Ways to Prepare for Garage Sale Season
Spring is almost her and that means that Garage Sale season is almost upon us as well. With so many weeks of garage sales in a row a busy mom MUST prepare for garage sale season ahead of time! We love community sales as well as BIG sales like Route 127 Yard Sale. We even plan to go to the Route 40 Sales Road Trip style!
I am sharing my best tips in order to prepare for garage sale season while not going crazy or over budget. If you are like my family then you count on finding clothes, shoes and sports equipment at garage sales in order to save your family a ton of money. We also find homeschool items and educational toys for our children. Sometimes if we are really lucky we find birthday gifts and Christmas presents as well!
Make a List of Garage Sale Must Haves
I actually prefer making a Google Sheet with types of items and sizes for each of my children. Now that we don’t have infants we usually only need to find 1 size per child per garage sale season. When we have infants and toddlers I would look for a different size per gender per season oftentimes. Without a list or spreadsheet I would have ended up with 20 pairs of size 2T pants and only 2 shirts, lol.
Plan Your Route
Single or neighborhood garage sales are okay but I prefer a large community sale with a detailed map! I usually check on facebook or just google local towns to see when their city wide sales are so that I can plan ahead. The big multi-state garage sales like Route 40 or Route 127 Yard Sale are great for hitting lots of sales at locations like fairgrounds or flea markets.
Pack Snacks and Drinks for Garage Sale Days
You need to stay energized and hydrated in order to last more then a couple hours of sifting through clothes and garage sale items.I pack things that withstand heat or cold like jerky, cracker packs, dried fruit and nuts. Then I pack drinks with ice bricks in a small insulated cooler. You can read our Tips for Packing a Cooler!
Create a Garage Sale Budget and Stick to it
Even with steep discounts at garage sales you can still overspend easily if you do not have a budget. Maybe you can swing $5 per child per week or maybe it’s $20 per child for the entire season either way stick to your guns.I will ONLY allow children to buy toys if it’s from their own money left over from Christmas or birthday gift money!
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