The results are in!

We had a fabulously successful garage sale!!! I didn't have much in the way of "high ticket items." No furniture, appliances, electronics or video games. Old clothes, shoes, toys and books led to a tidy little college deposit of $500. NICE!

To have a successful yard sale, I suggest you try some of these tips:

1. Get everything off the ground. We borrowed tables to display our goods so people didn't have to bend over. I borrowed most of them from neighbors. I'll gladly lend mine to them when they have a sale.
2. Group like items together. We had a table for preschool toys, and next to that, a table for elementary age toys. The clothes were sorted by gender and age as well. We only sold spring and summer clothes at this sale -- we're saving winter clothes for a fall sale. Really, this is just common sense. If people can sort through your items visually as they walk up the driveway, they can quickly find what they want rather than hunt and peck through things tossed here and there.
3. Be willing to bargain. I told people up front that if they bought multiple items I'd work with them on the price. After all, the more they buy, the less I have to cart off to charity! One lady at our sale bought ten pieces of boy clothing. I gave her a 50% discount. We both walked away happy.
4. If it's broken, don't sell it. I made sure every item I offered for sale was clean, complete and not broken. Do you really want a board game with missing pieces in your house? NO! Well, neither do the people shopping your sale. Throw the junk (including stained, ripped and worn out clothes) away. Overall, you will make more money. 
5. Advertise locally. We advertised our sale on Craig's List, a local community website, and on Facebook. A couple of my Facebook friends (also friends in real life), called to ask to shop my sale the night before. They bought $75 worth of stuff that I didn't have to display the next day. Everybody won!
6. Remember to place signs at the front of your neighborhood. When people see a garage sale sign, they're drawn in. More people at your house ultimately means more money!
7. Have small bills available. This was my downfall this year. Surprisingly, most people offered me $20 bills. I didn't have enough change! Have a good supply of $5 bills, $1 bills and quarters so you can always make change. 

We're thrilled to have a bit more money saved for college -- and a lot of clutter out of our closets! I may have doubted this plan yesterday, but now I'm glad we did it.

Happy garage sales, everyone!