So you're ready to set up for your rummage sale - how exciting! This can be an overwhelming task, but with some planning, your garage sale set-up can go smoothly. Today we are offering eight of our top rummage sale set-up strategies that we've developed along the way in our decades of experience with having huge multi-family yard sales.


This is an overview for general rummage sale set-up strategies. We will have other specific category tips and ideas for you in other posts here: Rummage Sales


Tip 1: Clear out your garage and set up tables days or weeks ahead of time. (This only applies to you if you have a garage to use for the sale.)  I generally put tables around the perimeter of my garage walls (inside, of course), then I add in a middle section of tables that are back-to-back in the center of the garage, all the way up to the door. Make sure there will be plenty of space for people to walk around comfortably, and consider mobility accessibility as well. You want to be welcoming to all of your potential customers, so make sure they can get to everything they'd like to see when they're shopping at your sale. (If you have to set something up high or out of reach, make sure there is someone available "on staff" to safely get it down for a potential buyer.)

Set up tables ahead of time in your garage for a rummage sale.

Fit as many tables into your garage space as possible, leaving room for shoppers to shop.

Fill your rummage tables with as much stuff as possible.

Tip 2: Maximize your space. If you have a lot of families participating in your sale (known as a multi-family sale), or if you just have a lot of stuff to display, make sure you have ways to fit more things. For example, add bookshelves to your tables. Or stack and secure boxes to use in place of bookshelves (shown in the photo above). Think outside of the box, so to speak, and try to spread things out vertically besides horizontally. It's okay to just use table surfaces, but you can fit more things when you have multiple layers of surfaces.


Tip 3: Also about maximizing your space - stuff many similar things in boxes that you display on tables. If you have a lot of small items, use boxes or bins for people to sort through. Just make sure everything is clearly priced. If it is valuable, make sure it will be placed close to your check-out table so you can keep an eye on things (and people).

Rummage sale set-up tips using shelves and boxes on tables.

Use shelves and boxes to add more products to your space.

An easy way to make shelves for a garage sale by using boxes.

Make your own shelves with boxes, making sure you secure them together and to the wall.

Tip 4: Use tablecloths on all of your tables. There are two reasons why we do this! First of all, people comment on how nicely things are displayed at our garage sales. Of course, people make a mess as they rummage through things, and some things easily get out of place (which we constantly are reorganizing throughout the sale). But customers seem to overlook the rummaging chaos when the overall appearance is nice and tidy with the tablecloths drawing attention away from the overload of things being moved around by other customers. Secondly, we store our empty boxes under the tables, as well as extra hangers and bags, etc. People cannot see that there are boxes under our tables, so they are not trying to look in those boxes and causing the tables to overturn. We hide our extra supplies under the tables, hidden by the tablecloths.


Tip 5: Big items should go to your driveway or yard during the sale. Keep the big things in the house until the day of the sale. You don't want furniture or exercise equipment in your way while you are setting up your garage tables and items. Furniture and bigger things are usually what attract people to stop at yard sales. Make those items the most visible for people driving by, and they will probably decide to stop and see what you have for sale.


Tip 6: Use your yard to draw attention to your sale. On the day(s) of the sale, make sure you get plenty of eye-catching things in your yard or driveway. Other than the furniture we already mentioned, have a variety of things visible from the road. As a customer, when I go past a garage sale that is contained to a garage, I don't know what they have to offer and it must not be much, so I rarely want to put in the effort to see what they have (that I probably don't need). But if I see a great variety of items that are visible from my view in the road, I usually think the sale is worth stopping at since they already got my attention. Yes, this means that you will have to carry things out to your yard or driveway in the morning. And you'll have to carry things back in at night. But you will sell more when you attract more customers who will want to stop and look. It is worth the extra effort you'll put it.


Tip 7: Organize everything into categories. People LOVE it when you make it easy for them to shop. A lot of customers have a certain category they are usually shopping for. Some will want to browse through your books. Others will need things for their home. Maybe they love to purchase craft supplies. Or they need to find clothes for their growing children. Whatever it is, make sure it is easy for them to find that category of like-items at your sale. FOR EXAMPLE: We always do well with selling clothes, so we invested in rolling clothing racks that we wheel out to the driveway each day of the sale. A specific size is dedicated to each rack, clearly labeled, so customers can easily find what they are looking for. If you don't have many clothing items, you may display them in the garage. Racks tend to hold more clothes than having piles folded on the tables. Just do whatever works best for you, according to what display options you have available.

Larger items should be displayed outside for a yard sale.

Furniture draws attention to your sale, so place big items in the driveway or the yard. You may also set out bins in your driveway with similar items for customers to search through. Maybe set out a toy bin or a box of fashion accessories.

Hang clothes to maximize space at your yard sale.

Use rolling clothes racks and organize clothing by sizes and gender.

Tip 8: Make sure you reserve a small area in your garage to use as a check-out station. We usually set up a card table in the garage that is near the door where we can enter and exit the house. We keep our outer doors locked so customers do not go into our house. We (the people running the sale) can enter the house through the garage, but we are the only ones who can access that door. Our check-out table blocks the general public from entering our home. We also recruit extra help to reorganize things as it gets sorted through and moved around during the rummage. They condense things as needed, refold or rehang clothing, and have a friendly personality to greet customers. Those people also keep an eye on everything happening outside of the garage and in the yard. Plus, they assist people in taking larger purchases to their cars.


Thank you for reading our suggestions to prepare you for a successful rummage sale. We hope you have the best sale ever!