K.I.S.S: Garage Sale Tips

Our, ahem, "spare" room.

Since we moved back into the house after the renovation, we've been steadily working through each room, decluttering and sorting out all the things we no longer need. Some of these attempts have been more successful than others - like when Isy rediscovered all the toys I had squirelled away in the hopes of rotating them out every few weeks to cut down both on clutter and over-stimulation. It was messy and joyous.

The biggest job by far was clearing out and sorting through our garage and the huge amount of stuff we'd accumulated in there over the past few years. In fact, I'm currently surrounded by a lot of it, as it's now taking up every spare inch of the spare room, until we replace our garage with a smaller storage studio some time in the future.

Anyway, all this decluttering has left us with a LOT of stuff we no longer need, so we've decided to have a garage sale in a couple of weeks time. To make it a substantial one we're combining forces with one of my sisters and selling off furniture, toys, books, CDs, homewares, knick knacks and random pieces of sporting equipment.

I can't tell you what a huge relief it is to be rid of some of the extraneous crap we've surrounded ourselves with. There is still so much more I could do away with, being a reformed hoarder of useless things like old school assignments, uni books, ticket stubs, newspapers, odds, ends and tidbits, but it's a start.

And it's seriously addictive. I now find myself looking for things to sell. Nothing is safe!

In preparation for the big garage sale I've been reading up on how best to run the day and have come across some tips that I'll be following:

• $1-$50 is generally the price bracket people are willing to pay at a garage sale.
• Group items of the same value together (all items selling for $5 placed in a basket, for example)
• Use colour-coded sticker dots to show the price of items
• Toys, clothes, books, CDs and music sell well. Show them prominently.
• Be prepared to bargain. I know I'd prefer to sell everything rather than lug it back inside the house at the end of the day.

I'll be sure to take some shots on the day and share any crazy early bird stories with you in a couple of weeks time. Is it weird that I'm nervous about holding a garage sale??