Garage Sale Lessons

I don't want you to believe all these lessons had not been learned before the sale yesterday. Some were learned long ago by others and shared. Or attempted to be in a few cases. Let's just say we all trust that next sale will be... Great! And with better weather than 104 by noon.

Don't have it for only half a day, the only reasonable response to extreme heat. This basically translates to skipping AZ summers altogether.  Since summer here lasts as long as winters in Minnesota, that leaves about half a year to hold sales.

Don't wait to set up until the day before.  A week seems more feasible. Especially in the heat you didn't avoid.

While gathering items for sale, remember to put prices on them as soon as they are gathered and any cleaning or other preparation is completed.

Provide a "Covid Station" for shoppers, with hand sanitizer, bleach wipes, and masks to those who can't be responsible for themselves and the safety of others. (Do I sound snarky? How perceptive. Let's see if we're all still doing this a year from now, shall we?)

Locate tables, boxes and whatever other raised surfaces you can for smaller items well ahead of time, as well as clothes racks, jewelry stands, and any other specialty display items.

Have at least two people for the sale, one for the money and the other for questions, helping carry, personal breaks, etc.

Be sure to get to the bank at least a day before the sale for change. Get more than you think you need.

Don't stack one item for sale on top of another item for sale, using the second as a pedestal, rendering it invisible. Or bury sale items for any other reason.

Have signs made up well ahead. Make sure the arrows are large. Have plenty of packing tape to fix sign to boxes - masking or other tapes won't stick to cardboard more than two minutes - and scout locations for best customer attention ahead of time. For each box set out, bring along a rock to place inside so it won't blow away. Something ugly doesn't invite theft, so keep the pretty rocks at home. Broken concrete works well enough.

If this is going to be a recurring event, arrange for leftover items to have compact, organized storage or arrange for it to be off-site. Patience is shorter each time a sale looms and stacks of junk swarm over the household.