It’s that time of year again…time for garage and yard sales!

Are you interested in organizing a sale of your own to get rid of some unwanted items?

In this post, I offer a few pointers to organize the event as smooth as possible.

Unsure as to whether or not you should hold a garage or yard sale in the first place?

Take my quiz, Should You Hold a Garage or Yard Sale?, to find out.

Set a date and time for the sale.

To make sure you actually hold the sale, commit to a specific date and time.

Mark down the starting and ending time of the sale, making sure to take into consideration the time it will take you to set up and clean up items.

Start your advertising efforts sooner rather than later, be it through community boards and posts, flyers, signs, or other methods.

Identify what you are going to sell in advance.

Think you’ll be able to pull together all the different items you’d like to sell the day of the sale? That would certainly make for one busy day! Pick out what you’d like to sell ahead of time, this could be over the course of several days or even weeks if it’s more manageable for you that way. You could also couple this with any decluttering or streamline efforts that are already underway in your home.

Figure out how you’ll display items.

How will you display and showcase your wares? Maybe you have a long table, card table or folding trays, a spare clothes or hat rack you could use? In a pinch, a blanket or tarp placed on the ground with items spread out neatly could also work. Display and organize like items with like as much as possible (books with books, clothes with clothes) as this makes browsing easier for potential buyers.

Set prices ahead of time.

Setting up your pricing doesn’t have to be complicated, but you should at least give this some thought. You could organize your pricing by item type (for example, all books $2), set specific prices for larger or more expensive items, or plan a grab-bag offer, maybe $5 for three small items on a table, and so on.

Have a contingency plan for items that don’t sell.

Just because you’re holding a garage/yard sale doesn’t mean everything will be sold. Create a plan to deal with any unsold items so they don’t end up cluttering your home post-sale. Maybe you have a favorite charity or cause you’d like to donate items to? Make arrangements to drop off these items as soon as possible post-sale so they are out of your hair.

How about you? Are you thinking about holding a garage or yard sale? What organizing issue concerns you the most? Join in the conversation and leave a comment below!