Having a block garage sale

[NinjaPoodle]

Ok, so my neighbors and I have decided to get together and have a block sale. Has anyone ever done this? We've picked a date range (August) and I'm looking into charities we can donate the stuff that doesn't sell (a-la-Clean House).
If anyone has any suggestions for things we don't want to overlook, or just general suggestions, please post. Also, if you've had a garage/yard/rummage sale, what was your experience?

Thanks.

Oh, and there are 5 houses participating and we are all right next door to each other.

[SydneyK]

I went to a block garage sale last year and decided that if I were ever to participate in one, I would set it up the same way. They obviously took a lot of time for preparation, but for the shoppers, it was perfect. There were four houses involved. Each house had a different "theme" (for lack of better words). One house had appliances (toasters, coffee pots, vacuum cleaners, etc.); another house had entertainment (books, games, video game systems/games, etc.); another house had furniture (lamps, tables, chairs, etc.); another had clothes; you get the idea.

The homeowners had each priced their items before taking them to the appropriately themed home. And each homeowner had designated price color-dots (one family wrote the price on blue dots, another family wrote their prices on green dots, etc). There was a money-station between each house (so, there were three tables where you could go to buy your stuff), and when you bought your items, the people taking the money logged the price and the color of the color-dot. I assume, at the end of the sale, they added up how much each family earned and divvied up the money appropriately.

It worked well from a shopper's POV - it appeared to have been a good system for the sellers, too.

Good luck!

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

I went to a block garage sale last year and decided that if I were ever to participate in one, I would set it up the same way. They obviously took a lot of time for preparation, but for the shoppers, it was perfect. There were four houses involved. Each house had a different "theme" (for lack of better words). One house had appliances (toasters, coffee pots, vacuum cleaners, etc.); another house had entertainment (books, games, video game systems/games, etc.); another house had furniture (lamps, tables, chairs, etc.); another had clothes; you get the idea.

Great way of doing this!

The homeowners had each priced their items before taking them to the appropriately themed home. And each homeowner had designated price color-dots (one family wrote the price on blue dots, another family wrote their prices on green dots, etc). There was a money-station between each house (so, there were three tables where you could go to buy your stuff), and when you bought your items, the people taking the money logged the price and the color of the color-dot. I assume, at the end of the sale, they added up how much each family earned and divvied up the money appropriately.

Bold - my emphasis.

I've seen this done too and it seemed like a good system. As the shopper bought an item, the colored dot was peeled off and placed on a notepad. That way each person received his / her correct total amount at the end of the sale. But, for the sale I went to there was only one pay station.

[epchick]

In my experience, the biggest "rush" is early in the morning. Both of the garage sales I've participated in opened at around 6am, and we always had a good amount of people that early.

I agree with the idea of colored dots. The last garage sale I participated in was for Young Life...so all of the kids got together and put all their stuff in the sale. I would have liked colored dots or something to separate all of our stuff, cause I think I got jipped (but that's a different story..lol).

[ComradesTrue]

This may seem like an obvious suggestion, but here goes anyway:

My subdivision does a similar type sale 2x year. Anyone who wants to have a sale just does so in their own yard/garage, and balloons are hung from the mailboxes to signal which houses are participating.

Anyway, my alumnae chapter does our garage sale at my house each spring to correspond with this neighborhood event. While the neighborhood association posts signs in the general area and takes an ad out in the newspaper, I always advertise my own sale on Craigslist. Free pub!

Included in the ad is that the money will be donated to charity. This draws people in, and also seems to reduce the haggling a bit. In fact this year we received a $40 gift! Turns out that a church had done one of those "every member is given $10 to do good with" things. So... a family of four gave us their money for our charity!

It never fails: over half the people who come to my sale have said that they came due to the ad on Craigslist. I mention *every time* to the HOA to place an ad there too, and yet they still never have.

All that to say... seems that a lot of garage sale shoppers plan their weekend from the Craiglist listings, and the donating to charity part keeps them in a good mood. I would definitely suggest advertising in that manner.

One other tidbit that I have learned: many people do a drive-by to determine if they are going to stop. We have a side entry garage, so we always try to put some of the nicer items in the driveway to get people to stop.

Best of luck to you!

[NinjaPoodle]

I really appreciate all of your input. We had the sale this past weekend and only 2 houses participated: me and my neighbor. It was great. They pulled out the little hibachi and fried up some beer brauts. I made a whole 75 bucks but it was a good first time for me. I need to do it again but with more stuff. We used the colored dots too. I'm glad because it was a good way to keep it simple. $75! Whoo hoo! College fund money