You’ve finally decided to commit! You’re going to gather everything and have that garage sale you’ve always talked about so you can free up some room in your house. You have a date set, the weather looks good, and you’ve got the kids coming over to help. But that’s when the big question hits: what are you going to put out for sale? You might have a few ideas; that big bookcase nobody uses anymore, a few beer-logo mirrors you picked up for the lounge/mancave that never happened, but you might be a little stressed at the thought of sifting through everything to figure out what to get rid of. Never fear! We’re here with a few tips and techniques to help you get your garage sale organized and ready to go, while tidying up your house on the way: If you don’t use it, sell it: One of the best ways to start with getting items together for a garage sale is to look at everything you haven’t used in a long time. Plates you don’t touch? Those concert t-shirts in the back of your dresser (whose band you may not even like anymore)? The end tables that wound up in the garage after you replaced them with a set that matched your new couch? All prime candidates to find themselves in the driveway next weekend. Identify your big sellers: While there’s often no accounting for tastes when it comes to garage sales, there’s some stuff that will always be a bigger seller than others. Popular movies, home decor items that you’re cutting a big deal on, kids’ clothes, and so on. When you’re sorting through everything you want to sell, try to keep the big-ticket items safely apart from the rest of your wares for easier access and to help organize them in a way that will draw eyes when the sale itself starts. The rest can go into plastic tubs for use later. Figure out where in your house you can keep them for now: Of course, you might have already encountered another decluttering problem: where is all this stuff supposed to go? Before you get a chance to put everything out on the driveway, try to find somewhere in your house you can keep it: garage shelves, somewhere in the attic, on your wire shelves in the basement, wherever you have space that prevents you from keeping it all in a giant pile in the living room. Make sure to keep them somewhere out of sight, too—getting used to not seeing these items in your home anymore can help you adjust to the idea of selling them. Don’t rush to fill the empty space: A lot of people, when they notice they have room freed up by decluttering or selling something, will leap at the chance to fill that space with something else they’ve wanted to display—or worse, buy something new to fill the void. Avoid that temptation and keep your space free as long as possible until you can decide the best possible use for it. Have an exit strategy: Finally, no matter how great you think your stuff is, you need to face the reality that not everything you put out for sale is going to sell that day. Instead of putting it all back and trying again next year, this could be a good time to cut your losses and take everything else to a thrift store, schedule a pickup from a charity, or try your luck at a consignment shop—whatever it is you’re comfortable doing, just make sure it isn’t cluttering up your house anymore. Got any other tips for running a successful garage sale? Leave a comment below!