the best way to achieve this is to have a subdivision sale, or sub sale, with your neighbors. Subdivision garage sales can attract hundreds of shoppers. And the more traffic you get, the more you sell. Organizing a neighborhood garage sale does take planning and organizing.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Fliers
• Signs
• Balloons
• Maps

1. Pick a date for your garage sale. Most sales last two days, typically Friday and Saturday. Some areas have popular Thursday sales and still others do well on Sundays. Research your newspaper classified ads and see which days are the most popular in your area. Look also for good weekends for events, such as the one before Memorial Day.

2. Research the costs of classified advertising in your newspaper. Run your ad for the week that you are holding the sale. For even more exposure, run it the week before, as well. Buy two to three balloons for each home that is participating in the sale. Advertise on Craigslist and other free local forums as well.

3. Divide the cost of the balloons and ads, as well as printing the maps discussed in step 5, by roughly one-quarter of the homes in your neighborhood, since that is about the number of families that will participate in the sale. If you charge too much, you can refund the difference to your neighbors.

4. Make a simple flier for your neighbors with the dates, information, costs and your contact information. Ask them what they will be selling at their sales.

5. Make up maps for your customers with a list of each family that is having a sale and what it is selling. Provide 50 maps for each participating family to pass out to its customers. Pass these out the morning of the sale, about an hour before the sale starts, along with the balloons.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't be afraid to ask for help with this project, you might even make new friends in the process.

• Send an email to friends and family telling them about the sale.

• Post information about the sale on your Facebook page.

• Place a big sign and balloons at each entrance to your subdivision

• Have lots of singles and change, kept in a fanny pack, on hand for your sale.

• Check with your jurisdiction to see if you need a garage sale permit.

References

• University of Florida IFAS Extension: Garage Sales
• New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service: Garage Sales: Cash, Not Trash