How to Prepare for an Estate Sale (Updated June 2023)

Updated June 2023

If you've never held an estate sale, the process can be daunting. Selling a loved one's belongings can lead to emotional exhaustion and clouded judgment. Even if you're holding an estate sale for your home in preparation for downsizing, the sorting, pricing, and tagging of an entire houseful of items can be challenging.

While an estate sale can be a lot of work, the process can be rewarding. The key to a great estate sale is to plan ahead. Not sure where to start? You’re in luck! Use the tried and true tricks below to help you plan and prepare for a successful estate sale.

Planning an estate sale? Use these five tips from estate planning experts to prepare!

5 Estate Planning Tips From Experts

1. Remove Items That Aren't For Sale If there are items with sentimental value you don't wish to sell, remove them immediately. Take them off the property or lock them in an isolated room that guests and shoppers won't be able to access. If there are photos you want to keep, take them out of the frames and set them aside. And don’t forget to remove important documents from filing cabinets or desks!
2. Label, Label, Label! Everything in the home should have a label. As you sort through the home, make sure to clearly mark what should be sold, donated, trashed, or kept. The price tag on any sale items should be easy to find.
3. Get Organized It's helpful to estate sale shoppers if you group like items together to create "mini-shops" within the home. For example, group all linens together in one spot and dishes and cookware together in another area. This will help people find the items they’re interested in and keep them moving through the home quickly.
4. Don't Forget to Advertise Make it easy for interested buyers to find you. The last thing you want to do is go through all the work of sorting and tagging items only to have no one show up to the sale. Draw people to the sale by advertising in local newspapers, Facebook groups, or websites like Craigslist. Place brightly colored signs near the street directing passing traffic to your estate sale to attract passers-by.
5. Final Clean Up After the dust has settled, you'll likely still have items left that you're not sure what to do with. It's helpful to sort these items into two piles: donate and throw away — you may not have much in the "throw-away" pile, since these are items that were in good enough condition to sell in the first place. Once you’ve sorted through the remaining items, consider hiring a reputable, eco-friendly junk removal service like The Junkluggers to haul them away.

Get Estate Sale-Ready With The Junkluggers

Estate sale cleanouts. The Junkluggers will haul away leftover estate sale items and donate them on your behalf!

The Junkluggers will pick up and dispose of unsold items. Our fast and friendly junk luggers will make every effort to donate all usable items to local charities on your behalf. Better yet, you’ll get a tax-deductible receipt for any items we donate on your behalf! Anything that can’t be donated or upcycled will be disposed of as sustainably as possible.

With The Junkluggers, hosting an estate sale doesn’t have to be overwhelming. We can make the process easier by whisking away unwanted items.

Contact your local Junkluggers team today to schedule your estate sale pickup!