You don't realize how much stuff can actually accumulate in a home until you start packing to move. People living in small bachelor apartments can fill up a whole moving van and those leaving their family home and moving real estate likely have lots of things that they don't see the use of bringing with them to their next address. Before you start giving things away and donating them to secondhand shops you might want to consider hosting a garage sale.
Plan your garage sale for no earlier than three weeks from when you start sorting things. This will give you plenty of time to check the weather, decide exactly what you want to sell and advertise. The garage sales that make the most money and see the most visitors are usually held on a sunny Saturday morning. Don't pick a long weekend unless you're living in a tourist destination or cottage country.
There are lots of people who go through garage sales almost every weekend of the summer looking for collectibles or things that they can resell. They choose which ones to hit based on their advertisements. If you're adding your property to the local listings, than you should mention this in your ad. This will let people know that you have more things available than just the leftovers in your basement.
Let your neighbours know that you're having a garage sale. Not only is this a courteous thing to do but you also might be able to plan to all have one on the same day. You might think that this would act as competition but really this will just mean that more will make the effort to come to your area. If garage sale hunters know that they will get two or more sales all in one shot than they will travel that little bit further.
Make sure that you have enough people to work your garage sale to handle the amount of people that you get. You should also do your best to make sure that no one arrives early. Post the starting time in your ad and state that you will not see people before that time. Otherwise you will have people showing up at 6am.
Be realistic about what you're expecting to get for your things. If you're offering custom cabinets than you can put a higher price tag on them. But don't expect a lot for an old DVD player or some souvenirs from a vacation. And you should definitely be open to the possibility of negotiating on just about anything. Just remember that one thing sold is one less thing that you need to pack and move.
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