Drive through almost any neighborhood in any city or town ona weekend, and you're sure to see garage sales scatteredthroughout.

These homeowners are spending their weekend time off makingmoney. The average profit is $600 for a one-weekend garagesale.

It's time to get your share of the pie. Organization is thekey.

Step one: Check with the local officials to see what thelocal laws and regulations are on operating garage sales inyour area.

Step two: Spend a few weekends going to garage sales inyour area. See what is selling, what people are buying, howthe items are priced, how the sellers advertise. Observehow the sellers display their items. Take notes.

Step three: Clean house and take stock of what you have andwhat it's time to get rid of. Be sure to pick out at leastone interesting and unusual item to callattention to your sale; some large ticket item you can setup in front of your home during your sale.

If you find older items such as dishes, a painting, an oldflower urn etc. that you feel it's time to dispose of haveit appraised. You don't want to sell something for 50 centsonly to find out later it was an antique valued at $500.00.You can be sure there are garage sale shoppers who are onthe lookout for just this kind of treasure.

Step four: Pick a date for your sale. The best time tohave a garage sale is twice a year in May or September.People will be out shopping for summer items in May andwinter items in September.

Never pick a holiday weekend such as Mother's Day or LaborDay. Holiday festivities will get the attention of mostpeople.

The best days for your garage sale are Thursday, Friday, andSaturday.

Step five: Advertise, advertise and advertise some more.Place ads in the local newspaper, shopper guides, onbulletin boards and even online. Place signs all over theneighborhood with brightly colored letters, attachedballoons, etc.

Step six: Organize your sale. Put price stickers on youritems. Have a wide variety of clothing and jewelry andarrange them in a rainbow of colors. Make sure jewelry andappliances sparkle! Hang clothing on racks arranged insizes. Imagine that you are opening a retail store and copywhat the stores do.

If you have items that are hard to price and you think theywill not sell, put them in a penny box. And be sure to markthe box "Penny Box" or "All items just 1 cent each".

Step seven: Timing. Consider starting at 7:00 a.m. insteadof 8:00 or 9:00. And close no later than 6:00 p.m. Andpositively NEVER shut down for the noon hour! There arepeople who work on weekends and will stop on their way to orfrom work and shop during their lunch breaks.

As most customers will have come and gone by 1:00, noon hourbeing the most active, you can start lowering prices after1:00 p.m. On items you think will not sell at all, put themin a box marked "Free".

And lastly, what doesn't sell take to the local Good Will orother organization of your choice.

More information available athttp://www.apluswriting.net/garage/garage.htm