As the summer starts to wind down ever so slowly you have probably noticed extra junk and stuff that you no longer need hanging around in your garage or shed. When you first took out the bikes this year for the kids you may have had to set one aside due to a growth spurt in your youngest child. A great way to close up the summer season is with a garage sale that you can either host on your own or with your neighbors.

In order to see the most success from your garage sale endeavors here are a few tips that you can use to make sure that the profits are plentiful.

1. Set up the sale well in advance

Set up a few goals for your garage sale and try to reach them. This can best be achieved by getting family members activated and excited about playing a garage sale type of game.

One of the things that works well is to have a plan in place for the money that you make with the sales. Perhaps you can put some away for a winter getaway or use the money to purchase some skis. When you have a goal in place it gives the garage sale a purpose and you'll be able to get all the family members on board willingly and ready to sell.

2. What items should be placed on the tables?

Anything that's functioning properly and is in good repair. Toasters, lamps, coffeemakers, children's toys, sports equipment, any type of tool, etc. usually sell well. Common household articles are usually snapped up quickly when they're priced right, function well and are clean.

3. Advertising and planning

Take some time to plan the garage sale and don't just throw one together on a Saturday morning. As you start digging for things to sell you'll run across others that you wouldn't mind getting rid of as well. You’ll also have more time to consider the pricing and can put labels on your items marking the costs. This will save you a lot of time at your garage sale since people won't constantly have to be hounding you to ask what the prices are on your items. You'll only have to deal with the bargaining and negotiating that are part and parcel with a garage sale.

Part of this planning should be set aside for advertising. You'll want to create some posters around the neighborhood showing the time and place of your garage sale and it's a good idea to put an ad in a community newspaper as well. There are people that go to garage sales every week and check the paper to mark down the addresses of upcoming sales in town. Some of them will travel for miles on a weekend checking out the various sales being held in the Calgary area.

Make sure that you plan your garage sale for a weekend. Most people work from Monday to Friday and won't have the time to stop by to see what you are selling. Saturdays and Sundays work the best and you can get quite a crowd forming if you've taken the time to plan and advertise things well.