Comments on: 8 Simple Rules for Making a Successful Garage Sale Sign

By: Daisy

Daisy — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:37:57 +0000

We lived near a busy intersection in our old home, so we made Burma-Shave style signs. It had been a summer of bad weather, so the rhyme (on four separate signs, of course) read: “Lightning, Floods; Tornadoes, hail; Just can’t stop our; Rummage Sale!”
We had several people stop by just to compliment the signs – all bought something!

By: Roxanne @ Champion of My Heart

Roxanne @ Champion of My Heart — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:36:09 +0000

I agree with Chrissy. It helps if all the signs look essentially the same.

And, personally, I prefer BIG arrows over addresses because addresses assume someone knows the area well enough to figure out where that might be.

By: Diana

Diana — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:23:09 +0000

We can all recognize garage sale signs because they shout GARAGE SALE but then somewhere lost beneath that is that small area to put the address and hours of the sale. I never have enough time to read the address while driving because my eyes just naturally hone in on the words GARAGE SALE first and by then I’ve driven past. For my signs I always write out my address at the top of the sign and it’s the first thing the driver reads.

By: Christi

Christi — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:11:42 +0000

I love having garage sales, maybe because they’re a pretty good draw around here. I usually make at least $300 – we bought our son’s crib using garage sale money! I plan to have another one this summer to rid the house of some clutter. One thing I learned regarding signs – I used to make signs with marker, but it took forever to fill in bubble letters to make them really stand out. Finally I figured out that painting them took a lot less time and effort! You have to figure in drying time, but it’s a lot quicker to actually letter the sign.

By: suburbangrandma

suburbangrandma — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:06:07 +0000

Oh…garage sale….I had three during my lifetime so far…and sold few things, gave few things away, and the rest ended up at Good Will.
Garage sales are so much work to get ready for, and time consuming to sit through them.
I personally do not enjoy having them.

By: Chrissy

Chrissy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:48:59 +0000

I really enjoyed your post! As a frequent garage sale shopper, I’d like to make a comment about the advice to make multiple versions of your sign. When I’m following signs, I find it easier when all of the signs are uniform, otherwise I’m never sure if I found the garage sale I intended to go to when I followed the original sign. Thanks for reminding people to take down their signs! There’s nothing more frustrating than following signs for miles to find out the garage sale was held weeks ago.

By: everydayfrugaleverydaygreen

everydayfrugaleverydaygreen — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:43:39 +0000

Good idea for a post Leah. If you advertise your garage sale in local papers (and this is one of the few newspaper ads that consumers still look for regularly), the paper will often give you nice signs for free. Customizing them is a great idea.
Old political signs and real estate open house signs can be retrofitted as yard sale signs too. They often have those handy metal posts that make it easy to plant them in the ground.
Some communities have strict regs about where and when and how many signs can be placed, so it’s a good idea to check that out before you are faced with a fine!