Chesapeake on the Cheap

Fabulous Garage Sale Signs

Here are some ideas for fantastic signs
(I always get compliments on my signs)

1. Print your signs on bright yellow or lime green paper. These nearly-neon colors stands out better than white and are still high contrast for easy readability. Download and use the signs I’ve included or type up the information in your word processor, then you can print on the bright paper using your inkjet or laser printer. Tip: laser printer/copier toner doesn’t run in the rain, so if you live in a rainy area and don’t have a laser printer, consider printing one copy of your sign in black ink on white paper and have it photocopied onto bright paper. Contrast is the name of the game, here. No dark colored paper!
2. Staple your bright, easy-to-read sign to cardboard for stability. Or, lacking cardboard, fold the top and bottom edges 1/4″ down, then 1/4″ down again–you’ll be amazed at the stability this
   adds to the paper.
3. If you need to put a sign on a corner where you can’t plant a stake in the ground or tape it to a pole (in some areas you can be fined for attaching a sign to a pole), staple your bright sign to a large
   cardboard box. Put the box on the corner where you want it to be seen and load it with rocks or bricks to hold it in place.
4. Look for unclaimed election signs and re-use these for mounting your garage sale signs. (In my area candidates have 9 days after an election to retrieve their signs, after that, they’re fair game.) These are wonderful because the ones they use here are made of wire and stick into the ground in a snap, no need for stakes & a sledgehammer.
5. Arrows! Make sure you have a large obvious point on your arrows, otherwise it just looks like a line from a distance.
6. If you live well off the beaten path, consider just using arrows for the intermittent signs (to tell drivers to keep going in the same direction–if they need to turn, use a whole sign so it doesn’t get missed). Print the arrows on the SAME COLORED PAPER as your signs so people can identify them easily. You can print about 6-8 arrows per sheet. (see #5)
7. Don’t try to put too much on your sign. “Yard Sale” (or whatever is typical for your area) on one or two lines, the date(s) & the times, the address is optional–it’s usually too small to read when printed on an 8-1/2×11″ sheet of paper anyway. Make the type as large as will fit on your paper. To avoid having to print signs with arrows pointing opposite directions, use a black permanent marker to draw
   arrows on the signs. (see #5)
8. Be polite and take your signs down after your sale is over.
9. Chesapeake has pretty strict yard sale sign regulations. They don’t “appear” to be enforced, but any defiance of local code is done at your own risk!

These downloads are in PDF format: If you need a reader, please visit Adobe.

Basic sign with arrow pointing to the right

Basic sign with arrow pointing to the left

Sheet of arrows